A Cooler Full of Treats&Another State Down

This morning I woke up a couple different times early on. But each time I just rolled back over and headed back to sleep. Last night we had talked about maybe only doing 20 miles today. That way we didn’t have to rush out of town and the nice room. There is a shelter right by Kent, Connecticut about 20 miles into the day.

That meant I was able to sleep in until about 8:30 AM, which was fantastic. It felt really good to rest my body and also my mind a bit. I didn’t have nearly as much difficult editing to get done yesterday. It all wound up being easy enough and I still had some time to just relax and recharge.

When I finally did get up I combed through my hair and put my contacts in. The entire apartment smelled absolutely delicious! At first, I thought it was the bakery next door. But then I realized that Punisher had made the cinnamon rolls that he got at the grocery store last night. That was delightful! I ate a cinnamon roll and made a hot mocha using the Nespresso machine. What a nice start to the day.

After I ate a cinnamon roll or two, I sat down at the kitchen table to meal prep my lunches. I bought two loaves of bread, a jar of fluffanutter, a jar of peanut butter, and a tub out of pimento cheese. My plan was to make four savory sandwiches and four sweet sandwiches. I did the math on the calories and it actually turns out to be a lot. If I used all of the jars and tubs on the bread, it would work out to be about 8000 calories in total. I figure I might not finish all of the peanut butter, so it will wind up being a bit less than that though.

Once I finished making 8 sandwiches, I packed everything in my backpack. Luckily besides the sandwiches, I don’t have a ton of other food. I have dinners, hot chocolate and coffee, and a few candy bars. I’m really planning on primarily eating those sandwiches because of how dense they are. If I ate four of those a day, it would be practically enough food for the entire day. Supplementing with a few other snacks would make it pretty much perfect. That just seems like a very quick and simple way for me to get calories in. Rather than taking down a bunch of small snacks, which each have a lot less calories. It’s the act of eating that is usually the hardest for me. I want it to be over as quickly as possible while I’m on trail. And then I really like to take my time and savor food when I’m in town.

It wasn’t until maybe 9:30 AM that we were all packed up and ready to leave. If we were only doing 20 miles then we would be having an early day as long as we left before noon. Once we checked out we had to walk down the road a little ways to where The main road was out of town. We only had to go about 2-3 miles down the road to get back to the trail. But I definitely didn’t want to walk that.

Getting back on the AT at NY Route 22, right near the DC Malaysian food truck.

A bunch of cars drove by us, but we didn’t have any luck. At first, I was thinking it might wind up being a slow hitch. Then only after a few minutes a car pulled over. The lady was very nice and said a boyfriend she used to have had hiked the AT. Because of that she felt like she almost had to pull over and offer us a ride. Then she quickly scooted us down the road and we are back on trail.

I think we were back to walking sometime around 10:30 AM. Which was definitely a lot earlier than I had expected. If I recall today is going to be pretty chill as we head towards Connecticut. And the weather could not be better. I was able to start the day in shorts and my sun hoodie.

The day started by walking through this large field.

The trail first brought us to a field and then eventually we got back into the woods. Then we began a fairly gradual climb up from the road. Today we have a few noteworthy climbs. But none of them are that long or appeared to be too difficult. Other than that, there’s just rolling hills for the majority of the day. It felt nice to wear my sunglasses and actually feel hot for once. I really hope that spring is right around the corner.

I always love when the trail has a nice foot bridge to keep your feet dry.

Over the course of the morning I had service on and off. Which meant I was able to finally catch up with Sparkle. I tried to call her yesterday, but was never able to get a hold of her. And later on I actually got to talk to my mom again in between one of her sessions at work. That was really nice and set the tone for a wonderful day. I enjoyed the beauty of the trail and reminisced on 2023. This stretch of miles right before Connecticut are very memorable to me.

This is such a memorable tree from my hike in 2023. It looks like a scary face!

After a couple hours of walking, we came to the New York and Connecticut state line! But what caught my eye first was the red cooler on the ground. Punisher was there standing over it, and I was still on the phone with Sparkle at the time. So I got off the phone and headed over to see. The cooler actually had my name on it! Someone had left it there with a sign for Trail magic. Some other hikers must’ve come through at some point because a few of the things were empty, but there was a ton of stuff. It’s nice to think that other hikers get to enjoy trail magic this early in the season too. That’s more common around the time the bubble comes through.

The cooler had all kinds of candy and snacks. I chugged down a cold Gatorade and wound up packing out some pouches of Vermont maple syrup, candy bars, and a few other goodies. Unfortunately, I have a lot of food from town yesterday. But this was such an incredible surprise! If you were the person who left that there, please leave a comment below or reach out to me on Instagram. I’m very appreciative of your incredible magic!

Crossing into Connecticut! The 12th state of the year. You can even see the red cooler in this picture.

I was such a spectacular double whammy of excitement. Getting trail magic and crossing a state line simultaneously. That sure is a new one. I took a few Clementines with me to eat while I walked. Then wound up calling Sparkle back and talking to her for a while longer. But eventually, I lost service and began another climb. I knew that we only had another two climbs left for the entire day. If I remember correctly, most of the hike down towards Kent is downhill or walking along a river. But I could be remembering the Cornwall Bridge area instead.

Over the next hour or so we began walking along a river. I remembered that the river had some kind of a platform overlook. We had ended our day around there back in 2023. I just remember climbing down to the rocks and standing by the absolutely gushing river. I also remembered that there was a small convenience store there just off the trail. Right around that adorable covered bridge. I believe the covered bridge is off trail though. And that convenience store is now closed permanently, so I didn’t go down there today.

Last time I was here we crossed this bridge in the dark! I this we randomly decided to do a 30 mile day, even having a late start.

The trail was nice and flat for a little while which meant I could eat some food. The pimento cheese that I bought was absolutely delicious and tasted so good on the brioche bread. Now I’m super excited to try the fluff and peanut butter sandwiches which I made on cinnamon swirl bread. I also liked the idea that they were getting warmed on my backpack all day. I guess maybe not the cheese though.

Not long after that the trail crossed onto a road briefly. Then I began the last climb of the day, I think. Truthfully I haven’t checked the elevation profile all day. When you came up from the road and got back on trail a fairly rocky section began. But the climb wasn’t so bad and only went on for maybe a mile and a half. I was fueled up by the cheese sandwich and feeling great. Also, it was nice knowing that we were weren’t that far from the shelter for the night. Doing a 20 mile day tends to feel pretty nice these days.

An AT sign just off a road, which the trail followed along for a little while.

The trail got really beautiful towards the top of that climb. There was a nice cool breeze, cutting the heat of the day. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. This was another day I spent being quiet most of my time. I didn’t feel the strong urge to listen to music or a podcast. I just made a few phone calls and l otherwise just took it all in.

Once I got onto the top of the next climb, the trail just began to ride along a ridge for a while. There was the occasional small hill, but it didn’t go on for long. This went on for the next few miles before the trail began to descend once more. If I recall correctly, there were only two or three more miles to go for the day and most of it was downhill and relatively flat. I haven’t really recognized much of the section though. Other than signs, bridges, and things like that.

Apparently the trail skirts between NY and CT a bit even after you cross the sign for CT.

The trail was rocky and it felt like those next few miles took forever. I actually checked the map once or twice just to make sure that I didn’t miss the turnoff first the shelter. I wasn’t sure whether or not it was right on trail. When I got to the junction Punisher was there waiting. He was at least considering going on to the next shelter. It was still before 5:30PM, which is pretty early. If we kept going we would only probably have to hike in the day for a half hour at most. But mentally I was thinking we were done for the day when we got to this shelter.

There were two other people set up by the shelter in tents. I think if they had been in the shelter we would have 100% kept hiking. But I honestly liked the idea of having an early night and getting good sleep. That will make it all the easier to have our early start tomorrow morning.

The two other people at the camp site were eating and hanging out at the picnic table. They are doing a section southbound and actually started today! That’s so exciting. I got set up in the shelter and we chatted with them a bit. I planned on eating a sandwich or two depending on my appetite. And I had a couple extra hot chocolate packets so I made a hot drink too. I normally don’t like to make a hot drink at night because then I have to pee a ton! But it’s earlier enough I suppose to get up a few times.

The trail looked like this for the a lot of the day today. I appreciated these segments of trail that weren’t covered in rocks.

Once I was situated I ate a pimento sandwich, which was so good. I definitely am going to keep doing sandwich’s if I can. There was some yummy looking chicken salad at the grocery store. Those would probably make for great sandwich’s on the first day out of town. Maybe into the second day if it was cool enough. After my sandwich I drank a sweet hot chocolate and did my exercises.

I was glad that it was so early because it meant I had to time to write and edit. Plus there was service at the shelter! A true dream. That meant I’d be able to get everything done this evening. After I finished the editing I had another sandwich to round out my day. The peanut butter and fluff is incredible on the soft cinnamon swirl bread. I nailed it on the savory and sweet combination this time around.

If you enjoyed this blog and would like to support my hike by buying me a soda or a snack along the way, there is a “Tip the Author” button below! It links directly to my Venmo. Any and all support is incredibly appreciated!