"my yellow shirt has mold growing on it"

Sept 15

Ha! Just 5 more crossings to go!
58° Sunny
Appalachian National Scenic Trl, Mount Washington, MA, United States

Spent last night at Maria's. From the Dolomites. She's a little old lady who wants to be your mother. Best hostess on the trail

Sept 16

I'm always amazed at the ancient stone walls. Jumping us rocks fitted together. The walls can be 5 feet across. Did ______ build them ? (*I couldn't read this word in Judd's message....did he mean 'slaves' or 'druids?')

47° Partly Cloudy

Appalachian National Scenic Trl, Salisbury, CT, United States

SEPT 18:

Woke up at 0530 as the rain started and threw everything into the shelter before it got too wet. Spent the night here with 2 cups of water to cook supper and about a quarter cup more to sip on to get me three miles down the trail this morning to what I hope is the next water. Funny because the Housatonic River is right out front. All the signs say don't eat the fish and the water is polluted with PCB and heavy metals. I guess I'll just wait. I'm walking into Kent this morning. I want to look at a water filter. Lots of the water that's available looks full of sediment and my handkerchief only does so much. I might even consider a new shirt. My yellow one has mold growing on it. Last night I stayed at pine swamp brook shelter with a couple fellows. One named Haiku-San. Both were headed NOBO. They both woke up and left. I followed a bit behind. I got out to the AT on the trail into the shelter and couldn't remember which way to turn. I used the compass on my phone --one way went due north and one way went due south. Tadaa. I turned south. After about 2 hours I caught up to Haiku-San. He had not chosen wisely and now he had to hike 2 hours back to be on a NOBO tack. Oops.

Discounting the .8 miles to get into town where I might also get breakfast, today would be a short one to get to Mt. Algo shelter. But it looks like rain for 2 days.

67° Cloudy
Appalachian National Scenic Trl, Kent, CT, United States

*á la Melanie: Sept 18: I finally got Daisy to sleep in past 6am and I get a ping-text from Judd. He wants to know how the Almond Joy was.  He gets electronic receipts on his phone i.e. when I shop at Staples, and apparently the receipt is itemized in detail.  I told him I spontaneously bought HIM an Almond Joy and it's already packed in his next mail drop..... but he didn't believe me.  Guess I'm going to move towards cash only purchases to preserve my anonymity.....except for those Zappos shoes..... how do you pay cash for those?