Date: 2018-06-10
From: Palisades Interstate NY

To: Hemlock Springs Campsite - NY
Miles today: 10.2

June 106/10 - 10.2 Hemlock Springs Campsite (Tent)Today Puddles and I began hiking together again. It was a weekend, with day hikers and tourists taking over the trail. We were to go over Bear Mountain in New York today, which many day hikers had warned us about how difficult it would be. Today we hiked 10 miles. It was a leisurely day going over mountain. Puddles and I took the time to repair the mesh netting in my tent before we left the motel. We ate breakfast down the street at a local nondescript small restaurant/convenience store serving breakfast sandwiches and fresh coffee. We Ubered to Palisades Parkway and marched against the grain of speeding cars coming at us along the parkway. We couldn't walk fast enough to get off the parkway and back on the trail. The trail wasn¢t too terribly bad, but everyone have warned us that we still had to go over "bear mountain". After what we¢ve already hiked through in New York I couldn't imagine what the mountain would be like. Throughout the day we ran into several day hikers. Because it was the weekend, everyone was out getting away from the city trying to enjoy nature. There were couples, families, groups of friends. We talk to several day hikers, some were fascinated by what we were doing, and others who didn¢t have any idea what we were doing and probably thought we were homeless. Bear Mountain is a very popular area and we found ourselves marching in single file with streams of day hikers once we got there. During the hike in we came across several trails that intersected the Appalachian Trail. Many people were out hiking the local trails. We came across several hikers who were lost, and we did our best to try to redirect them where they needed to go, but we weren't familiar with the local trails, and couldn¢t access any maps our phones due to the week cell signal, except for our Guthook AT App. It was amazing how many people were out hiking that didn't even have a bottle of water with them, and were lost. We had several interesting questions during the day which started off with "How far is the parking lot?". This was asked by a young man who was hiking with what appeared to be his girlfriend. They had no water and I'm guessing they had started on a local loop trail, then got off from it and ended up on the A.T. We did not pass a parking lot on our way in. Puddles and I started to have a conversation with him, then his girlfriend came up and said "We're fine", so we moved on. I'm not sure how the rest of their day went, I can only suspect. We had also run into a group of women who were hiking and were off track. We were able to help them figure out where to go to get back on the trail they were hiking.We got to bear mountain and had a variety of trails ranging from paved, to crush stone, to well formed rectangular rock steps, not like the rock stairs that we are used to on the trail that vary greatly in size and shape. Everything was geared towards day hikers and tourists. We had small goals throughout the day. Make it to the vending machine at Bear Mountain. Make it to the lake and concession stand. Make it to the zoo, which the trail went through. We didn't make it to the zoo because it closed before we arrived. The last goal was to cross the Hudson River and get to a campsite. On the way up the mountain, we saw a flock of birds eating berries off of a tree on one of the overlooks. We didn¢t know what kind of birds they were. I wish I knew more about the birds, flowers, and other natural things I see along the trail. Regardless, I still enjoy being out here in nature. We ran into three young hikers Eric, Andrew, and Stuff Sack. They had just come out of a shelter to the area where the birds were eating berries. We chatted with them for a few minutes then they took off. They were very nice young men.During the day we stopped at a scenic overlook on Bear Mountain for lunch. As we approached it, I was ahead of Puddles and barely visible over-the-top of a climb, I could see a bench that was perfectly positioned to eat lunch and have a great view. As soon as I saw it, I hiked as fast as I could. There was no way a day hiker coming from the other side was going to beat me to that bench today. We usually sit on the ground, a rock, or a log to eat. This was a bench, with a back to lean on! I made there and claimed it! Victory! Just moments before day hikers came from the other side. Puddles came up and was delighted to see our comfy accommodations for lunch. We relaxed and ate our lunch, enjoying the view and the people watching. A couple of day hikers were stalking us for the bench, but there was no way we were leaving until we were done. We¢ve been hiking since West Virginia and we earned our right to sit on the bench for as long as we wanted to eat our lunch. During the day we ran into Dozer, who we had met at Cabela¢s, and his brother Napper, along with a female flip-flop hiker who started in Harpers Ferry, Riddler. When we arrived at Hessian Lake, we ran into volunteers who maintain the trail. George jokingly asked us if we wanted a beer. Of course we said yes, and of course he didn¢t have any. We chatted with him for a while then headed toward the concession stand, walking along the lake as families were enjoying themselves grilling food, using paddle boats on the lake, and fishing. I wasn't sure if I was going to eat anything at the concession stand, but I couldn¢t resist. I had a Philadelphia water ice, Nathan¢s hotdog, french fries, and got a root beer for Puddles as part of my "value meal". We sat at a picnic table relaxed for a few moments with Napper, who had been looking for his brother. His phone was dead so he tried to call using my phone with no luck. We left there and crossed the Hudson River. As we were crossed, we both saw a steep mountain ahead, which we both knew we would have to climb in order to get to the campsite. The markings near the bridge at the Hudson River for the trail were a little confusing, and we ended up walking on the opposite side of the road from where we should have been. This caused us to have to cross busy traffic on the other end. I took a look at Guthook and saw the very steep climb we had ahead of us. We went up the very steep, half mile climb slowly. Puddles had noticed someone had rated it as a "moderate" climb, but we felt it was much more difficult than that. Bear Mountain was nothing compared to this. The only thing difficult about Bear Mountain was landing on the stone stops which jarred our legs with every step down. We ran into another day hiker on the steep climb up, who was very interested in what we were doing. She posed the comment/question about the A.T. "The trail isn't steep, is it?" Another interesting comment/question we had during the day from a volunteer at Bear Mountain who was trying to sound knowledgeable about a flip flop hike was "so you're hiking half the trail?". I clarified that we were hiking the WHOLE trail, but doing the northern half first.We made it to camp and were delighted to find the three young men that we had met earlier in the day, Eric, Andrew, and Stuff Sack. They had already set up camp and were very welcoming when we arrived. We set up, ate dinner, then Puddles gave a lesson on the PCT method of hanging food bags to the three young man. Darkness came quickly, and so did sleep.