River Road to West Cornwall Road

It felt good to be back on the trail again.  However, the good feeling wore off before we got to the end of the hike.

The hike was almost equally divided between 5.5 miles of flat and 5.5 miles of steep ascents followed by steep descents.  For me, the climbs came first as I was hiking south, as usual.  Sometimes, its hard to get out of the truck and immediately start a steep climb, but I’d far rather do that at the beginning of the hike than at the end when I’m dog tired.

I think the trail in Connecticut is pretty.  Sure, the climbs and descents are too steep.  I’d love to see a few switchbacks, but the forest is open and there are often good views from the tops of each of these climbs.  We had one great view today complete with a rock to sit on and enjoy a short break.  There were other views, but they required walking on side trails to the edge.  I’m not one to go out of my way, especially if it’s to a view I’ve already seen.

I felt like I was back on the roller coaster with all the ups and downs.  I finally ran into Gene about halfway up the last climb.  We found a rock to sit on and took a long lunch break.

My second half of the hike was down right easy.  After I got down to the river, the trail followed an old road bed along the west bank of the Housatonic for about 4 miles.  Then the trail followed the gravel River Road all the way to the truck.  The trail description from Trails.com claims this is the longest flat stretch of trail on the AT.  I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it sure was a relief after the earlier workout.  I was almost too tired to enjoy this stretch and I felt sorry for Gene having all those ups and downs at the end of a long day.

I think that’s all I know for today or at least it’s all I have the energy to write about.