Date: 2012-06-20
From: William Brien Memorial Shelter 1387.6

To: Fort Montgomery, then Larchmont, NY 1397.7
Miles today: 10.1

We started hiking about 7:40 this morning...late enough so we would cross the Palisades Parkway AFTER rush hour. We immediately climbed up a big rock pile behind the shelter, continued down the other side, then up and over another mountain to the Palisades Parkway. We had been warned that this was a difficult road crossing, and had seen it in videos, but it turned out not to be too difficult. At 8:40, we were after the morning rush hour, so we only had to wait a few minutes until there was a gap in traffic to cross the first lanes, where traffic was heading INTO NYC. We signed into the log located in the wooded median, then got ready to cross the second two lanes, heading AWAY from the city. This turned out to be even easier. Yeah! From there we started the climb up Bear Mountain. During the Great Depression, workers built steps up this mountain. The workmanship was beautiful. Partway up we met two new faces: Almost Eagle and Dancing Dove, a young couple who started their thru hike in Harpers Ferry in May. They were heading to Maine, then will come back to Harpers Ferry to hike south to Springer Mountain in Georgia. We visited for a few minutes, then continued to the top, which had vending machines with water, soda, and iced tea. We were glad to see these as we were completely out of water. (This was the first really hot day on the hike...above 90 degrees.) We bought bottles of iced tea, and drank them immediately, before joining Almost Eagle, Dancing Dove, DudeManBro, and Salt Bomb at the observation tower. They were chatting with some tourists, who shared their strawberries and grapes with us. Thanks! Once nourished, we climbed up inside the tower to have a look, then descended back to the vending machines to buy bottled water for the rest of our hike, since there were no faucets or other running water to be seen. We hiked down the other side of Bear Mountain following the white blazes, through the park and the zoo. (Random thought: I finally was able to take a decent picture of a black bear, though it was somewhat depressing to see the animals behind bars, so to speak.)Once through the zoo, we checked for the next white blaze, leading across the Hudson River, then looked for the way to Fort Montgomery, where we had a mail drop. We walked to Fort Montgomery via a bridge, and stopped at the post office. Since it was closed for lunch, we went to the restaurant across the street, and had a wonderful lunch of sliders, rice, and tomato/cucumber salad. They were very hiker friendly, offerings outlets for charging electronics, and letting us bring our packs inside. Almost Eagle and Dancing Doe came in and joined us for lunch. What a nice young couple. (Random note: We continued to see and hike with them often through Mt. Katahdin, then followed their trailjournals blog through their successful finish.) After they left to go back to the trail, it was time for us to go back to the post office to retrieve our boxes, and wait for Big K. Her timing was perfect. No sooner had we sat down to wait, when she arrived. One of our boxes had our new pole tips. It turned out that Big Agnes had actually sent us the whole lower segment of the poles, so when we went to REI have them installed, it turned out to be a really easy process. (Random thought: Thanks very much to both Big Agnes for sending the poles, and to the gentleman at REI for putting them on, and showing us how to do it in the future, should the need arise.) So...now we had fully functioning trekking poles! That accomplished, we headed back to Big K's and her husband's house for a delicious dinner of steak, corn, salad, baked potatoes, and frozen custard! Life is great on the AT, especially when you can get your trekking poles fixed easily, and the day ends with good friends at their lovely home.