27 May.

27 May.
From: West Cornwall Rd
To: Limestone Spring shelter
Mileage: 13
Weather: Cloudy, cool, some light rain

The bunk at Bearded Woods hostel was extremely comfortable, but I did not sleep well. I took a 6:15am shower, not knowing my next opportunity. Then I stripped the bed linens and put them in the laundry bag.
Big Lu served a big breakfast of orange juice, cut toast, pineapple, and scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. Mmm!
After brushing my teeth, I finished packing up.
Hudson drove Pootz and I back to West Cornwall Road. Pootz was slackpacking to Falls Village CT while I was continuing to the next shelter.
Pootz and I hiked together, switching lead. Again, the trail was pleasant but not remarkable.
We stopped at a viewpoint for Lime Rock, a famous car race track at Falls Village CT according to Pootz. Being Memorial Day Sunday, we thought there might be a race, but were disappointed to see only a couple of cars checking the track. After we left, we heard revving engines, so our timing may have been off.
We ran into three young local hikers, who were only out for a couple of days. They followed us down to the road and went their own way.
After a short walk around a field, we ran into some mountain bikers who asked us about our hike and wished us well.
After some road walking, the trail ran along the Housatonic River before running into Falls Village. I lost sight of Pootz while putting on my poncho as it started to rain lightly. However, I caught sight of him entering town to look for Toymaker's Café, where we had agreed to have lunch. I caught up with him in town and we found the café, spotting another hiker going in. Pootz ordered a half-pound Angus burger and I ordered a turkey reuben. We invited the other hiker to join us. Her name was Happy Feet, a young woman from Switzerland who was hiking from Georgia but skipping sections as she only had three months. She was camping in Falls Village overnight to see the Memorial Day festivities on Monday.
Pootz decided to stay in town, where Hudson was to pick him up later and return to the hostel. I hiked on to the shelter for another three miles. On the way out of town I stopped to view an old weather instrument shelter that still had the wet and dry bulb thermometers, a NOAA rain gauge, and the outdoor water spigot/shower mentioned in AWOL's guide. There was a nice view of falls after crossing Iron bridge.
More pleasant trail climbing uphill. When I reached the shelter trail at 4pm, it was fairly gloomy but no rain. The trail to the shelter was half a mile, and the last part was steeply downhill along a small waterfall.
I found Roundabout Wraith at the shelter, though he was tenting nearby. He is Flip-Flopping south starting from North Adams MA, though he lives in SE New Hampshire. We had a nice chat, then were joined by a young family (mom, dad, two sons) on a weekend hike, who joined me in the shelter for the night.