Date: 2010-08-05
From: Bear Mountain

To: Greymoor Spiritual Center
Miles today: 6.5
Weather: scattered clouds

8/5 4Bear Mountain to Graymoor Spiritual Life Center6.5 milesTentI rinsed my clothes out in the sink last night. It was more effective than it had any right to be. Apparently soap is superfluous. I squeezed out the water with towels and hung everything to dry. This morning it was all dry and looked great. Breakfast was at the busy bagel place across the street. I got a breakfast sandwich, a cruller (just to see what it was like) and a pepsi. Apparently I am in the land of pepsi now. Coke is no longer ubiquitous.  The sandwich was excellent. The cruller was okay. I went back and ordered another sandwich to carry for lunch. It's pretty hefty so it might stretch to dinner as well. I also got a coffee smoothie and now I am pepped up like a hummingbird. Woo!I suspect the zoo isn't open just yet so I'm spending a few minutes this morning sitting at the lake. There are hawks circling the summit of Bear Mountain across from me. It is a fantastically serene and pleasant setting. JD emailed me that somebody he knows in the area has offered trail magic. So in a couple days I might be going home to the fellow's parent's house for an evening. This is not the kind of thing I would ever, ever do in my normal life. I'd be miserable on my own rather than trouble strangers. Apparently I am different on a thruhike. Beware, strangers!  I will trouble you. On watching the birds further I notice that they seem to be trying to fly as close to each other as they can without crashing. The hawks are playing chicken!  I am sure they will be fine but I find that I am in suspense.  So not so much with the serenity. But that may be the caffeine talking. I spent a long time in the trailside museum and zoo. After I mined it for as much entertainment as I could, I headed across the bridge. On the way up the next mountain I met Eveready and BJ (apologies if I misspelled) and we walked together off and on through some very pleasant woods and had a nice conversation. I was surprised to find a huge and well stocked gas station store at a road crossing. I got two drinks, a huge brownie, a bag of chips, and a bowl of fresh fruit and ate it all. Then held my belly and groaned after I put my pack back on. Tightening the hip straps was awful. I'm always sorry after I eat too much but it feels so good at the time. The 40 oz of drinks probably contributed to a lot of the discomfort. And when I got to camp and checked my platypus, I had only drunk a liter. So I definitely needed it. I'm staying tonight at a monastery's ballfield. They welcome hikers to camp and use their little pavilion. It was early to stop but I wanted to stay at this place which is famous in the hiker community. So today ended up really short. . That's fine, I can use the rest!I think I have too much food despite my limited shopping in Ft Montgomery. I really don't need to carry give five days worth when shopping opportunities are so frequent. Lesson learned. I saw something today which made me sad. A baby animal, hairless and pink, lying on the trail. It's eyes were still closed. It was squeaking and squirming. Either it fell out of a nest or mama dropped it. Either way, it would die very soon. I moved it off the trail so it at least wouldn't get stepped on, and it already felt cool to the touch. I watched it stop struggling and just lie there, breathing. I didn't stay to watch but I think the breathing didn't last long. It looked like it was probably dying. Poor baby.