The county park where I slept last night is next to a river. But on the other side of the river is railroad tracks. And I counted 15 trains going by last night. Yes, I said 15 trains. I did not get much sleep. The banner picture for this post shows what I wanted to do to all of them.

It was very easy for me to get up on time and hit the restaurant before 7:00 when they opened. I went through downtown to get there just to check it out. They have a theater that’s actually showing the current movie Beetlejuice.

The restaurant was full of locals by the time I got there and it wasn’t even 7:00 yet. I had fun sitting at the counter chatting with them. A breakfast burrito and a cinnamon bun with coffee and I am gone.

The shoulder on the highway is not as wide as it looked on Google satellite but it is just white enough. There is two feet of pavement and three feet of gravel. It takes me awhile to realize that the well-born path in the gravel is for Amish buggies. The hoof prints are in the gravel right next to the road, so they drive with one wheel on and one wheel off.

Within an hour I am passed by a buggy with three young kids in it. None of them are older than 10 years old. They are looking at me like I am the tourist attraction.

About half way to Cornell, I meet a hiker coming the other way. She was Beer Girl, and we talked for about 30 minutes sharing intel on the trail ahead. She is heading to the restaurant that I just left and I am heading to the one that she just left. Small world.

The chat ate up half my margin of comfort in making the restaurant before they close at 2. Right now I should get there at 1:30.

The remaining 2 1/2 hours go by smoothly and I am in town eating a gyro sandwich and cole slaw. There is a Laundromat next door but it seems kind of pricey. I have a light load and not sure I want to hang out in town and extra two hours for laundry. Maybe next stop.

I resupply at the grocery across the street. I only have three items on my list, but I buy six things. One of them is a sub sandwich for dinner tonight. I purposely ate before going to the grocery, but the dried apricots looked so good. It’s been a while since I have had fruit.

The trail is official blue trail now through town, so I follow all the turns they have planned. First to the park where I fill up my water bottles, then to the river walk, then by the visitor center. I find out the town is named after Ezra Cornell, but he never lived here. That’s a powerful man.

There are a few more miles of road walking tonight, then some real trails again. I am only going 7 or 8 miles out of town to a campsite because I have a short day tomorrow, only 20 miles. Then the day after is a big 30 miler.

The first section of trail is a long the Chippewa river and is really nice. The second section starts out as logged forest where they never bothered to come get the logs they cut. What a waste.

I meet a second hiker when I am near the campsite I was planning on stopping at. She is Stambler, and hikes until dark like me, but starts about an hour earlier. She started on the 3rd and today is the 11th, so 8 days to here. I plan on finishing in 7 more days, so a similar pace.

There is another campsite 4 miles ahead that I would get to at 7 pm, which would be perfect for today, but then tomorrow would be a 16 mile day and that would be awkwardly short to camp at a campsite.

I go ahead and make camp at my intended stop and shortly thereafter a third hiker ambles into camp. This one is named Watercolors. I am already in the tent, so there is no chitchat.

Now all that is left to do is blog and eat my sandwich.

Emotion of the day, Happy

Everything went well today. The road walk was not bad. The weather was cool. I got a real breakfast and a real lunch. I met three hikers. And the campsite is level, but thick with mosquitoes. All in all, 9.5 out of 10 stars.