Date: 2018-07-04
From: Home

To: Stealth camp 
Miles today: 18.2

So I am back at it after a really great weekend home with my family.Was great seeing them.Last night went to Tedeschi Trucks concert in Saratoga.Such a great time with my Bethie and many friends.  Very muggy and hot first thing this morning.Statted off at Bear mtn park which was absolutely mobbed with people early.Couldnt get out of that crowd fast enough.The park and trail takes you through a zoo.It was closed so we took the bypass trail.Next was Bear mtn bridge which takes you across the Hudson River.Nice old suspension bridge.Great views of the Hudson .As soon as you cross the bridge the trail goes very steely up the next mountain.Was SO hot.Wondered how the hell I was going to make it through a whole day of the hellish heat. Luckily for me the trail became quite easier after descending .Nice flat sections.Saw some more of those huge black snakes through here.Then after about 5 miles came to a road and thought I was seeing a mirage.A store ,and so close to the trail!So I went and bought a few slices of pizza and 4 big cans of beer.Drank 1 there and packed the rest for later.  Trail was pretty but no views at all.Thunder was rumbling all morning but with blue skies.About 2:30 the sky darkened dramatically quick.Then rain.Heavy ,heavy rain.I have to admit it felt so good after being so hot all day.The bad part was we were on a ridge and there was some seriously close and scary thunder and lightning going on.Nowhere to get shelter so just moved as fast as we could.Trail instantly becomes like a little river when it rains so hard and fast.Was one of those moments that make you think ¢is this how it¢s gonna end for me?¢I am weird a little and love the rush I get out of extreme weather conditions.Really strong winds are my favorite thing to be in..After about 45 minutes of walking through this intense storm that wouldn¢t end we came to a parking area with a little tiny roof over a trailhead parking map.Storm just wouldn¢t stop.We saw many cars go by and people were actually pointing and laughing that we were out in the storm huddled under the small roof.Welcome back to NY where most people are rotten  in my opinion.People can be so mean.I guarantee if this happened down south on the trail someone would have offered to help out or take us into town or something.One nice lady did stop out of probably 50 or more cars and offered us an umbrella.Was sweet but I told her we were beyond soaked so no point.Numb and I did have some laughs during this whole thing though.You can¢t fight these things on the trail.Learn to love it or you will never have a chance to finish.Biscuits showed up and huddled with us for a while.Really cool young guy from Michigan. We had some daylight left after the storm so we decided to try to dry out a little while hiking as we headed north.It helped a little .Stream crossings were really high and the trail was slick.Was getting late so we found a flat spot and set up our tents almost right on the trail.Bugs were out in full force.I carry 100% Deet.My skin may fall off,but hey,I won¢t get bit so much.We ate really quick and jumped into our tents to get away from the bugs.And I forgot all about the beers I carried out from earlier.Tasted SO great  Crazy day of heat,rain,and bugs.Really happy to be back out here though.Everyday tests you and makes you stronger out here I think.