Date: 2011-06-16
From: (80) The Big Day, William Brien Memorial Shelter

To: (81) Bear Mountain Bridge / Hudson River
Miles today: 10.3
Weather: broken clouds

I was so stiff and thirsty in the morning that for awhile I thought I was still dreaming. I drug my carcass of a body up and packed slowly, unable to force myself beyond a certain speed. I hiked out at a slow pace, the rocky climbs continuing. I could often see their stone ledges looming above me down the trail, like a large wave about to crash down on top of me. My prized half liter of water that Earl Gray had given me rested against my side, and I drank it to help subside my screaming head ache.I came out onto a highway called Palisades, which I hiked down until hitting a visitor¢s center and drinking my fill in water. Hydrated, I continued on towards the Hudson, my new audio book ¢Into the Wild¢ playing in my ears.Eventually I entered a park, and then descended into a valley containing a lake. I followed it around and saw a sign for a free zoo! Tired of my stupid ideas and big days, I went into the zoo and checked out all of the animals. While watching a pair of bears walking around their habitat, I looked up and saw a white blaze; the trail actually went through the zoo, I had never gotten off it!Outside of the zoo I saw Bear Mountain Bridge and the Hudson River, so I took out my phone and called Bud Heavy to come pick me up, but he did not answer. Discouraged, and with my phone nearly dead, I decided to try and find a wall outlet. I walked around the zoo some more, but all of the wall outlets were more or less un-accessible to the public. I left the zoo again and decided to go down the bank to the Hudson and follow it to Fort Montgomery (I had no road maps but knew the river would go by it). I walked along the Hudson for a ways on the railroad tracks, but was discouraged to go any farther when the tracks turned and crossed over open water. I backtracked and returned to the zoo, where I chose a road going the same direction as the river and followed it. I arrived on the outskirts of Fort Montgomery, where I found a museum like building dedicated to the park and telling the history of the area. On the outside of this building was a picnic table near a wall outlet, so I sat down and charged my phone while making a delicious lunch of freeze dried rice. It was wonderful to sit the day after my failed 50 miler, and I utilized my time and unlimited electricity by texting friends and drinking bottle after bottle of water from the building¢s fountain. It was sweet.Eventually I got a hold of Bud Heavy and he came to pick me up. He looked strange in normal clothing, and even stranger behind the wheel of a car. Bud Heavy and I ate lunch at the pizzeria where he used to work (we ate for free), resupplied at Wal-Mart, and then went back to his house and hung out with his dad and some of his friends. Bud Heavy said that he and Cactus Jack (who was visiting his girlfriend) were going to day hike the miles they had missed and that they would be around for a few days if I wanted to join them. But I had other plans at the moment. While crossing the Palisades Highway I had seen a sign for New York City and my mind had been made. I was going to go into The Big Apple!My 43 mile day had beaten me up enough to really put me in my place. It sobered me up some, and I now realize that the North is not the place for big days, I am not invincible, and that I should focus more on seeing the world and learning from what I find. And so, my wilderness adventure has taken a sharp turn into the city.