Date: 2015-06-19
From: NY17

To: Hemlock Campsite
Miles today: 22.1
Weather: overcast clouds

John fed us breakfast and dropped us off at the trail around 7:20. I asked if we could donate to his hiker fund but he refused any donations. Truly amazing trail magic! He did say once in awhile a hikers doesn't want to leave ... It's not hard to see why! After a couple miles we reached the lemon squeezer ... A narrow passage where we had to take our packs off to pass through. But the climb after was actually the toughest part. I was on a mission to hike the 19.4 miles before the Bear Mountain zoo closed at 4:30. Not because I wanted to see poor wildlife in cages (though John told us the animals except the Bears are actually rehabilitating from injury) but because the AT actually goes through the zoo. If you arrive after the zoo closes, you must hike the blue blaze trail around the zoo. Of course I had to hike all the white blazes. We got a later start than planned and the lemon squeezer took a little extra time. So it was going to be tight because I had heard the last few miles were more challenging as well. I hiked with Andreas the first 8 miles or so. Took a quick break and then still had a lot of miles to cover. They were not easy ones. Steep climbs and descents. Crossed the Pacific Palisades Parkway and then up another steep mountain. Andreas stopped for water and I hiked on. I ran into two girls who were a little lost trying to find the observatory. I wasn't sure what they meant but surmised they had hiked 4-5 miles southbound on the AT. There car was at Bear Mountain which is where I was headed. So I explained how to follow the blazes northbound and then figured they meant Perkins Memorial Tower which is on the AT anyway. We could see it on another mountain across the way. They said it looked really far but I said it was probably only 3 miles away and that's where I was headed. I explained I had to get to the zoo in two hours so I hiked ahead. Finally I made it up to Perkins Memorial Tower which had a lot of day hikers and tourists. You could drive up. You can technically see the NYC skyline but t was pretty far off and a little hazy in the distance. It is also mile 1400.8! I quickly climbed the tower but the view wasn't that great. So I ate my apple and then saw I had an hour to get to the zoo. Steep long descent which was a tourist trail the last 1.5 miles but it was a lot of steep stair descent which kills my knees. I finally got to the lake and was hoofing it when I heard someone calling my name. It was Wookie who was lounging in the grass. He was waiting for Sugar Magnolia and TR to catch up with him tomorrow so he was just hanging out. I left my pack with him and ran to and through the zoo to the bridge on the other side. As I was returning back through the zoo, Andreas caught up with me. He was exhausted as he had been trying to catch up so he had not eaten. We walked back to Wookie and sat on the grass waiting for Crafty who arrived an hour later. We decided to eat at the Bear Mountain Inn, which was a nicer restaurant than our attire but fortunately we could sit on the patio outside. We bid farewell to Wookie and headed back onto the trail for 3 miles to Hemlock Campsite. We took the blue blaze trail around the zoo (so I actually hiked both!), crossed the Hudson River, and then had a tough very steep climb out of Bear Mountain. But we made it to Hemlock.