We woke up a little late again and had another feast at the deli for breakfast.  We were on trail by 1030 with continuing fantastic weather– mid 70s and no rain.  The terrain also continued to be rolling up and downs with little reprieve in between.  I got a message from Duck and Mishap, who were now two days behind us, that they were going into NYC for a “break”.  A break from slow hiking and motel siting I guess.  Such is the life of the pink blazer.  At a water spring, I ran into Bluebird again.  It was nice to catch up with her.  She also intended to head for the Pawling, NY park for free tenting.  We passed a really nice shelter that had bunks, a hand water pump, and even a scale to weigh your packs.  We rested there on some lounging lawn chairs that were provided– very pimp-daddy for a shelter.  We lounged for awhile until Anvil rolled in and also grabbed a lawn chair.  We hiked on and came across another swamp section where the trail has wooden planks installed through the wet lands.

We arrived at the road crossing to go into town where the trail is towered over by the largest and oldest oak tree on the trail– 20 feet circumference and 300 years old.  We hitched a ride into town and set up camp by the pavilion where instructed.  In the pavilion was a teenage beer party with four tables of beer pong.  The kids looked to be 16 ish and were getting blasted at 700 o’clock on a Sunday night.  I must be getting old but I was surprised by this as well as dismayed that they might mess with our tents while we went downtown.

We walked the half mile down town and resupplied at the CVS and hunkered down at the town tavern for dinner.  We returned at 10 and found the beer party disbanded and our stuff unmolested.  We crashed and noted that tomorrow we leave New York and hike into Connecticut.  Happy trails.