Appalachian Trail – Connecticut- June 2023

This turned out to be quite the adventure, one that ultimately did not happen as planned.

My daughter and I had planned to hike the Connecticut section of the Appalachian Trail this year and the planning and training went really well. Our emergency plan did not include a forest fire in Canada smoking us out.

Our trip was planned for June 30- July 4, 2023. We had a full travel and staging day planned for June 29th. As we drove across New York, it became abundantly clear(or not in the case of the smoke) that we were driving into a problem. We regularly checked the air quality, and as we got closer to Connecticut, it was not getting better, in fact, it was getting worse. The winds Thursday- Saturday were predicted to be in the 2 mph range out of the south and west, essentially sitting the smoke right where we needed to go. The prediction for our hike Friday and Saturday was 24 miles of hiking in dangerous air quality. The next three days following that was storms. In an 11th hour decision, at 1900 on Thursday night, I made the decision to cancel the hike.

Cancelling the hike did not solve all the problems. Namely, we had just driven 8 hours to hike and spent several hundred dollars on equipment, food and lodging. What were we to do? Oh, and it was Fourth of July weekend. Fortunately, I was able to find a reasonable campground and we decided to car camp the weekend and section hike sections of the trail we were planning to hike.

Hemlock Hill Camping Resort- great little campground. It was really meant for resident campers. It was not real tourist friendly, with only two toilet facilities that were a long way away from our campsite. It served the purpose though and was clean.

https://hemlockhillcampresort.com/

Two photos: the bright one is on Thursday and the darker on is the same spot on Friday. We ultimately were happy with our decision

On Friday, we were not able to complete a single planned hike. On our first attempt, we made it about .80 miles before Faith’s asthma started bothering her and she began experience labored breathing. We would instead bum around the area and checked out a cool museum dedicated to old machinery.

Day 3 – Saturday

We planned several hikes and again were thwarted by bad air, mileage was bit longer today, but air quality was still not good.

Day 4 – finally some real mileage. Today we completed 10.89 miles of hiking. Rain came through overnight and air quality was much more improved.

https://sharonlandtrust.org/featured_item/mary-moore-preserve/

https://ct.audubon.org/centers/sharon-audubon-center

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/connecticut/pine-knob-via-appalachian-trail-loop?sh=054eqz

Day 4- Sunday July 2

It was our plan to at least get the last planned hike that would have closed off our Connecticut AT thru hike. Because of where the state line is in Connecticut/ Massachusetts, our original plan was hike 46 miles to Salisbury, Connecticut, camp in a parking lot there and then tackle the 46 mile Bear Mountain loop which was about 6 miles. Today, we finished our Connecticut adventure with this hike.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/connecticut/bear-mountain-trail?sh=054eqz

There was a lot of water running through this section. I would rate this trail a 10/10 in hikeability. Just difficult enough to be challenging but over as soon as you start feeling like you have had enough. A lot of info said go counterclockwise on this trail. I would go clockwise to do the seep stuff last.

The food.

This was supposed to be a backpacking trip and we did not anticipate car camping. We did not have the full car camping box packed and this is something I plan to rectify soon. Out cooking means were two butane stoves and a grill. We made it work and at just fine. We also found some great ice cream and baked goods, the best part of any adventure.

https://www.arethusafarm.com/new-index

The lesson

It is okay to bail on an adventure. In this case like our Pa/ Maryland hike a few years ago, the trail will always be there, there is always next time. We made the best out of a bad situation and we had a great time.

The biggest lesson was spend time with your kids. My wife and I are in the final years of having our kids at home. As a family therapist, I always tell my clients that it is our job to creat meaning for our children. This trip was all about meaning making and bonding with my amazing 16 year old. The wrinkles only go where the smiles have been.