Date: 2010-07-21
From: NJ-94

To: Wildcat shelter 
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: few clouds

Day 99: In a New York State of SweatWildcat shelter 9:42Woke up pleasantly after a great night of sleep at the church. We three were the only hikers in there, so we took our time eating breakfast and packing up. We made signs to help with the hitch back to the trail, and we left around 10am. We walked back to the main road and planted ourselves at the corner in front of Burger King. Not ONE minute after being there, a lovely girl named Michelle picked us up! She was on her way to teach a pilates class and she thought we looked safe. Much appreciated, Michelle!!We were back on the trail by 10:30, and it was a steep climb up 800 feet or so, and the heat was sweltering already. The temperature didn't seem too too high, but it was VERY humid. We were all sweating buckets, and there was NO breeze. The climb was a lot of stone stairs, and I was leading. Near the end of it, I could see where the summit was, and I was pushing to get there. One Life was a few minutes behind me. When I finally came over the last few stairs to celebrate the end of it, there were two eyes staring right at me from a out 8-10 yards away. Oh, hey bear...When I'm hiking, there's a lot of looking down. And when I'm climbing with my sun visor on, I'm concentrating on the next few steps and not much more. I'm actually surprised I didn't wind up much closer to the young bear. It was right on the trail as if it was headed southbound. It froze. I stopped and quickly started backing up to a safer distance. We both stood there for a second, then I got out my camera (as you do). The bear posed, I snapped a few shots, then I just watched it for about a minute before it scampered off the trail suddenly. It was then in the bushes not even 10 feet from where it had been. One Life caught up and took a video of the little guy as he scampered off a little more. Then Scatters caught up, and the bear was at a safe distance to pass. Good times New Jersey! Official beat count: 3. We walked on in the heat till a lunch break at the Wayawana shelter. A thunderstorm passed just north of us - we could hear all the thunder, but we didn't get any rain. We got back to walking around 2pm, heading for the NJ-NY state line. It got quite rocky, unexpectedly. (Were we secretly back in Pennsylvania...?) Then we crossed into state #9, New York! Should be a good one. More rocks. More forest. A couple views. Then the thunder began again. I couldn't tell if this one would miss us or not, so we put on our pack covers and trudged on. The sky was tumultuous, and the cold breeze felt great. Ten minutes down the trail, it started to rain. I switched to Crocs and covered up my trail runners just before it stormed. It was chilly! I walked on and it let up about 20 minutes later. One Life and Scatters were ahead, and I was going slow. Kind of a frustrating day for me. It was the first time since before a began that I wondered if I would make it the whole way to Katahdin. My mind is all there - completely ready to go the distance. But my body is hurting. Not sure if it was the two days off or what, but my joints are so tight and sore. Depending on the hour, my right foot, left ankle, right knee and both hips will cry with dull pain. I decided long ago that a thru hike is not good for one's body. Will it recover fully after I'm done?? Should I make ibuprofen a more substantial part of my diet?? Will I need to avoid taking multiple days off?? Is this just what happens right before you turn thirty....???I don't know what the answer is, but I do plan on listening closely to my body for the next couple days. It feels fragile, so perhaps I need to go slow for a bit. I had a few close calls on some of the rocks today, but I always manage to catch myself. Hope that continues! One Life said he had a fall today that seemed a bit scary. He made it through fine though. After the rain stopped, I was hiking by myself when the forest opened up to a wonderful look-out. Dramatic "after the rain" mountains and sky!! It was gorgeous, and so I took a break (and photos) to watch the clouds and the distant storm. It cheered me up and got me thinking about something other than my aches. I switched back to my trail runners and made it the last mile or so to the shelter while it thundered again. One Life and Dumba$$ were there, but no Scatters?? We set up our tents and started making dinner when she finally rolled in. It had been down-pouring and storming (again!?) for 15 minutes and it was almost dark. Apparently she had stopped for water and got behind us without us knowing. We ate dinner in the shelter and said goodnight. So far, my tent has been holding up fine in the rain. Hoping it continues!!Goodnight, New York!! See you in the morning....