FALLS VILLAGE

AT Day 087: Monday July 3, 2023

Mile 1482 + 17.5 miles/28.2 km

Total Distance Hiked: 1499.5 miles/2413  km

Silver Hill Campsite – Falls Village 

A:3278 ft / 999.8 m  D: 3596 ft /1097 m

Big Agnes Hilton took a pounding last night. The rain arrived while we were setting up camp and it just got stronger. It rained pretty much all night, stopping just before the light of dawn broke the darkness.  We packed our soggy gear and headed off around 6am. 

We were grateful that the rain had stopped so we could break camp without getting soaked.  The air was humid, it was like hiking in a sauna with fat water drops falling from the trees and wet grass, wet slippery rocks and tree roots reminding you of how much worse it could be if it was still raining.  There are days when I swear this trail just wants to break us. And today was feeling like one of those days.

Today is our second day hiking in Connecticut and our impression is that Connecticut has water,  lots and lots of water.  This morning we had several stream crossings.  The first one we took a bypass around because the creek was flowing too high after the overnight rains and the others were just flowing swiftly but had  good stepping stones to get across. 

This mornings hiking was a struggle for both of us. The terrain was not overly challenging, it just wasn’t overly interesting.  It was close to 10am when  we came to a road crossing. The sun was breaking out in patches.  So we figured we would stop,  take our soaking wet shoes off,  have lunch and also try to dry out the tent. Hopefully this will prove to be a mental reset for the day. I checked the weather and it looks like it will be dry for a while with a thunderstorm coming back about 3:00pm. 

We felt re-energized by the lunch stop. The weather prediction has been so changeable. It’s been hard to predict when we should aim to stop for the day and since camping is restricted to designated sites and shelters  it determines where you need to get to in a day. 

In the early afternoon we were approaching Route 112.  Loud noise from what sounded like racing cars, reverberated up the mountain. It was almost an hour before we actually saw that there was a racing car track down below.

We went past Belters campsite too early to stop for the day and the next shelter was too far for us to reach before the rain is predicted to arrive. So we took a blue blazed trail off the AT  to a small town – Falls Village. We couldn’t get accommodation in the village or nearby so we ended up camping behind the Toymaker’s Cafe. The lovely owners, who used to run the cafe –  which is now closed, allow passing hikers to camp in their yard. When we set up the sun was shining and we managed to dry our dirty socks. It wasn’t long before the clouds closed in and rolling  thunder and rain arrived. 

Falls Village is so lovely. Beautiful tall, well kept buildings and a sense of a close knit and arty community, which we discovered when later in the day we went to dinner at the Falls Inn. It was burger night and the dinning room was packed. It was the first time I realised that we are dirty and probably smelly hiker trash. I was so conscious of this while sitting down at the bar surrounded by well dressed folks –  pastel polo shirts and linen dresses – that kind of crowd.  Hammer was not so concerned, he thought we were fine. At least my fingernails were clean, which is not an easy feat. Tonight I really missed my city life, I didn’t like feeling so alien. Hammer did not give it a second thought. He felt right at home, despite the unkept hair and beard.  When we left the Inn after dinner the rain had stopped.  Just after hiker midnight the rain came back.