Date: 2005-11-14
From: 10 Mile Brook Shelter

To: River Road, Kent
Miles today: 0.0

This is the day we descend the dreaded St. Johns Ledges. Scarf has been worrying about this for several days now and the deep beds of leaves which slow us down on the descents certainly don¢t prove encouraging. But we should be able to cover 15.5 miles, especially since we were up early and on the Trail in semi-darkness at 6:25 with the pleasing thought that the last 2 miles would be flat and easy along the Housatonic. The full moon helped us last night and this morning and should also prove a godsend for the end of today.But....another slow day. The Housatonic was beautiful and the walking easy but again, I¢m in a lot of pain and am slowing us down on the level stretches. Even when we ascended Schaghticoke, I was barely ahead of Scarf. And after the ascent, the stretch to Mt. Algo seemed to take forever. Like yesterday, I doubled my portion of Vitamin I but the pain wasn¢t gong away, forcing me to limp more than walk.And I began to contemplate the unthinkable: should I bail at Rt. 341? I can¢t leave her to tackle St. Johns Ledges by herself, especially after all the hype. But I don¢t want to further the muscle tear. So I voiced my thoughts about parting here but said I¢d decide before reaching the road. For her part, Scarf was sympathetic to my pain but didn¢t want to hike St. Johns Ledges alone nor defer them until next year.   Fortuitously the Vitamin I kicked in enough that I was ready to continue. So we decided to push on, hoping to reach the top by 3, figuring the descent would take about 40 minutes. We would then decide whether to continue.We didn¢t start the descent until 3:30. The steepness and long steps were much as I remembered. Of course, they were mild compared to some of the descents I had done just 2 months ago in Maine but it was still slow going. Leading the way, Scarf kept apologizing for the slow pace but I said not to worry. Better deliberate and careful than hasty. So it was slightly after 4:30 when we reached River Road, still 2 miles away from Stewart Hollow Brook Leanto.Decision time - we normally don¢t like hiking in the dark but this stretch is flat along the river, the darkness being mitigated by the full moon. I also thought that Deb who I had met hiking in Massachusetts last April might be at Stewart Hollow tonight because I had sent word to her via Northern Harrier of our schedule and I knew she was hoping to join us. But we¢re both sore - me in particular at this point. So we decided to call it a hike. Trekking along River Road, we only saw one car pass us - too full for a pickup. But when we arrived at 341 and stuck out our thumbs in total darkness, we were astounded when the first car picked us up. Even more astounding, rather than settle for a ride into Kent to spend the night, our benefactors drove us all the way to my car on Rt. 22. Talk about Trail Angels!Being in the car by 6:30 meant we had time to drive to Northern Harrier¢s PA home that evening at a reasonable hour - we called him to make sure. OK - he says at our pace and time, we should arrive at his house by 11. So off we went, stopping for dinner at a diner in Newburgh, ice cream in NJ, and pulling into his driveway at 10:55. He confirmed for me that yes, we missed Deb who did stay last night at Stewart Hollow.