New York

Day 55, August 1

We set off at 5:09 am with a lack of enthusiasm after the previous night's ordeal with the flu. Jenny was not feeling any symptoms, but she suffered for me, so she had not slept well either. We hiked past a pair of trail side tents, thru-hikers, presumably, asleep within. A short while later we hiked a spur trail to a hand pump where we collected water for filtering. At 5:30 in the morning the air had not relinquished it's nighttime chill, and the water from the deep well was cold and refreshing, and Jenny took a Dundo shower (sitting under the spigot).

At 8:00 am we were rising from a rest stop when a thru-hiker passed us. He said his trail name was "Toe Truck." He walked with a style worth commenting on: as though walking on a sidewalk with a constant stride, placing his feet indiscriminately, while letting his boots fall onto the rocks wherever they may.

After passing a crowd of about 30 hikers from the Appalachian Mountain Club, we descended to NY 17 Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out . Posted on two trees were a pair of notices stating that Harriman State Park was closed due to extreme forest fire danger, and that thru-hikers were to leave the AT and walk roads through the park. We were reluctant to leave the AT, as we did not want to miss any of it. So we decided, instead, to adopt a wait and see attitude. Crossing over the New York State Thruway (NY 17) we came to the trail-head and found that it was neither barricaded or manned. I wondered whether the park service might have been turning a blind eye to any faithful trail slaves such as ourselves.

We followed the trail up into the hills. it was imprinted with fresh boot tracks, and in fact we saw a pair of day hikers. The rolling hills were beautifully endowed with forests of mainly conifer, with little understory. One could see great distances, which was a novelty. But the trail twisted and turned, climbed and descended incessantly, and had us feeling that we were going merely round and round.

^Little Dam Lake^41.263910^-74.190074^

Reaching Arden Valley Road we turned right and walked three-tenths a mile to Lake Tiorati Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out . Picnickers were here in droves. In the public rest rooms we enjoyed cold but soapy showers, and we filled our water bottles. In the picnic area were amicable people of many nationalities. And of course the air wafted thick with tantalizing aromas of their barbecues. Hungry though we were, though, we did not envy them their food. It was enough to simply enjoy their company. We found a place among them near a water faucet, and sitting on a rock we drank water and snacked on our few remaining tortilla chips.

Returning to the trail, we followed it a couple miles, crossed the next road speedily lest a ranger happen along, and continued ahead. This section was more gently graded, so it afforded good progress. We passed by the William Brien Memorial Shelter, and after hiking another half a mile, stopped at 7:55 pm, and pitched the tent alongside the trail.

Day's mileage: 23.3

Day 56, August 2

We set off at 5:06 am, agreeing that we would abbreviate our journal entries in order to save valuable time. From the summit of Black Mountain we enjoyed panoramic views of valleys filled with a sea of silvery fog. Away to the north stood Bear Mountain, marked by its observation tower. We descended Black Mountain to Beechy Bottom where we crossed the high-speed Palisades Interstate Parkway Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out . We were surprised by a sign that read: "NY City 34 Miles".

While climbing Bear Mountain we were chagrined to find that the trail followed the paved road for half a mile. We had not yet exited Harriman State Park, which hikers were supposed to bypass. Still, the morning was early, and only one car passed us by. Thankfully not a ranger. We paced quickly around the tower and breathed sighs of relief when we re-entered the cover of woods. We came upon a fawn, perhaps four or five days old. It showed us little concern. Later, as we began the descent of Bear Mountain we came upon a deer browsing the tops of the tall huckleberry plants. It allowed us to pass by within a few yards.

Eventually we reached the bottom of Bear Mountain and entered the Bear Mountain Inn Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out , a magnificent old structure. The eateries had not yet opened for the morning so we sat in the vending machine-game room and fed the snack machines like Las Vegas gamblers.

Harriman State Park was now behind us, meaning that we could breath easier as we followed the trail leading along a Hessian Lake and its attendant picnic sites awash with the litter of the weekend picnickers. Trash cans? They were everywhere and mainly empty.

Next, the trail led through one of the more fun areas of the 2,100 mile distance: The Bear Mountain Trailside Museum and Zoo. Small signs depicted a wide variety of trees. Indigenous animals were caged as were a variety of snakes and reptiles. We came upon two women staring incredulously at a pair of deer not too far off the paved way. "Are they real?" one of them asked us? Jenny spoke to a pretty antlered buck: "Are you real?" The deer turned its head as though nodding, and Jenny reported comically back to the lady, "Yes, they're real, alright."

We stopped before a statue of Walt Whitman, and read part of his poem, "Song of the Open Road". It suited us perfectly.

"Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose. "Henceforth I ask not good-fortune — I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road."

Incidentally, we learned that the AT through the zoo is the lowest elevation on the entire route - at 125 feet - and that these sections through the park were one of the first constructed, back in the early 30s.

We left the route and hiked to the town of Fort Montgomery, indicated in the Data Book as seven-tenths mile off route. Had we known it was actually one and one-tenth, we would not have done so. Nevertheless, we were glad to buy food at the market Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out .

Back on "trail," we walked across the massive Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River, then breathed sighs of relief when our trail re-entered the woods and left the frenzied traffic behind.

Later we met two hikers sitting beside the trail, "Continental Drift" and "Sleeping Beauty" from Miami. And then an hour after that we met another couple "Georgia Breeze" (Ken) and his girlfriend "Pluck". Ken is from Georgia, and said he thought the heat and humidity would not bother him, but he told us that this turned out not to be so. We walked with these two for a mile and enjoyed a most pleasant conversation. Like the other couple, they were headed for the Graymoor Monastery, so at the road junction we wished them fair well. Pluck asked us to write in the registers so they could keep track of us.

The day was humid and warm, and of course the trail was essentially waterless because of the drought. So we were glad to reach the spigot at Dennytown Road Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out . I filled the water bag by pumping the handle furiously, but it was Jenny who discovered it's secret: pull the handle up and wait a few moments: Voila, the water flowed by itself. So much for the engineering, analytical mind.

A park ranger happened by and warned us rather sternly that camping was not allowed anywhere but in the (distant) campgrounds. Signs were posted that the trails were closed, again due to extreme forest fire danger, so we were relieved when the fellow drove away.

We hiked another two miles, hoping to get our thirty, but the flashlight battery gave way, leaving us stumbling down the trail at a snail's pace. At 9:20 pm we stopped and pitched the tent. In the heat and humidity we could hardly bear to enter the tent, but the insects convinced us otherwise.

Day's mileage: 27.5

Jenny had a large stripe of poison ivy inflammation on her arm and a number of dots on her leg. She had been treating them with Kenelog for the last few weeks. She believe she had contracted it during a hasty pit stop.

Day 57, August 3

We set off at 5:04 am, shuffling along the dimly lit trail, me hacking phlegm. The flu bug had got right hold but I decided that since my legs were fairly unaffected we would carry on. We came to Canopus lake Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out and enjoyed a refreshing swim despite the early hour. The morning was warm, but the humidity was not as high. Every trailhead featured a "Trail Closed" sign. Every creek and spring was dry. Once again the sky harbored clouds, but they seemed to lack moisture.

Eventually we reached the RPH Cabin Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out , the garage of which is set up for hikers to use as a shelter-hostel. There, we met Toe Truck again. He had hitched around Harriman State park, and was surprised to learn that we had not. (we later learned that we were among the very few to hike through Harriman.) One of the shelter's amenities was a scale; I weighed in at 172; Jenny at 125. After drinking some water and topping our two quart-sized Gatorade bottles, we hiked to NY 52 Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out . From there we hiked half a mile to a market and deli, where we enjoyed a hearty round of BBQ sandwiches. The owner had given us a double quantity of BBQ meat.

The day was very warm, the humidity not as high as yesterday, and the clouds were intermittent. We sweated profusely. Typically, We divided each day into thirds. We tried to hike 10 miles between 5 am and 10 am, 10 more miles between 10 am and 3 pm, and a final 10 from 3 pm to 8 pm. This average of 2 mph might seem easy to achieve, but with all the stops along the way, the steep hills, etc, this was difficult to maintain, particularly in such torridity.

We were on schedule in the late afternoon, although extremely thirsty, when we reached West Dover Road Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out (CO 20). There we found a sign placed by the Cooke family inviting hikers to come to their house for ice water. Holly Cooke greeted us and sat on the front porch with us as we guzzled water. She said the day's humidity was only about 70% and had been up in the 90%s previously.

She and her husband were computer AutoCad specialists and AT maintainers. I asked a few questions about why the trail is, (humph) like it is. In a nutshell, her answer was that the higher-ups in the organization are ignorant of the hikers' plights, and that they are essentially on power trips. Therefore, they are beyond listening. She and her husband were quite fed up with such politics, and yet they remained sympathetic toward hikers.

Thanking Holly profusely for her hospitality, we resumed the trek. After a vicious attack by mosquitoes and deer flies we reached another heavily polluted creek, yet as we had earlier that day we enjoyed a refreshing dip. In such tremendous heat, a hiker is not very particular. Next came a Railroad Flag Stop Click on "trail segment"
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then zoom out with a sign reading "Appalachian Trail." Climbing a long hill by flashlight, we stopped at 9:12 pm and pitched the tent near the trail.

Day's mileage: 30.0