Date: 2005-08-02
From: Warwick, NY

To: Graymoor Friary, NY
Miles today: 37.0

30 JulyDecided to stay at Betsy¢s a little longer. She fed us breakfast, and then had the boys do some work for her while I walked by/in the river. At noon we went out to a little neighboring town where Betsy and her son were in a musical play ¢Oliver¢. Got ice cream from a man that has a degree in sprinkle-dipping, and then went to the performance, which was spectacular, with live music, and lots of children actors. We still sing the songs from it on the trail! (¢Oliver, Oliver, who ever heard of a boy ask for more?¢ ; ¢Food, glorious food¢¦¢ all the songs were very applicable to our trail journey.) Afterwards, went to Betsy¢s friend¢s house for a cookout and some trampoline jumping with an awesome view of the surrounding mountains; and I met his triplet daughters, one of whom was in the play (I¢ve never met triplets before!). Got dropped off at the trailhead in the evening, and walked 2 mi to the first shelter for the night.31 JulyUp early, and solo hiking till breakfast at Mombasha NYC overlook site, where NYC cannot be seen because of trees, but even if there were no trees, we¢d only see mist and smog. The afternoon heat made me nauseated today, so we took a break under some trees off the trail. We made slow, tired progress toward the Lemon Squeezer in Harriman State park, but came out to a lake and decided to camp near the water. We took a blue blaze trail around the lake. Soon, the trail was also marked by horizontal white blazes, black blazes, and aqua-green blazes. A couple of miles later, a yellow-blazed trail joined the one we were walking on. The blazed trees looked like Christmas trees, but without a map we weren¢t sure we¢d ever come to anything lakeside. We pitched tents in a tiny grassy area adjacent to the trail and passed out.1 Aug¢We¢re bound to hit a road,¢ we both said over and over, debating whether to keep on this multi-colored trail or to return to the AT. We backtracked, found the Lemon Squeezer (aka pack-shredder, aka knee-shredder). Hiked over lots of mini rollercoaster ups and downs thru endless blueberries all the way to the Fingerboard shelter, but I felt slow and brain-dead today. The shelter was either charred or black dirty, w/o privy, w/o register, w/o water, so we blue blazed down to Lake Tiorati for a shower, water, lunch, and ice cream (the latter is the most important). Blue blazed back to the AT, and I know why they¢re called ¢blue blazed trails¢ now ¢ there is very little traffic, so there are infinitely more blueberries! One might think that I¢d be stuffed sick of blueberries by now; one might think wrong. But just to make some miles, I called quits on the blueberries for the day; of course, several steps later we ran into bushes of blackberries and wine berries, and a large black snake that didn¢t even phase me. Met the first SOBOs today ¢ all the way from Katahdin! This is exciting ¢ means we¢re getting closer; they¢ve been out for 2 months, and the NOBOs only have 2 months to go. Watched a peach sunset from West Mtn, where we camped and roasted marshmallows. I suggested a soft, grassy spot for camping, but Starchy decided against it, as a result of which I slept with rocks between my ribs. Thank you, Snikers, for the encouraging note at the William Brien shelter to keep my journal going!!2 AugRush out to squat under a tree first thing in the morning, right as GQ, RARA + dad walk by, ¢Hi Cucumber! How are you, Cucumber?¢ Of course, I tell them to keep walking, that I¢m peeing, that they should keep walking, keep walking. But all three of them come to a halt and stare at me, till RARA squeals, ¢Oh, how embarrassing!¢ We walked as fast as we could to Bear Mtn ¢ we were short on water, and getting to a civilized location (with water) was key. Down, down through a zoo and a park, into Ft. Montgomery for a maildrop, hamburgers and ice cream. Walking along the road (to town) is like walking on a skillet ¢ it is soooooo hot! Then, we rushed to the Greymoor Friary to get there by 4pm for dinner. But instead of friars and dinner, a man with a dog pulled up, ¢If you give me $17, I might get you a pizza.¢ Turns out, we hungry hikers had been forgotten! We read in the shelter register all about the yummy food and interesting friary tours that have been given to the hikers ahead of us, and here we were ¢ hungry and forgotten. Starchy was a hero once again ¢ went out and got us pizzas, sodas, doughnuts, and ice cream. Then, I saw a mirage ¢ a familiar silhouette hobbling towards the ballfield ¢ Crazy Horse! Turns out he¢s been sick and camping in Ft. Montgomery for several nights, and is finally back on the trail! Found out that Paul also got sick, but he is still way ahead of us. From now on, we treat all the water before drinking it (I¢ve been slacking on that for the last couple of states). The stars were unbelievable from the ballfield; we pretended to point out constellations - "There's Cassiopea! Oh, there's Crazy Horse! Look, there's Pizza the Hut!" Then, we turned in for the night.