This is an unusual occurrence that happened on the NY-CT state line.
After we had had pizza and Coffee soda one day, at a pizzeria a little ways off trail, Daniel and I pressed a few more miles on to the next shelter, hoping to find our friend Werewolf, only to find that he had gone on to the next shelter some eight miles farther.
Our disappointment dissolved when I was able to give away as few Pasta sides to a fellow hiker, we pressed on, keeping a keen eye out for any good camping.
And after about a mile we found a passable spot, and wasting very little time, we set up and ate dinner.
Our hope was to get an extra early start the following morning by getting to bed early.
We were just about to retire for the night when a couple of teenagers came smashing through the woods.
They saw us and hesitated a moment, they seemed a little surprised to find us there.
"Oh, hello!" I greeted.
"We aren't trespassing are we?"
"Uh... Hey..." One of them answered awkwardly.
It was clear that these two were not hikers, they had no packs, and didn't seem to be there to see the trail.
They crashed through the woods on the other side of the hill from us, and we thought, at first, that they were cutting down a tree.
I went up the hill to see what they were doing as they came back up to the trail.
I gave them a friendly nod (I was brushing my teeth), and they just stared.
They kept shooting us nervous looks as they left, and something didn't seem right.
I turned back to Daniel as walked down the hill, and he had an odd expression on his face.
"What is it?" I asked.
"They just flipped us off..." Daniel answered.
Apparently, when they thought we weren't looking, they gave us a cowardly double handed salute.
"Knaves." I said aloud.
A little unsettled by this, we were in debate about leaving the area, thinking that they might return and vandalize us in someway, and decided to call home for their thoughts on it.
And as they advised us to move on, we packed up and night hiked the next two miles to Nuclear lake.
As to whether or not they would have bothered us again, I think that we made the right move and just moved on, and avoided any needless fights, rather than trusting that they were just cowardly plebeians.
We are in Kent, CT. Right now, approximately 1450 miles.
Nine states down, five more to go!
Sam looks tired!
ReplyDeleteVery happy for the updates. You may mention your reason for giving away pasta sides, and what a Pasta Side is. Or I could:
A Pasta Side is a pouch of quick cooking flavored pasta. Days and weeks of subsisting on these as meals has the Twins about as burned out as their stove. The stove went out a week or so ago, so they have found it necessary to eat foods that don't require cooking, until the replacement stove meets them a short ways up the trail. The pasta sides in their packs were dead weight until such a time as they get the new stove... and the fellow they blessed with them had run short of rations until his next mail drop. You burn a LOT of calories on the trail, and it is difficult to ration your meals. Win-Win- Win here! The twins lost the dead weight, and rid themselves of a food they are becoming loathe to look at... and the guy gained some food he didn't have to stretch out!