Date: 2008-07-18
From: Hamilton Lake Stream

To: Fall Stream
Miles today: 10.2

Woke up this morning at 6:00 a.m. (this time on purpose) and had iced coffee (that we made last night) and a protein bar for brekkie. We were on the trail by 7:04 a.m., which for us is crazy speedy. We walked the miles to Piseco general store by 9:30. I had some more coffee just cause I could. (Even though the instant that I have been making is probably better than what they served at the general store! (Note: I will say, however, that the instant doesn¢t ¢ice¢ up overnight quite as well as the real thing ¢ it is drinkable, but the cooling process seems to bring out that slightly-burnt-instant-coffee-after-taste).Okay, but on to more important things:Can we say TRAIL ANGELS!?The people of Piseco were off the charts sweet and helpful! By the time we reached the general store we had to face facts and accept that we needed a new water filter. I will spare you all the details but truthfully we knew it yesterday but just didn¢t want to focus on it (again, thank you to our new friend for distracting us). Do they sell them at the general store? (Actually called ¢Casey¢s Country Corner¢ or something like that if you ever want to look it up). No.Most folks we met ¢ and there were many ¢ really did not even know what we were in search of. However, kind souls seemed to stream out of their cars ¢ all knowing about the NPT and seemingly used to thru-hikers. They all tried to help us in any way they could.-One woman had hiked part of the trail in her younger years and said if she had a filter at home to give us she would drive home to get it! Then, when she finally went inside to buy her newspaper her husband leaned out the car window and chat with us about our journey.-Then there was the older gentleman who was convinced that we could buy a filter in a nearby town and would drive us. Luckily, we saved both him and ourselves the trouble by taking the name of the suggested retail outfit, calling them, having them think we wanted a Brita and finally realizing that they did not have what we needed. > Through all this phone-calling he stood by, patiently, reassuring us that he did not mind waiting or driving and he periodically ran inside to get a phone book.-Then there was the guy who told me that "the wife" is going to hike the AT in 2010. He can¢t because he broke his back a few years ago but he and the dog will follow her along in their camper and help with resupply, etc.. I asked him if she had bought her filter yet and where and unfortunately he said that she hadn¢t but planned to do so at the EMS in Saratoga Springs, which was probably 2 hours away! That didn't help us! Ok, I am jumping ahead in my story but an hour later as we were walking to the Piseco post office "the husband" (as I came to refer to him) pulled up in his pick up. He had apparently gone back to their car-camping campground, spoken to "the wife" and had a new store suggestion. He came to tell us and offered to take us there! How crazy-sweet!- And then there was Kris. (Picture the heavens opening up and appropriate music here). Remember Kris? We shared the camping area near Hamilton Lake Stream lean-to with her last night. Well, even though she had not yet emerged from her tent when we left this morning she swooped in to the parking area in front of the general store shortly after we did this morning. She came by car and from the wrong direction since she has apparently walked too far and was offered a ride back. Well, she explained to us that she was not sure her body was up for the rest of the journey with what she deemed as a too-heavy pack. So, after some contemplation and a cell call to her mother (yay for the Pisceo cell service we were also able to check that our animals were ok and send a reassuring message to all four of Turtle¢s parents) decided not to continue. As she waited for her mom and chatted with us Turtle had the single-handed brilliant idea of asking her if she had any extra water purification tablets. She searched and somehow in the bag-hunting, phone-calling, potato chip-eating, nut-offering frenzy that followed I ended up BUYING HER WATER FILTER FROM HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND, she gave us the tablets for good measure. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! We could continue!Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!I hope we thanked her enough. Then off to Piseco post office where we picked up our resupply of food, sorted though it, and mailed some things back. The things we mailed included our gaiters which we had not used and were becoming skeptical of. I just don¢t think I am the gaiter-wearing type and I wanted to lose a little weight. Turtle agreed. The road walk from the post office back to the woods sucked just as expected and my need to pee with no options in sight (cecause we were on a road)became overwhelming¢¦Our packs were heavy and we finally got to the trail and it went on and on and on¢¦our packs heavy¢¦.Fall Stream seemed ever elusive (I did eventually get to be, however)¢¦I could not imagine trying to get all the way to Spruce¢¦.and then it rained. Actually, that was refreshing and seriously helped with the bugs!Fall Stream was lovely, if buggy, and I washed off. Turtle, who had been the strong one of the day, started to melt down once we were in camp and so as soon as I re-dressed I made us dinner and agreed to go to bed by something like 7:30 or 8:00. I like how we can switch off taking care of one another like that in the woods (I am leaving the2-3 stories of me falling, crying, and getting pulled out of mud or water by Turtle out of the journal! Turtle also cooked and filterned the most on the days i was particularly low...and vice versa) It rained all night and I knew we had the 7:00 a.m. marathoners to look forward to¢¦.I will explain about that tomorrow¢¦..Note: If I had to do it over again I think I would have camped last night at the bridge over Buckhorn lake outlet. Its 2.4 miles further then Fall Stream and was just really beautiful. There were a couple of great campsites there - again, not 100% sure of them being legal or not, but they are mentioned in the guidebook and they are certaitnly "established". And, it would have set us up to be closer to Piseco and thus shortened the day's hike today. I just think its nice for the days with a road walk > to be as short as possible!