I spent
Easter weekend backpacking a section of the AT.
A CT section that my friend, Mark, needed to get done, and a start of the
New York Section for me. We started
mid-day on Good Friday and drove to the Metro North station on the AT outside
of Pawnal, NY. It was still cloudy and
drizzly when we arrived and started off.
The plan was to hike north and end the weekend at Route 341 in Kent,
CT.
The cows
watched us as we crossed the fields leaving Route 22 and climbing into the
hardwood forest.
The rain had moved on
and the weather improved as we went.
The
trail climbs through hardwood forest and we had some nice views through the
trees as we climbed in elevation.
There
is a section that got pretty wet and muddy, which we had to navigate on boards
with many low hanging branches.
We did
pretty good and kept our feet dry but it was tough.
We
hiked about 5.3 miles and arrived at the Wiley Shelter about 4pm and set up
camp.
Mark chose to sleep in the shelter
while I set up my hammock.
We ate and
did a few camp chores as the afternoon wore on, before cooking dinner and
calling it a day.
Dinner was a new
Mountain House meal for me, Pasta Primavera.
I liked it and will be adding it to the meals
to buy again.
Saturday
dawned bright and sunny with mild temps.
We were up pretty early, ate breakfast, packed up and were on the trail
by 7:45am. After a quick stop to filter
some water we made it to the CT/NY state line and continued on into CT. The trail is in good shape, with a few trees
down from recent storms. We met up with
a group of trail maintainers from CT that were working around the 10 Mile River
Shelter. I remember this shelter from
the last time I hiked this section. It
is well taken care of and in a beautiful spot.
We snacked and chatted with the maintainers for a bit then continued
on. The trail follows along the Housatonic
River and is very picturesque.
I enjoyed
the views along the river.
Soon we came
to Bulls Bridge rd. and the climb up Schaghticoke Mountain.
This is a steady climb for a ways with a few
switch backs thrown in.
It took its toll
on us both and we were pretty tired by the top.
Luckily, there is a nice view where we rested and snacked some more.
We made the next few miles along the top of
the ridge in good time, but were happy when we finally came to the Schaghticoke
Mountain Campsite.
Day 2 was just under
10 miles.
We set up camp and rested for
a while before cooking dinner and climbing into our hammocks early.
Day 3 was
cloudy and cooler. We had a little over
3 miles to hike out and began around 7am.
The trail has some nice views looking down on the Housatonic River and
the village of Kent, before heading back into the forest up and over Algo
Mountain. We made good time, crossing
Thayer Brook and then down the north side of Algo Mountain, passed the Algo
Shelter and reached Route 341 by 10am.
We were tired but happy. It was a
good section hike and one Mark needed to get him closer to finishing the Conn.
Section and I was able to start the New York Section.
