Date: 2010-07-05
From: Bear Mountain State Park

To: Dennytown Camp
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: broken clouds

The Manager has posted new photos of the area until the Shenandoah National Park.Ernman made us catelope for breakfast because he knew we liked fruit. It was a perfect way to end a perfect stay. We drove up through Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York to be dropped off at the Bear Mountain Park. While walking around the lake tryingi to find the trail, we came upon a stand with a man selling Amish home baked goods. We bought a loaf of pumpkin bread. I broke Fat Finger off a small part and then I ate the rest myself. It was very healthy and preservative free. Then, while stuffing my face with the final bit, I bumped into Nails. He was a section hiker I met at the same time as Toboggan at breakfast at Big Meadows Lodge. He was doing trail magic over the holiday weekend and offered to cook us burgers. However we had miles to do and it was already approaching midday. Coincidence to see him like that though!One of the highlights of the trail is hiking through the trail side zoo in the Bear Mountain Park. I can't stand the idea of zoos and would normally never go in one out of principle. I don't believe in animals in captivity for the amusement of humans. However the AT passes through this mini zoo and it certainly was a diversion from the trail. Fat Finger got to see her first bear and we saw a coyote, a porcupine, a bobcat and some other animals. They were all looking very sad in their cages, but the temperatures are in the 90s so perhaps they were hot.After the zoo, we crossed the Hudson River. The bridge over it has no railings whatsoever so it would be easy to jump. That's why there are many signs stating that life is worth living and that if you have any bad thoughts, to ring LifeLine. They even have a telephone which is directly wired to LifeLine for people who might want to jump. I wonder if the police are also alerted if you pick up the phone?At the end of the bridge, the trail crossed to the other side of the road and went up the mountain. However, there was no crossing or lights and the traffic on the bridge was extremely heavy. We had to scale the protection barrier and run across at great peril to our lives. I thought perhaps we had taken a wrong turn, but apparently not. Speaking to some other hikers, they had to do the dash of bravery as well. Not sure why they don't fix the trail so that you don't have to put your life at risk. Back to the temperatures. It is extremely hot. The Eastern side of the US is going through a heat wave and the hikers are dying in the heat. You sweat from the moment you start hiking until you sit in your tent at night. In fact you are still sweating in your tent. Sweat attracts the dreaded black flies (not sure of their exact name, but the ones who bite you harder than a mosquito) so walking is very unpleasant. There is no water in the stream and creek beds so you need to fill up at every opportunity and trek up mountains with the precious liquid. The salt on your body generated from continual sweating also leads to chafing and at present I seem to be chafing on many parts of my body. So uncomfortable.We took a break for a few hours during the day to go past the worst of the heat so ended up having to hike very late at night. We hiked until 9pm which was a record for Fat Finger and only the second time I have hiked so late. It was almost dark by the end of it but Fat Finger almost ran up the hills. She can really get going when she wants to be somewhere. I was very impressed. When we made it to camp, there was a tap to get water so I put my head under to cool down. Lovely. We put up the tents in the dark and Fat Finger slept with the food in her tent. Brave!