Date: 2018-06-03
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: West Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 22.8
Weather: light rain

Overnight the temperatures dropped fairly drastically. When we woke up it was around 55 degrees and felt like a cool fall morning with the wind blowing. I got on trail normal time to start the crazy ascents and descents of the day. We began by passing a waterfall then eventually hit Harriman State Park. Along the way, at many of the road crossings, trail angels had left gallon water jugs for us to fill up. It's amazing the difference in water quality as we move north. We are pulling from much darker streams that are somewhat sketchy rather than clear mountain springs like down south. We also have to worry about the beavers in the water that can transmit giardia. The water jugs were a nice surprise!Harriman State Park had kinder trails. The kind of trails that are widely used as day hikes so the bouldering was at a minimum for a bit. I passed a bunch of people out enjoying the comfortable temperature and overcast skies. Perfect for hiking! I then entered the lemon squeeze which was a tight squeeze through a rock crevasse. So small that I had to take off my pack and toss it up to the top to fit! Reminded me a lot of a place I used to go as a kid near Franconia, NH. Boulders and tight squeezes! It was cool!The rest of the morning was over small rolling hills that still got my heart rate up. A few ponds and creeks along the way provided different scenes. Plenty of wildlife as usual-- I think I see at least one deer a day. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling it much today though. I think the long day yesterday had drained my energy (no blisters or anything though!) And the quick change in weather was playing around with my head. Anyway, my push for the day was to lunch! I took it 0.4 miles off trail at a state park where there were vending machines. It's the simple things out here! A soda and an iced tea beside a lake helped a lot but by the end of my 45min lunch I was shivering! Getting back on trail I warmed up quickly.I had about 7 miles left to camp and it was only 1 so I took the rest of the day in leisure. I met two clicks who had passed me while I ate off trail and we enjoyed the last few miles laughing about the day. We crossed the pallisades which was crazy! The cars came wizzing by especially on the Eastward side headed to NYC. We played a legit game of Frogger dodging cars to get to the wooded median then doing the same on the Westward side. It was a cool change of pace and adrenaline rush! I bet those driving by thought we were crazy!We walked 0.6 miles off trail for the shelter for the night! Normally we would never do that but it was going to rain and we had to tent tomorrow so 1/2 nights we wanted to be dry. Plus we didn't have anymore shelter options for 33 miles!Funny story about the stove. So I was going to buy it off Moldy Beans as stated before. Well, today he was going to give it to me after he cooked his last lunch. However, he accidentally left the stove at the last shelter and only had the gas and pot left. So the stove is lost but I have a pot and gas. My parents are visiting Tuesday and luckily I have another stove at home and they'll be bringing it! So no worries but what a strange occurrence. Buying a stove off a guy with the trail name Moldy Beans... probably not my best idea haha. Just kidding he's a really cool guy.Two clicks and I are the only ones in the shelter tonight. No flip floppers or section hikers which is kind of a nice change of pace. We're bracing for what seems to be a crazy storm coming in tonight as we overlook the Hudson and hope to see NYC skyscraper lights at night. Tomorrow we hit Bear Mountain State Park and a convenience store on trail with hot food! Woo! Also extremely pumped to see my parents, get some food with them and stay in a hotel. They're making a last minute trip down to see me and it's crazy to think the last time they came, about 2.5 weeks ago, it was an 8 hour drive and this time it's a 3.5 hour drive. I didn't even have to wait in traffic to make it north!