[Fox]

Went out with 3 other guys last Friday night to Hike a section of the AT in north western CT. We stayed at Plateau Campsite just north of Salisbury. We got up early Saturday morning and shuttled a car south and then hit the trail. Our plan was to head south about 17 miles and camp again for the night.

The trail starts off in a pleasant wood that sneaks through the backyards of Salisbury. It comes out on Cobble Rd and intersects Rt 44. After a short walk on 44 you enter a field and skirt it before plunging into the woods. You’re almost immediately faced with the greatest challenge of the day… a steep uphill. It’s nothing daunting but you gain some decent height in a very short time. The trail then enters rolling hills and is very pleasant.

Passing Billy’s View and Giant’s Thumb (a really strange and large flat rock sticking up out of the ground) you come to Rand’s View.



Rand’s View is touted as on of the picturesque areas along the AT and it lives up to the advertised grandeur. Spectacular views were ours on this very clear day.


As we went up and over Mt Prospect one of our group started to complain of a lot of pain in his knee. He thought he could keep going but not very quickly.

We headed down Mt Prospect to Great Falls – another extremely picturesque area – and stopped for lunch. By this time the knee was giving him a constant pain and a burning sensation. We didn’t like the way this sounded.


After a quick look at the map we saw that the next few miles were fairly level and we decided to head a bit further south. We crossed the Iron Bridge and walked road past the old Power Plant and once again headed into the woods. After a few miles of level wide trail we came out near a high school for some more road walking. We intersected Rt7 and stopped at the AT parking lot. It was here that it was decided to call off the rest of our planned hike.

One of the guys headed south down Rt 7 to retrieve his car and we all headed to Norfolk for pizza. We ended up doing about 11.5 miles. We were 5 miles short of where we had planned to stay the night. Oh well.


The upside: The guy I normally hike with and I are heading back over to finish this section in a couple of weeks. We tacked a few more miles onto it so we can make a weekend of it. Another hike in the works.

More pix are here - http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c165/fox...AT%20Sept%2007/

[dudley]

Great pictures ..looks like you had a good time even though you didn't make the full distance.
I can relate to the sore knees... no more backpacking for me.
In picture #1.. "Strange colored Fungus".. That's called a sulfur shelf or chicken mushroom. Very distinctive looking and a choice edible when young and tender. That one looks to be over the hill.
The "giants thumb" is very cool looking .. Is there anything else you can tell us about that?

[Stickball13]

Better to stop than be sorry you didn't. Excellent pics.
Thanks

[Fox]

dudley, on Oct 3 2007, 04:41 PM, said:

Great pictures ..looks like you had a good time even though you didn't make the full distance.
I can relate to the sore knees... no more backpacking for me.
In picture #1.. "Strange colored Fungus".. That's called a sulfur shelf or chicken mushroom. Very distinctive looking and a choice edible when young and tender. That one looks to be over the hill.
The "giants thumb" is very cool looking .. Is there anything else you can tell us about that?

I would of never thought that that was edible.

Giant's Thumb was a very cool anomaly alongside the trail. I checked the AT guide for some background and all they say is that it was once called "Tomsteen Rock". A couple of hit on a Google search don't turn up much more. We joked about the need for a sacrifice before we were allowed to go on. The place is just odd. No weird creepy vibe...I've just never seen anything quite like it.

[Fox]

Stickball13, on Oct 3 2007, 05:08 PM, said:

Better to stop than be sorry you didn't. Excellent pics.
Thanks

That's what we thought too. I was worried that he may have torn a meniscus. The real good news is he's already recovered. Fatigue and maybe a little dehydration beat him that day. This was, BTW, his first ever backpacking trip.

The better news is he wants to try it again.

[Chris42]

Torn meniscus hmmm i have had issues with the good knee i have left this year. very similar sounding to the one your friend had. It started on the first multi day trip i did this yr. I was fine goin up hill, ok on flat ground, but i could barely walk on the down hill. I also thought it was due to dehydration and fatigue being the first trip. It lasted for week after the trip now it comes and goes. Maybe i did mess up my meniscus?