Day 65: Hemlock Springs Campsite to Ben’s House (28.1 miles)

July 16, 2004 - Got a very early start since I was meeting Ben today 28.1 miles down the trail. We had planned on meeting at 6 pm in Stormville NY so I left at 6:30 am since I thought the hiking would be like yesterday, which was very easy. Nice flat ground with not many ups and downs. No more than 500 ft in elevation change so I was hiking over 3.5 mph on the day. There wasn’t much to see because I didn’t go up very high so I really only took about an hour break on the day (30 min for lunch and a 30 min break about 5 miles from Stormville). There was almost no water sources on the trail so I made it the 28.1 miles on 50 oz of water. Made it to Stormville at 4 so I hiked the ½ mile to the store to get a snack then went back to the trailhead to wait for Ben. He showed up early because he had planned to run on the trail and run into me. So we drove back to Hartford, CT which is about 70 miles but we ran into so much traffic so it took close to 2 hours to get to Hartford. Waiting for me in the car was milk and cookies. Ben read my mind (that’s one of the things I always get when I get off the trail). I didn’t even tell him to bring it, so it was a nice surprise. Did some good eating when I got to his house and stayed up too late. Tomorrow I take my 4th zero day.

Ben picking me up on trail to take me back to his house