Date: 2023-07-24
From: Stealth Site

To: Dennytown Road Campsite
Miles today: 22.1

Mood: °To pass time while hiking today, Moose Jaw and I remixed existing songs and came up with new raps about the AT. Here they are:Remix to Cupid ShuffleTo the right, the right, the right, the right, the rightThe left, the left, the left, the left, the leftNow trip, now trip, now come on hiker slipNow hobble down the trail, go shuffle down the trailLet¢s do the AT hobbleYou¢ve got the AT hobbleOur Rap/Poetry Slam Session (must be said in a New Yorker Accent)New York! Gettin¢ slap happy with the white blazes!Paintin¢ them in all the wrong places!Got me trippin¢ on all the rock faces, As I¢m lookin¢ down at my shoe laces.These roots are messin¢ up my paces,And the mosquitos are suckin¢ blood from my legs-ez!My ankles are twistin¢ in all the wrong ways-ez!These twists and turns have me fallin¢ from good graces!I guess thru-hikers are crazy nut cases,To be out here day after day lovin¢ the trail races.I¢d rather be sittin¢ by an oasis!Anyways. This is how sometimes I preoccupy my time while hiking. Especially today since we hiked 22 miles and I felt like I was dying the entire time. But also the four sodas I drank right before we came up with that poem probably helped. Moose and I left our stealth spot this morning around 8. Apparently, some bears around 12:30 walked around our tent. Moose told me. I had no idea. I always sleep with ear plugs these days and of course my eye mask. Blissful ignorance to the outside world and wildlife!We hiked through bear mountain today. It¢s officially closed due to the flooding from a few weeks back, but it seemed just fine for us thru-hikers! There was a ton of debris, though. And the main road was washed out some. But we barely hiked on the road. I thought the views were gorgeous! It was nice being there without all of the tourism. When I got a monster from the vending machine, it gave me two for the price of one! I loved that!! It made my day!And then before we new it, we walked around the zoo and across the Hudson River. It was AWESOME! But the steep incline after the bridge crossing was not awesome. The dang mosquitos ate us alive today, all day long, even with our bug nets on and ample amounts of bug spray. So much, that we ran out and now are scared for tomorrow. They have swarmed everyone. Mosquito tornado, 24/7. About 13 miles in, we hit up the Appalachian Market. This is a glorified shell gas station. Meaning it¢s a tiny shell gas station where you can buy hot food that two women cook for you. We met two carpenters today at the gas station who are from Argentina. They were super kind! We enjoyed our conversation with them! We chilled at the gas station for like 2.5 hours. Mostly drank all of the sodas and ate some food. The fruit was good! Crazy how gas station food is something I look forward to. Sometimes I¢m disgusted with myself and how low my standards have gotten. But then at the same time, I¢m happy that I get to experience having zero transportation and little food on me, and even going many days without showering. The longest we have gone is 7 days. Now that it¢s hot and humid, we shower more. We have taken showers in the most random places too!! It¢s amazing what you learn towns have to offer for free or little money. We left the market and hiked some more miles. This is when the poetry slam/rap session ensued. It was fun. But then I was tired and we still had to walk. I don¢t think my feet will ever stop hurting. And it¢s like the rocks continued from Pennsylvania into New York. I¢m sure it¢ll be like this for the rest of trail. Tonight we have tented at this random campground. When we arrived, Bob Ross and two sodas for everyone that he received from trail magic! It was such a wonderful surprise! However, after we grabbed our sodas, we all hurried to set up our tents and climb in because the mosquitos were horrific. So many. I¢ve never seen this many before. I¢m glad to be safe in my tent. Going to chill and journal and brush my teeth and maybe look at what¢s ahead! I¢m still a little worried about my leg where the wasp stung me. The area is still red, itchy, and is now peeling. Which is strange¢¦