Date: 2008-05-20
From: Fingerboard Shelter (1300')

To: Graymour Friary/Biscuit's house
Miles today: 20.5

I got out early and enjoyed some more of the beautiful Harriman State Park. The weather was nice until I got into Bear Mountain, NY. Bear Mountain has museums and a zoo the trail goes through. Right before those I saw a couple of woodpeckers I haven't seen yet on the trail and I was surprised they were so close to all the people and kids in the park. The zoo holds injured animals that are indigenous to the area (coyotes, fox, bear, porcupine, etc.) and the animals were a lot more engaging than I am used to from zoo animals. I didn't like walking past the 100's of school kids and the busy intersection outside of Bear Mountain. I guess its from not being around that many people for so long or the looks you get from walking through a zoo with hiking boots, hiking poles, and a pack. I walked into Fort Montgomery for resupply and it was raining at this point. I met Indian Summer on my way in who is another thru-hiker and he gave me the scoop on resupply in Fort Montgomery which was that it was bleak, and he was right. I was able to get enough stuff through a shelter that was about 6 mi from where I was. Its part of the Graymour Friary which is a huge facility where friars live and they let thru-hikers stay at a pavilion at their soccer field. There wasn't much to see on the way there except for the Hudson River which the trail crosses. Because of the rain and my tent being wet from two nights ago I decided to check out the Friary Shelter and Indian Summer was already there. We were about to order pizza when a car pulled up and a former thru-hiker named Biscuit who hiked in 2005 asked us if we wanted a place to stay for the night. I wasn't sure what to think because I was so surprised but after I realized she was serious and how nice it would be Indian Summer and I took her up on it. We packed up and she went to her place to clear room in her car (it was full of stuff from school as she had just gotten back form graduating from Vermont Law School). She returned shortly afterwards and we went to her beautiful home just down the road. Indian Summer and I had a room all to ourselves that was basically an apartment. It had a bed, futon, bathroom, fridge, and kitchen. We were both kind of in shock I think from how quickly our night had turned around. I cleaned up and started laundry and Biscuit took us to the grocery store. We went back to eat salmon, potatoes, veggies, rice, bread all at her place leftover from her graduation party. There was delicious chocolate cake for dessert and it was a lot of fun sharing hiking experiences with two people I had just met. Its really amazing how after an evening I felt like I had known them both for a while. They both had a lot more miles under their belts than me. Biscuit did a thru-hike in '05 I believe and before that she had done Springer to Pearisburg and Delaware Water Gap to Katahdin and Indian Summer had done the international AT which starts in Canada and gone south to Damascus as well as hiked from Springer this year. Biscuit did her hike with her dog which reminded me of a small version of Calvin and really made me wish I could've brought him along. I still can't believe how nice it was to have Biscuit take us in like she did and her parents seemed excited to help us out as well.