The 4th and a side trip home
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2010
1
25
26
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Wingdale, New York
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Made it to New York! Camping at the weak Fitzgerald
falls with Thin mint, Kricket and Greendog. Slept well in front of the
firehouse until the garbage man came by and emptied every dumpster
around us. Resupplied at the market. Went out for breakfast. Got an
easy hitch back to the trail. Got a late start. Hiked to get ice
cream after lunch. Saw a big snake later in the day. Hiking today was
tough. This was the most amount of climbing we've done on the trail.
Fun but long days. Were trying to work on our 4 of July plan tonight
by the fire
7/2
18 hard miles today. Staying at Jim Brien Shelter. Slept poorly
by the water fall last night. New York has been hard hiking. Lots of
up and downs, climbs handover hand, and rocky. Found trail magic
beers and fruit. On the other side of the street was more magic.
Tent Man gave us cold drinks, fruit and candy. He also gave us new
hiking socks. After that we had to climb hand over a couple of times.
We climbed though a tight spot known as lemon squeeze. Went down to the
lake picnic area hoping to score some cookout food. No luck and the
lake was closed for swimming. New York continues to be difficult. The
terrain is rocky and not flat. There are a lot of steep short climbs
that wears u down! Oh yeah I almost forgot I grabbed a 6 foot long
snake today! 1st time Ive ever done that!
7/3
15 miles. Staying at the baseball field at a Franciscan monastery.
Slept really well last night. We climbed 3 mountain today! Tough day
plus it was 90! I'm still hiking with Green Dog, Kricket and thin
mint. We came upon some Hindus doing a religious ceremony. They gave
us oranges. Climbed bear mountain hung out for a while and took and
afternoon nap. Got more food from a biker. Hiked though a zoo! And
over a bridge! And by alot of picnicers who wouldn't share food with
tired and hungry hikers. Lol. I set up my tent near the pitchers
mound. This is how my day ended: Right now I'm laying in a baseball
field at a monastery in New Yew Watching UP on a outdoor screen.
There's stars in the sky and the Church group gave us watermelon!
"Good night and good luck"
7/4!!
Slept really well. Hiked 12 miles. We were going to go to a
campground but we decided to illegally hitch into Cold Springs. Some
locals told us there would be good fireworks there! Me, Kricket,
Green dog and Thin Mint found the cheapest bar around. Stayed so long
the cook invited us to crash at his house! So we stayed at the bar
till show time. We saw the fireworks over the Hudson! Good times. We
went out to eat later and crashed around midnight. I haven't been up
that late in a while.
7/5
Ray and his friends were partying all night while we slept on the
couches. Woke up early got breakfast. Then we watched pineapple
express and Good Will Hunting. We walked to the convenient store to find
a ride back to the trail. The lady at the store gave us all the left
over bagels and Danishes from the morning! We finally got on the
trail around 1pm. Hiked on 7 miles and are staying at the rph
shelter. Going to bed early tired from yesterday and the heat has been
beating us Down. It was another 90 degree day in the Forrest.
7/6
20 miles and 100 degrees! it was so hot today! i got an early start to beat the heat but that didn't help. i hiked to a deli and got a sweet ass sandwich for lunch. hiked some more miles and ended up by Nuclear Lake. the lake is a site of a old nuclear power plant. the lake is OK to swim in they tell us. so we went swimming and hung out for a couple hours. later in the day the heat killed me. i called a cab and rented a room. everybody came and crashed in the nice cool a/c.
I'm heading home for a several days. taking a little break from the trail. ill be back out on Monday! see you soon
