Date: 2015-07-26
From: NYC 

To: Ten Mile River Shelter 
Miles today: 9.7
Weather: light rain

After four days of wandering around Brooklyn and Manhattan, it was time to get back on the trail. But I wasn't going back alone. First off, my friend John came out to join me for a couple days of hiking. I promised him two days of whatever pace and mileage he was comfortable with, and beyond that it would be more up in the air but he'd try to get through Massachusetts with me.But in addition to John taking the train out with me to the trail, we were also joined by my new friend The Edge Runner (Hicham). Last night while in the city I went to the Paragon sports store to buy compression socks. I arrived about five minutes before they closed, went straight to the socks and found there were three different options for me to choose from. Standing there with two different pair in my hands, uncertain of what I hoped to accomplish with these socks (my ankle is still bothering me even while resting in the city), one of the guys who worked there came up and was asking questions to help me. But since I didn't know what I wanted and didn't want to be told to get something I knew I didn't want, I was pretty indifferent to his assistance. Finally I caved in, told him I was hiking the AT, and the problem I was having with my ankle. He was so excited about my hike and we immediately started sharing stories of other great adventures. He mentioned KT tape and I decided that's what I wanted. But as we talked about it, I didn't want a whole roll and so decided back on the sock. He said though that he had some KT tape at home and since I was staying nearby in Brooklyn we'd meet there and he'd give me some. When I told him I was going to the free concert in Prospect Park (Sylvan Esso) he said he'd join me and have his girlfriend come with the tape. We met outside after the store closed and since he wasn't working tomorrow he was going to come out on the train and join for the afternoon. His perspective on life is very attuned with my own and his energy and excitement is very fun to be around.So the three of us got off the train at the trail crossing and set off. It's funny cause each of us had a different pace we hike at. Edge Runner was slackpacking and is more of a trail runner, so he would have been the fastest had he been on his own. My hiking pace is one of the faster on the trail, so I wouldn't have been too far behind. And John just started out on the trail with very limited training, so he was the pace setter for the group.We got about six miles in to the first shelter and had lunch. After lunch we stopped at the water pump and John tried out his water filter for the first time. I on the other hand took the water straight from the pump into my bottle. As I was second guessing that decision, I saw the sign indicating that the water had tested positive for coliform bacteria. I didn't drink much, and eventually poured the water out in exchange for properly filtered, but let's hope I don't get sick in a weeks time.As we left the shelter, Edge Runner hurt his back a bit and as it was getting close to the time for him to head back to the train we said our goodbyes and he retraced our steps. I hope that his back injury isn't significant. Related, as John and I continued on, my ankle pain started to become a bother again. It's a really sharp pain that seems to originate on the inside of the ankle. It's not diagnosed yet, but it seems like it might be tendonitis. Neither the compression sock nor the KT tape had much of a positive effect on it today. I'm concerned that it'll just continue to get worse. And even more frightening is the idea that it'll get worse and when I finish the hike it'll be so bad that I won't be able to walk for a month. I'm going to look into getting a doctor to provide an accurate diagnosis and an assessment of what I'll be dealing with as I continue to try to reach Katadyn. At this point though I've got enough determination to make it to NH at the very least, so let's hope it gets better by then instead of worse.PS: I'd like to note that after four beautiful days in NYC, I got back on the trail to a wet, rainy dayFitbit-------------Miles: 15.6Calories: 4200Stairs: 202