Date: 2018-07-13
From: William Brien Memorial Shelter

To: Graymoor Spiritual Life Center
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: light rain

I was excited to get going today. There were a couple of stops along the way that I was looking forward to. One was Bear Mountain and the other was the Trailside Zoo. It also didn¢t hurt that there would be a concession stand. Resupply options have been either very poor or non existent close to the trail lately. However the opportunity to buy a meal along the way fills our bellies and stretches how far we can go with what we have in our packs.We began with a steep climb up a stone staircase. There were many more throughout the day. A banner near the trail read ¢Long Distance Trail Crew. We rock your trail.¢ ¢Ah ha!¢ I thought to myself. ¢A confession!¢ I had always suspected that that rocks on the trail were placed deliberately to torment hikers and now here it was in print. ¢We rock your trail.¢ See! They do put the rocks there!!!Ok, actually it is this crew that is responsible for the stone steps that we climbed today. What a tremendous amount of work and a beautiful job they have done.Somehow at the start of the day we missed a visitor centre that would have had a vending machine and possibly water. We went 8 miles without finding any water along the trail. Finally we came to the top of bear mountain. Where there was once a washroom there were now only Porta pottys so there was no running water. However they did have expensive vending machines. But, what do you do when you are a parched backpacker? You pay up! And so we did.Then back down hundreds of steps we went to Bear Mountain State Park where we found a picnic table full of thru hikers. Apparently we had just missed out on a trail magic barbecue. A couple of the hikers ( Hobbit and Moses) had packed up some of the leftovers and they shared them with Cole and I. We each got a hot dog, a hamburger, chips, lemonade and we split a banana. After a nice rest and some socializing we carried on through the park. We found the concession stand, but our bellies were full...almost. We found a little extra space for ice cream. We also found a water fountain to fill our bottles.Just past the state park the trail went through the Trailside Museum and Zoo. The Zoo was small. The animals who live there are native to NY and were either injured or orphaned and unable to live in the wild. There were two foxes that just looked so sad. We did not take the time to explore the various museums that they had there. After crossing the Hudson River we climbed climbed climbed back up into the forest then down once more where we came to our first opportunity to Resupply in days. A gas station! Hmm...I remember when I was complaining about having to Resupply at Dollar General! If only I could get to one of those now!! The gas station was actually quite prepared for the onslaught of the thru hiker bubble. They carried quite a bit of the usual fare..tortillas, spam, tuna, and all of the other things that we are pretty much sick of. I was easily able to get Cole restocked on snacks, but what about ¢real¢ food? After humming and hawing and walking in circles around the isles I finally picked up a loaf of bread, a container of peanut butter and a glass jar of jam. A glass jar. Am I nuts?!? Probably, but I am going to be nuts with a happy belly full of PB and J. The gas station also had a deli. There is no shortage of delis in New York. We both had a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato, bacon and avocado. It was delish!! We only had a short distance to go to get to our final destination. There is a monastery that allows hikers to sleep on their property ( it¢s a field). It has port-a-potties, a charging outlet, potable water and a cold water outdoor shower. I tried to have a shower, but despite the heat I couldn¢t get myself completely under that cold water. Instead I used my shirt as a wash cloth and gave myself a sponge bath. I probably should have tried harder to soak myself in the cold water. I have a heat rash covering both of my legs from my ankles up my hips. It flairs up during the day but fades a lot during the night. Cole attempted to have a shower too but only succeeded in sticking his head under the cold flow. Oh, I have another ailment from the heat as well. The bottom of my backpack rubs against the top part of my butt and with all of the heat and sweat it has caused a sore. On the trail they talk about getting ¢monkey butt¢. I think this is from your butt cheeks rubbing together as you hike. My sore is slightly different. Cole says it should be called ¢baboon butt¢. We laughed long and hard over that.