Goodbye NY

It's really hard to see, but someone scrawled the NY-CT state line into the post of this sign!

Today we hiked the last 7 miles of AT in New York, and passed over into Connecticut. There's only about 40 miles of Trail in Connecticut, but they are a very popular 40 miles. Lots of local people from the area come to hike these bits, even though we haven't seen anyone else on the Trail here yet. There's even a thing called the "Connecticut Challenge," which is where you hike the entire AT in Connecticut (from the New York state line to the Massachusetts state line) in 24 hours. I have no idea how people do that. Even if I ran the whole way I don't think I could make it 4o miles in 24 hours. So we were not preparing for any challenges, just enjoying the last bit of AT in New York...

...which is apparently littered with what appear to be abandoned missile silos.

The hiking was relatively easy today. We hiked through some private farmland, and through some forest. The day was beautiful, but the grass in the pastures was very wet from the morning dew. So wet in fact, that my shoes and socks were soaked after just a mile of hiking. And it wasn't even raining! Luckily, Amicus had his "wet foot" kit, which consists of a pair of dry socks, Purell, and the little plastics bags you use to clean up after your dog. The Purell dries out your skin as it evaporates, the dry socks...well, they are just a nice alternative to soaking wet ones, and the doggie bags go over your feet to keep your new dry socks from getting wet in your damp shoes. Works like a charm. Every self-respecting hiker should have one. We finished our hike for the day in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day relocating our entourage of vehicles further north. We even found a great little local dive where we had some yummy pasta and cherry pie. A good welcome to Connecticut!

Where they have very nice bridges. Made out of Lincoln Logs.