Date: 2008-07-16
From: Bear Mountain Bridge, NY

To: Dennytown Road, NY
Miles today: 14.5

I woke up about 5:30am and got ready for the 6am breakfast at the motel. I was there at 6am and had coffee, cereal, pastries, eggs and bacon. I didn't eat too much because I planned on coming back later for my second breakfast. :-) I lounged around this morning...answering emails, calling a few people, figuring out how much food I needed and packing up. I was back for second breakfast at 9:30am and saw Gator there. I got more eggs and bacon, then sat down and talked to him while I ate. He's checking out late too because he only plans on walking to the Graymoor Monastery....that's about 6 miles. I went back to my room after I had made an egg and bacon sandwich to pack out for dinner, then slowly finished getting ready and watching the Weather Channel to see what kind of weather is coming for the next few days....looks like it going to get hotter and even more humid. I checked out at 11:25 and figured I'd eat at the barbeque place. They still weren't open, so I walked on. I passed by a donut shop and saw Gator sitting out front eating a bagel with cream cheese. I bought three donuts for tomorrow¢s breakfast, but walked on to Foxes Country Deli and got a grilled pastrami and swiss on rye, fries and a Coke. Gator walked by while I was sitting out front eating. :-) He did the zoo walk yesterday, so all he had to do was turn left at the bridge and walk across it. I finished my lunch and headed for the zoo. There wasn't as much of a line today and I got right in. I didn't take my time...guess a zoo doesn't interest me as much, but I did stop long enough to look at a couple porcupines, a couple coyotes and an otter. I also saw three bears! It was on the AT, even though it was in the zoo so do they count for #15, #16 and #17 bears that I've seen on the Trail this year......why yes they do! They were on the Trail. Ha! ;-) Coyote in Bear Mountain Zoo I finished the zoo walk and was glad to get out of there. I crossed the road and started my walk across the Hudson River on the Bear Mtn Bridge. I would say it's almost 3/4s of a mile long. I took a few pictures and was thinking about Mother Nature and Smokestack because this is where they are planning on ending this year's walk in a few days. Bridge over the Hudson River at Bear Mountain, New YorkI entered the woods....and that felt great! I started climbing right away up the first mountain and that didn't feel as good. ;-) I had eaten too much and that made the climb feel harder. Oh my aching stomach! :-) It didn¢t take long and the sweat was just pouring off me...and I was soaked by the time I had climbed the 700 feet up to the top. I was feeling pretty good today because I passed Gator like he was standing still about 2 miles into my walk today. When I asked him why he was walking so slow, he said his right foot was sore, so he WAS almost standing still! :-) The only other person I've ever passed that fast was my ol' buddy Chief. His excuse is because he can't see where his feet hit the Trail, so he HAS to walk slow. If you want to know what I'm talking about, go back in my journal to 7-9-08 and look through that entry for the picture of Xmas, Liteshoe and my ol' buddy Chief....and believe me, I didn't doctor that picture upThree Stooges. Also note the color of the shirt he's wearing in that picture. (that ain't no baby!) :-) It is very humid and very still air out here in the woods today. I could hear lots of artillery fire from West Point when I first started walking in the woods today, but it faded as I got farther on in my walk. I saw another scarlet tanager about 4 miles into my walk. I watched him for about a minute before he flew away. I always count it as a lucky day when I see one of those buggers! :-) I was really hoping the convenient store at NY Rt 403 was going to be finished so I could get something cold to drink, but it wasn't :-( It was nearly done, but it's not open yet. It was under construction when I passed by almost 2 years ago. Boy, an ice cold Coke would have tasted great! I saw a doe just a little ways past that road, so I forgot about how disappointed I was about not getting that cold Coke and I started talking to the doe. She stood there watching me and I snapped a couple pictures of her as I walked on. I came across another doe just before I got to Graymoor. I started talking to her and she was twisting her head looking at me. She started getting nervous and got ready to run off, so I walked on and she stopped and watched me leave. I crossed the road to Graymoor and entered the woods on the other side. There was a big rock there, so I sat down and aired out my feet and tried letting the air dry me off some. The feet got aired out, but my clothes didn't dry any in this humidity. I put my shoes and socks back on, then started walking. I saw a guy walking south on the Trail and he looked at me and said: "Stumpknocker?" That always surprises me when someone knows my name. :-) His name is Bob Pez and he had parked at Dennytown Road and walked 8 miles in hopes of running into me and giving me an ice cold Coke. He belched and said: "Sorry, I didn't think I was going to see you after walking that far, so I just drank your Coke". (he belched again) :-) Trail Angel Bob Pez He turned around and we walked and talked the whole 8 miles back to his car. He did have a Gatorade and gave that to me when we started walking together. That tasted great and the coldness really helped! Bob said he had another Coke back at his car....and a 6 pack of Yeungling all on ice. I wasn't going to let Bob get out of sight! :-) It's these kinds of things that makes it so much fun to walk this Trail. Bob and I have lots in common...bike riding, kayaking (although I don't get around to that much), running and backpacking. He's hoping to retire in the coming years and section hike the Trail. He said something about his wife of 31 years, Liz, isn't ready to retire yet, so he might just get an allowance like my ol' buddy Chief does. ;-) I was impressed....he had walked 8 miles to find me, then walked 8 miles back and didn't look a bit tired. He won't have any trouble at all walking the Trail. We were talking so much that I lost track of where I was at...I was thinking we still had 2.7 miles to go when when got to Dennytown Rd. I forgot to mentally note the last road we crossed. That was great though because we were back at his car where the Coke was! :-) We stood around talking more while I finally had the Coke he brought me. :-) I finished that quickly, then had 2 Yeunglings while we talked. Boy, they went down easy today! It was getting late, so I filled up a couple water bottles and headed off into the woods to set up my tent for the night after Bob took off. Bob, I can't thank you enough for looking me up today and walking with me! Hope I didn't talk your ear off. Ha! It was GREAT meeting you....and good luck in the future! I set up my tent, crawled in and ate my bacon and egg sandwich and some Cheetos, then started thinking about writing my journal entry. I was sleepy, so I decided to write it in the morning and I fell asleep pretty quickly. I woke up in the middle of the night to a noise of something. Part of the fun of hearing critters at night is trying to figure out what they are. This one was inching its way down a pine tree next to me. I could hear its claws grabbing a hold of the bark and it was making a noise that sounded fairly like a gasp; hueeeee, hueeeee. When it got on the ground, I heard it doing a little purring noise. I figured it was a porcupine. This was one of those especially GREAT days on the Appalachian Trail. :-)