Date: 2014-06-22
From: palisades pkwy visitor cntr

To: stealth camp 
Miles today: 24.6
Weather: broken clouds

Brenda fixed me up a great breakfast early on sunday morning to get me going with a full tank of fuel. It was so nice to stay with them, its always hard to leave a nice place with people that offer for you to stay as long as i want. Tim got me back to the trail early and provided two twelvw packs of soda for trail magic. I left them in the median of the palisade pkwy, just where everyone would think there was soda. My day started with a reasonable climb up west mtn with some nice views. Going down the other side toward bear mt i could hear the distinct sounds of sports cars going through the valley road. As i got closer to the road crossing i could still hear them and wondered what was going on, i love the sound of fast cars. When i got to the point i could see the road the first car to go by was a ferrari. Whoa. Then another one then a porsche, a few corvettes, more porsche, more ferrari, a few i didnt know what they were too. They didnt seem to be going fast, just cruising up the winding road. I crossed and headed up bear mtn. When i got to the top i saw all these cars parked in the parking lot on the mtn. I asked a lady what it was, she said it was a car club that goes out and rides around together. I videoed them leaving, some really expensive cars. There were a couple lamborghinis and maseratis too. The best part was that there was a dodge charger and a mini cooper mixed in and at the end of the video a guy on a bicycle goes by, humorous. Now it was time to decend bear mtn toward the onslaught of day hikers i knew would be coming up on a beautiful sunday morning. It wasnt long till the masses were on their way up the hill. On girl in particular had on the perfect sporty outfit all perfectly clean. She had a gray nike t shirt, hot pink stretch pants (for freedom of motion on the big climb) and spotless gray and hot pink nike sneakers. As i was coming down she was heading up but had come to an 8" diameter log across the trail and was having trouble figuring out how to get herself over without marring her gear. She finally went way to one side and stepped as high and as far over as she could so for as to get no bacteria laden tree debri on her. I have little tolerance for that kind of person right now. I always give a bit of credit for being out doing it but 'hikers' like this rub me the wrong way. I should have bumped into her as i passed her on the trail. That would have surely sent her over the edge. Then at the bottom there is a lake and a boat load of campsites, the kind of campsites you car camp at. There were people everywhere cooking out and running around having big family picnics. Big crowds effect me the same way tree bacteria effect the sporty hiker. I walked way over to one side to avoid this as much as i could and went to a happy place in my mind. Then the trail turns across a road and thru the zoo. Yes, we walk throo a zoo. It was neat except for the cages bit its probably safer that way. The brown bear 'habitat'is the lowest point on the AT. I thought to myself, ok little buddy, its all uphill from here! Out the back of the zoo we head over the bear mtn bridge over the great hudson river. This was very cool. The hudson is a historic river and there i was, looking down at it from high above and at the north end of the bridge i passed the 1400 mile point. This was big. There is a time and a place to walk fast, this was not one of those times. I soaked this up and savored the moment. It seems that the further i go the more i cant believe i have gone this far. From the road i turned back into the woods and up to Anthonys nose. On the way up i passed a father and his young daughter out for a day. The daughter thought what i was doing was so neat. She had a bunch of questions. I thought it was impressive that a @12 year old girl would so interested so i took the time to answer everything she had to ask. When i passed and oulled away from them i heard her yell ahead, 'good luck lunch, i know youll make it!!' I think a bead of sweat came from my eye area. I yelled back 'thanks little buddy, keep being awesome!!' Its amazing what a little thing can mean to a person, and it came from a twelve year old. It was honest and pure, she knows i will make it, no nonsense, belief. On up the trail i took the 0.6 mile side trail to the views. Hmmm, it was nice and the view was good but again too many people for a 1.2 mile detour. Back on the trail i found a perfect log for lunch. I sat and enjoyed grilled chicken compliments of last nights host. Again i had a fancy trail lunch, thats just how i like to do it. Not long after lunch i passed canadia and red. I hadnt met them yet. They are both from north of the border and both had canadian flags on their packs. Most of the foreign people had their flag on their packs. Nobody that i have seen has an american flag. Why? I cant say but it needed to change. I wasnt sure how i was going to go about getting a little flag but i recalled seeing something on tv for memorial day that people made a design out of 65000 little flags so i knew they were out there. I needed to make a point of finding one. This is not a bad country and im proud to live here. Then i passed the graymoor spiritual life center. If it wasnt a half mile from the rrail i would have gone to see it. They let campers stay free so i already like them. Its supposed to be a really beautiful place but i will just have to come back and see it. From there it was about 8 miles through the woods till my next good water. The walking was pretty good so i wasnt concerned. I again marvelled at the stone walls running through the woods. Nj and ny have had miles of stone walls. Some perfect some more like piles in a line but they go all over. Somebody must have cleared this land and tried to grow something here. That amazes me, the land is terrible its so rocky. What could they possibly grow here? It makes me think of an old timey farmer i know that has a saying "you buy meat, theres bone in it. You buy land theres stone in it." These people bought land and it was stone. At the dennytown rd i could get water from a spiggot. I met Hard times there. He is a nice german fella and was taking a break with his boots off. He had intentions of hiking 6 more miles that night. Not me i said, i only want to go about three more. We talked for a bit and drank water we didnt have to filter. The bad thing was that we both had to carry water for dinner and breakfast. Adding 2 liters (4lb) makes a big difference, especially at the end if the day. I found a good tent spot and got set up amongst the mosquitos. I had on repellant that was doing a good job but they still like to buzz around. I hung food and got in my tent. I had a good long day and saw many a sight from overpopulated day hikerland to back country quiet beaver ponds. This is what makes this such an adventure. Im glad im on it.