Aqua Blazing ... Anyone?

It is rumored that the liquor store just around the cornern gives away free 40oz to thru hikers. Bobwhite, her family and friends have taken us <Moose, Easy, Coach, Tag, Effect, Powder River> in for a few nights of "Glamping" at the State Park here in Cornwall, CT. The boys and Bobwhite are slackpacking 20 miles today while I rest up my right shin splint.

I'm sitting here with Powder River in the library drawing up plans for an "Aqua Blaze" on the Housatonic River. That's right, I'm going to skip a section of trail in CT. The legs need rest, but I want to keep up with my crew, so while they slack pack today and tomorrow, Powder and I will be running the river at about 4500 cubic feet per second. The hurricane's effect here peaked at 11,500 cu ft/sec on the Housatonic. Arie at the canoe rental in town says the water should drop for safe travel tomorrow with class 1 and 2 rapids. While looking at this on the AT map, I noticed that the river parallels the trail for quite a distance <from Dalton, Mass to Kent, CT>. The southward flow of the Housatonic river is convenient for SOBO's while the Shenandoah river's northward flow  in Virginia offers a 4 + day aqua blaze for NOBO's. Some NOBO's who are familiar with the Trail's history would Aqua Blaze the                         {Shenandoah National Park / SKyline-drive-paralleling section of A.T. <35 road crossings in 120 miles>} in rebellion. Benton McKaye was surely not wild about Skyline AutoDrive proposal in the 1930's especially since more access for motorists would compromise the Appalachian Trail's primitive setting. Other National Park officials saw this deal the other way around .... the Skyline drive as a huge development opportunity. So... therefore some NOBO hikers will skip the 120 miles in the national park and instead float along the river for a few days.

So I think this is now my best option if I want to stay with my friends... while also rest up a bit. The shin splint has been going on for 3 days now and the "fun-factor" is declining with this annoying-partially-useable-injury. What a convenient place to be debilitated! When Powder and I were looking at the maps, I started thinking "Huh, this makes a lot of sense, the river parallels the A.T!"