Al Robbins' (Free Spirit)

FALL '99 Appalachian Trail (AT) hike

Appalachian Trail Journal Part 2

Dates ........ SAT SEPT 18, 1999
Miles ........ 19.1 miles
From ........ CT - LIMESTONE SPRING SHELTER
To ............. CT SILVER HILL CAMPSITE
Weather ... Clear and cool -60's the sun returns.


SAT SEPT 18, 1999

Eastern Connecticut's Appalachian Mountain area is beautiful - geographically. The excessively stringent rules along the AT Connecticut corridor combined with the very expensive tourist towns remind you that it is just a big rich suburb of NYC. The Housatonic is a beautiful boulder and rock strewn trout stream nestled in the valley of the Appalachian Mountains - normally. Now it is a muddy, swirling, rushing river over its banks in many places.

I am the last to leave the shelter. We drop down off the mountain into the Housatonic Valley and come to Falls Village. The rushing of the water and sound of the falls can be heard long before the river is reached. The trail goes along the Housatonic River and adjacent road, past a hydroelectric plant and high school, over the river again and onto Sharon Mountain in the Housatonic State Forest. Here, you are hardly aware that this is Connecticut - it is so rugged and beautiful. Views of adjacent Red Mountain and the Housatonic Valley and the rolling hills, still lush and green, are interrupted frequently by road crossings to remind you that you are only in a narrow corridor of wilderness - that you are surrounded by civilization not too far away.

Several stream crossings prove challenging - their bridges washed out or the normal fording spots under several feet of rushing water. Usually, by going up or down stream you can find a crossing, but sometimes wading is the only way. Determined to keep my boots and sneakers dry, I gingerly pick my footing as I cross barefoot, my walking stick helping maintain balance in the cold, swift water.

Just after crossing CT Route 4 the trail gets very steep and rocky as it climbs and traverses Silver Hill. Reminds me a lot of Pennsylvania. I find the Silver Hill campsite very nice - a clearing on a solid rock hilltop with a pavilion, water pump, deck, and privy. I set up camp on a picnic table under the pavilion as a large flock of Canadian geese fly noisily over. A blonde med student from Columbia U joins me briefly before moving on - he uses public transportation to get to the trail every weekend for his hiking. Barred owls call to one another in the middle of the night.

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Spring/Fall hikes - 15miles/day - Contact Al. aljohn@jmclum.com.
Last Updated 5/4/2000