Date: 2004-07-27
From: Home of John and Susan - Vernon, NJ

To: Bear Mountain Bridge Motel
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: light rain

Because I had a motel reservation here in Fort Montgomery for tonight and because we didn't manage the four miles to the shelter yesterday, we knew we'd have a longer hiking day today. So Ursa Minor asked John if he'd be willing to do another slackpack for us and he agreed!! Nitro and Michael liked the idea, thus, all four of us have landed here.The hike began at the entrance to Harriman State Park and 12 miles later we entered Bear Mountain State Park. I hope I have the opportunity to return to Harriman -- what a lovely diversified forest. Much of the trail passing through Harriman is the actual path of the original Appalachian Trail. I spent some time thinking of the numerous personalities who had left their footprints in the soil upon which I was now treading. The official opening and dedication of the AT was 1936, but sections of it were laid out and used as a preliminary hiking trail a couple decades prior. Being close to New York City, Harriman and the trail were visited by thousands of city dwellers over the years. Their imprints, too, in addition to those of long-distance hikers, remain in the history of the soil, in the particles of dirt, on the slowly-eroding surfaces of the many rocks we crossed. We are fortunate to have the National Park Service and the many AT volunteers, all committed to preserving our environmental treasures. They are the caretakers of our designated parks and trails. May we all be apt caretakers of our own little piece of this earth, our water, our air, before it's too late.As I mentioned earlier, Harriman gave us a most glorious hike. We skipped boulders, we climbed to vistas, we passed through the famous lemon squeeze, where most thru-hikers have to push their packs through ahead of them to fit between the two large rocks; we looked right; we looked left and we saw a forest floor covered in blueberry bushes as far as one could see; shortly thereafter the floor was a mass of boulders, or lush green ferns interrupted by a mountain stream threading its way through the park. Without argument, it was one of the most enjoyable 12-mile sections I've hiked. (It also helped not to be hefting a full pack!)We bypassed Fingerboard Shelter, but not before I had a short-term panic. One of my photo cards was full; I had placed it in its plastic box and pushed it to the bottom of my camera case. I stepped off the trail slightly to snap a picture of Ursa Minor doctoring her sore feet. When I was returning the camera to the case, the full photo card was gone. Alas, I was nearly in tears and debating whether or not to backtrack 2-1/2 miles to the Lemon Squeeze where I last had taken some pictures. Frantically I looked around where I stood and saw it right at the edge of the trail atop a blueberry bush. I was extremely relieved that it had fallen out before I stepped off the trail or I never would have seen it.Bear Mountain State Park had its own beauty even in the rain. The overlooks from the high ridge walk gave us a great view of the fog closing in and the rain-filled clouds ready to dump on us.Halfway up the mountain we saw a familiar truck -- John! Trail Dog, Bumpkin, and Spin Cycle had shown up the night before, Trail Dog with an injured elbow. John ran him into a medical clinic and was out passing time until pick-up. He found us just before we crossed from a road back into the woods, checked our progress, agreed to retrieve us at the bottom and drive us to the hotel in Fort Montgomery. We were ecstatic, as that would save us over a mile walk in the pouring rain. We climbed to Perkins Tower, passed by the Joseph Bartha plaque, slid down the mountain on the other side and there was John! What a blessing he has been for us these past couple days.The rain is still falling, but we're tucked away in a cozy, delicately-decorated little room, drying out and sorting through our maildrop.Tomorrow is another day; there's more trail waiting.