Date: 2006-06-27
From: William Brien Memorial Shelter

To: Hemlock Springs Campsite, NY @ 1390.8 miles
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: 0

Cell good.I started hiking today at about 6:30am. I had a planned meeting with my dad and my son Chris. We were meeting at the Perkins Tower on top of Bear Mountain. The hike started in the woods for a while, and then I had to cross the Palisades Interstate Parkway. I arrived at the parkway at 7:20 am - do you know what that means? You got it! Rush Hour traffic traveling at 55 mph or more! I had to wait for a long time for an opportunity to cross the southbound lane [that's the direction NYC is in]. Fortunately, there is a wooded area between the southbound and northbound lanes. I had no trouble getting across the northbound lane, as traffic was light. The hiking was a lot of straight ups and straight downs again. I negotiated them okay, and I made decent time while hiking. On one "up" I came across a rock overlook area. From this area I could see the Perkins Tower. It showed me how far down I would go before I climbed Bear Mountain. Let me tell you, I wasn't a happy hiker when I saw that. What was I going to do about it though - I hiked down and then back up to arrive at the tower.I arrived a few minutes before Dad and Chris, but I didn't wait very long. We sat and talked, then we drove around the top of the mountain to see the sites. Dad reminisced about when he first came up there, and we reminisced about when we went up as a family when I was young.We then drove up Route 9W past West Point, up what dad calls "The Storm King Highway." Once we turned around, we went to Highland Falls, NY, for lunch. This is the little village just outside West Point, or more formally, The United States Military Accademy [USMA]. We had lunch, and I washed and dried some clothes in the laundry. I've been soaked for the last three days, and I haven't had dry clothes since. We also stopped at the Post Office and picked up my maildrop that Sue sent me.With all that done, we returned to Bear Mountain where I put the dry clothes on, arranged my food, and repacked my pack. We then said our goodbyes and headed our respected ways.I had a long downhill decent to the Bear Mountain State Park area, which is right down along the Hudson River. The trail follows around the park, and then passes the pool, and the museum/zoo. The trail actually goes through the zoo, and comes out at the Bear Mountain Bridge. I crossed the bridge and man was it windy! It knocked me into the railing a few times. I was glad to get to the other side and get off the bridge!Once off the bridge, I had a long climb back into the woods. At the top I saw Danger signs on the trees. I know that at that point I was on the back side of the firing range at Camp Smith, a New York National Guard base. I didn't hear any firing, but I've read Trail Journals of hikers saying they did.I'm now tucked into a nice little campsite not far from there. I have a nice spring for water, and a level spot for my tent. I've gone as far as I planned and needed to stop.Once I stopped ,I set up the tent, and dried out more gear. I especially had to try and dry my boots. They're still wet, but I've done what I could do.Well that's about it for today, goodnight.Old Goat Old Goat crossing the Hudson River - Click picture to see full size Sue's Note: Old Goat had me buy a new filter for his water pump, and Chris brought it to him today. Unfortunately, the ¢new¢ filter in the box was not new ¢ it probably was the demo filter that someone put in a box and accidentally put the box on the shelf. Old Goat can still use his old filter, but it filters the water very slowly, so it takes a long time to process his water. Chris is sending the ¢new¢ filter back to me so I can bring it back to the store and get a real new one for Old Goat.Today was Bill's funeral, and I went to it. It was beautiful and painful...the whole military honors, with 21 gun salute and taps. My emotions were raw this evening. When I feel so emotional, I want to avoid talking about it because all I'll do is cry, so I left my cell phone upstairs while I cleaned out our garage. Old Goat finally called our home phone to get me - I'm so glad he didn't give up. Once I talked through the emotions, I felt better...avoiding the emotions doesn't make them go away! Old Goat is such a good friend - he has learned over the years what I need (someone to just listen and not judge or try to fix things for me). What a wonderful friend he is.