Date: 2006-06-17
From: Fahnestock State Park

To: Wiley Shelter
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: overcast clouds

June 17, Wiley ShelterAnother compression day. I got up real early, four thirty. I sat up and did some reading. But IrishGypsy saw me sitting up, so she started moving the next thing I knew, we were all moving. Giggles and I hit the trail by six, with the agreement to meet at Tony's Deli by noon. It took about an hour for me to figure out a pace that the pain in my foot was evenly distributed so that I wasn't favoring it and yet get some mileage. After all, the plan was to do a sixteen mile day. The weather forecast I had gotten at Mountain Top Deli was for mid 90's but the day was over cast. Terrain was boring mostly. Lots of little hills and dips. Small amount of rock climbs. Messy swamp walks. The canopy green and forest smelly. Made good time. Not alot of much. Giggles was in front, way in front. Then again, she's got twenty years and a longer stride on me. Someone else to do the cobwebs for the day. The morning's first point of interesting was a traipse around Nuclear Lake. It is an old site of nuclear fuels processing plant that has been decommissioned since the seventies. Very quiet in the gloomy morning. But the mountain laurels were blooming along the side.Then got to West Dover Road, where an old Oak Tree sits at the side of the trail. The circumference of this oak must be ten or twelve feet. Really old. It may be the oldest tree on the trail says the handbook. As I sat there, a van pulls up and one of the young thru-hikers I spent the night at the friary jumps out. Snake. The rumor of a hostel in Pawling is true and some of them had stayed there last night. It was almost eleven. He told me the rest were still sleeping when he left. We chatted some. Asking about our plans for tonight. I told him I was pulling off at NY22 to go to Tony's Deli. He thought it was a good idea but he had spent money to sleep in town. Besides that, the gang was planning a party at Mt. Algo. First shelter in Conn. So I headed out. Open field walking and the grey clouds started to drop water. It wasn't rain, more like sprinkles. I put on the pack cover and kept walking over swamp and field. Got to the Appalachian Trail Station. An interesting anomaly. A stop for the Commuter trail to NYC. It stops there only on weekend. Some hikers use it to go into the Big Apple. Snake caught up with me there. I took a picture of him with his digital. Then I left him again. And NY22. Turn right and half a mile to Tony's. When I got there I thought Giggles should have been there, but she wasn't. I thought, well, okay, I gave her a reason to leave Gypsy. I ordered a turkey wrap and Gatorade. When I got the sandwich I was flabbergasted by the size. It was like a loaf of bread! Thankfully it was cut in half. I figured I could eat half and carry the rest for dinner when the counter guy said my friend was outside. It was Giggles and her dog! It had started to rain hard and I didn't want to sit outside. I asked if I could sit at the back picnic table inside. So when Giggles had shown up, I told her just get a drink and she could have the other half of the wrap. It hit the spot for her also. And I didn't have to carry it up the hill. When we started back to the trail, the rain had pretty much stopped. She asked if I preferred to walk alone. I told her it didn't matter to me. So we walked the last six miles to the shelter together.It was pleasant to walk and talk with someone. Guinness, her dog is well mannered and stayed close. We figured out how to get Guinness under the electric fence line while we took stiles. I was grateful the trail was gentle rolling ups and downs for the last six miles. The big problem with that is that there is no landmark to give us any idea of how far we had gone except for time. And we were yakking and strolling since we had left the deli at noon thirty. It meant we had plenty of time to get to the shelter. It was boring. Under the canopy, through some fields of wild flowers. Slog through swamp. Then the one landmark before the shelter, an old cemetery. No history available but the front gate was still there. Couldn't find any headstones, but the grasses were up over my head. We trucked on. One mile plus left. Then at the half mile before the shelter at a road crossing, Big time trail magic. Two coolers and lawn chairs.   One cooler was full of beverages of all sorts and the other had snacks. So we sat down, propped up our feet and had a Sprite and Twinkies. Then we had cheese whiz on crackers. And there was a can off bug spray. We both have bug spray but the bugs have been so bad, we each only have half a bottle, so we used what was in the trail magic before we headed out. For treat we grabbed a couple frozen Sun Capris. The last fourth mile was a gentle uphill and the shelter is right on the trail. A welcome sight for four pairs of feet. So, here we are. Three tire girls. We tick checked each other. The only ticks found were on Guinness. A real surprise considering how much underbrush we walked through today. Of course, we're stuffed from the trail magic so we sit and chat more. Giggles is trying to finish a thru-hike also. She's a school teacher from Colorado. I invited her to head for town with me but her husband is meeting her tomorrow. We talked some about her hike and it may be that she will go south and do the part of Pennsylvania she is still missing. I will miss her. But I had a delightful time with her as we walked together from NY22. Since I have a short day planned for tomorrow, I may sleep in and meet her husband. He has to be a great guy to be following her around by car, but letting her go on by herself. And as for that ninety degree day today, it never showed up. Maybe I'll get lucky and not have to deal with it tomorrow.   Then later we had a visitor, JayBird. He's trying to catch up with the young guys. He has a hurt foot also. I really don't get this gang walking thing. But I suppose boys will be boys. JayBird left. 12.4 miles to Mt. Algo. It's after five. Giggles decides to sleep in the shelter with Guinness tied to a nail at the back. Should be interesting. Namaste'