The Smell

The Unwashed and the Upper Crust in Connecticut. A fun article in the New York Times about the thru-hikers that enter high end towns in Connecticut. It did not mention that the first beer is free from Kent Liquors. Kent Market is a great place to get a sandwich in a town of over priced eateries. Really nice folks in there.

In towns like Kent, Salisbury, Cornwall and Falls Village, which are close to the 52-mile section of the Appalachian Trail that runs through Connecticut, unshowered hikers roam the same streets as well-dressed women in great round sunglasses and sweeping wide-brimmed hats. Porches of quaint inns accommodate antiques hunters along with hikers walking upwards of 15 to 25 miles in a single day. Fine food is not the exclusive domain of those accustomed to sleeping under a roof, on goose-down pillows and high-thread-count sheets.[...]
Over the years, the people who live in towns along the trail in Connecticut have come to accept, and in some cases embrace, the hobolike presence of rumpled hikers amid what remains an otherwise refined atmosphere. It is not uncommon for strangers to approach hikers on the street and start talking to them as if they were minor celebrities — never mind that major celebrities may be lurking nearby.