Well, folks, I may have spoken too soon about Seth's feet doing better. I mean, they have been- at least the injuries that took us off the trail before, but other issues have emerged. On the fourth or fifth day back on the trail, Seth started to experience some aggravation in his left Achilles' tendon, which is the same ankle that had been sprained. Overall, his feet were better and the boots seemed to be doing the trick in terms of support, but the tendon started to feel sore. People say that high top boots can sometimes cause this issue, but it may also just be that Seth's feet are still taking too much of a beating. We were able to successfully wait out the rain on Friday morning and had a lovely afternoon walking out of Connecticut- it was a bit steamy, but nothing an Atlantan/Houstonian can't handle. We hiked about 11 miles pretty quickly over little ups and downs, which kept the hiking interesting. So the terrain got a little more strenuous than the first couple days we were back out, but nothing like our initial hiking in Maine.
Walking along this beautiful, flat dirt trail.
We walked along the Housatonic River most of the way in Connecticut.
We debated hiking into Kent, CT to get some town food again, but were weary of adding miles to town on top of trail miles, especially since we had been doing that the past few days. We were at the road debating when I told some NOBOs across the street about our dilemma and they let us know that someone left a bunch of trail magic at the trail head across the road from us! We ate donuts, sodies, chips, and a sub sandwich we had carried with us from Cornwall Bridge. We were happy. We do hope whoever left the trail magic was going to come retrieve it because leaving all that outside would be a super bear hazard!
On Saturday, we went back and forth over the Connecticut and New York state line before solidly crossing in the state of New York. This means we completed one entire state on the Appalachian Trail! Now, it's a state that only takes three to four days, but still I like to celebrate whatever milestones we got, right? We also passed the 200-mile mark of total miles completed on the Appalachian trail. Hiking 200 miles is a lot! And makes me feel really accomplished! On the other hand, 200 miles is just one tenth of the trail- wtf- that is nothing. I'm deciding to focus on the accomplishment rather than the relative amount of trail completed because 200 miles was damn hard and I'm just gonna feel good about it!
We arranged to stay with a friend (another we hadn't seen in years) in Katonah, NY, so as we approached our pick-up point, the question started to arise again whether this would be just a few days of rest or the place where we get off the trail. Seth's tendon continued to hurt and started to get a bit of a crunchy/ creaky feel when he moved it- not a good sign.
These peaks were all around 1000 feet, which felt very doable next to the 4000-foot peaks in Maine.
Our campsite was right next to this river, so we got to enjoy some soaking and swimming.
The soaking. I would show my swimming but since I do this weird lowering myself into the water from a plank position all the pictures look inadvertently explicit.
Getting back on the trail in this section introduced a new predator to the thru-hiking landscape- ticks. This part of the country is a hotbed for ticks and tick-born illnesses, so we started to do frequent tick checks throughout the day. There are two types of ticks- deer ticks and dog ticks. Dog ticks are big, easy to spot, have a red dot in their backs and are generally not harmful to humans. Deer ticks, however are smaller and carry illnesses, namely Lyme disease, that can impact a person's life drastically. Lyme disease is from a bacteria that can cause severe fatigue, arthritis, fever, rash, and facial paralysis. There had been a lot of buzz about ticks this year in the news and on forums as their population has apparently increased and there are a couple more serious tick-born diseases besides Lyme occurring with more frequency. Starting in Massachusetts, we were walking in many more fields with long grass, which is where ticks most like to chill. We were also seeing lots of deer on the trail- at least one a day. Within an hour of starting our hike in Massachusetts on the first day, I found a dog tick on my pants and haphazardly flicked it onto my arm and then frantically brushed it off my arm. They're grippy little things- gross!
Enjoying the wildlife.
This sign provided warnings and illustrations about the ticks. I had never seen ticks so small and, I don't know, felt skeptical about their existence? I think there was some denial going on, or something.
Seth making me coffee in the morning. I think it's an even sweeter gesture when you have to filter the water first!
Hiking though some lovely grassy fields. Tra-la-la, so innocent and carefree.
Trail going over an electric fence. Tra-la-la, so much fun.
Seth and I stopped at a garden store that was friendly to hikers. We got some drinks and took our shoes off to air out and cool off our feet and that was when we found our first unwanted stowaway. Seth asked me to have a close look st this black spot on his foot. At first, my denial had me dismissing the black speck for dirt and then I actually looked at it.
I can't believe everyone in this area doesn't have Lyme. Look at this tiny speck of a tick! Frigging ew.
The tick came out easily and we were on our way. It is suggested that you actually keep the tick and send it off to get it tested for a tick- born illness, but we did not do that. I don't know why. I've even read of some labs that will do it for free- we just didn't.
Continuing on our merry way. Only train stop on the Appalachian trail!
There were a lot of working fields we were hiking through in this area.
Tick heaven right there.
Our friend, Sally, picked us up in Pawling, NY. When I went to shower, I found on tick on my hip, which Seth was able to easily remove. Still super gross though. We also did not save that one, of course. It is said that if the ticks are removed quickly the chance of getting an illness are lessened. We did however watch out for a bullseye rash around the bite sight, which is an indicator of an infection. No rashes, so we should be good. I know I built up the tick thing earlier, but it was really just two ticks- one for each of us.
Seth and I know that we wanted to take at least a couple days rest for the tendon and we were really back in that wait-and-see mode. In some ways, it felt easier to wait and see without feeling too conflicted about it, but I think I was just able to compartmentalize the potential sadness and disappoint more adeptly this time. I was also excited to hang with Sally and check out Stepping Stones, the historic home of Bill and Lois Wilson, founders of AA and Al-Anon, where Sally is the executive director- so there were enticing distractions from facing a decision about our future on the trail.
