Thursday May 23, 21.4mi/34.4km

Stewart Hollow shelter (1476.1) to Rands view campsite (1497.5) (CT)

It was so humid when I woke up this morning. I usually don’t camp by rivers for that reason (among others), but it was nice to be in a shelter during last night’s brief rainstorm. It was an easy start to the day, as the trail followed along the Housatonic River for another 2 miles.

Most of the morning was in a forest, going up and down some hills. There wasn’t much to see, just an occasional creek.

Crossing on flat stones, because there’s no bridge.

Just before lunch, we got to Split Boulder. The trail squeezes in between two massive rocks, almost like going up a chimney!

We stopped for lunch at a shelter, and I ate quickly, since I had to make it to the Post office by 4:30pm, with still 8 miles to go. The trail was again mostly in a green tunnel all afternoon, but it gave some nice flowers to look at.

And there was one view!

And of course, the PUD (pointless up and down) over this small hill.

After descending out of the forest, the last mile to town was thru some fields, and had cool views.

And I walked by a fancy looking school along the way.

I arrived to the Post office just before 4pm, and my package hadn’t arrived yet! The lady working there was super nice, and offered to forward it when it finally arrived. Perfect! I met Bob at a local restaurant for a burger, and then we hiked on another hour. On the way out of town, we passed by the waterfall for which the town is named.

It was a nice evening to hike, and mostly uphill.

We got to our planned camp spot at 7:30pm, and setup under some trees, next to this amazing view.

This is looking north, into Massachusetts and the southern Taconic mountains! We are so close to real mountains again!