Date: 2005-08-19
From: Pawling, NY

To: Canopus Lake, NY
Miles today: 24.4
Weather: scattered clouds

24.4 miles todayCanopus Lake, NY I got to sleep at 11pm last night and was up at 4:30am this morning. I knew Moosie wanted to get an early start and I had some emails to answer, so I got a few answered before I heard his alarm clock go off. I went out and put on a pot of coffee and cleaned up my room and packed my backpack. I made a couple sandwiches for lunch and packed the rest of the salami for an easy, no cook dinner. We left the house at about 6:30. Mrs Moosie dropped us off at Seven Lakes Drive in Harriman State Park, NY. I'm walking the next 2 days with Moosie. We are walking north back to where I started yesterday at Pawling, NY. That will be almost 47 miles. Moosie will go back up to Maine and NH and hike some after this and I'll get back to walking south from where we started today. It will probably be monday before I get back there though because the Moosie's want me to go to a festival on sunday. They said there will be lots of food. They didn't have to twist my arm too much. ;-))) That sounds great to me since it's been Gorham, NH since my last zero day. We started walking at 8:15 this morning. Bear Mountain was our first climb and Moosie was right on my heels. We talked all the way to the summit and couldn't believe it when we realized we were on the top already. We walked down the mountain and saw a nice buck deer with large antlers still in velvet. I got some good pictures of him before we hiked on. We walked by Hessian Lake and then went to walk through the Bear Mountain Zoo. It's the official trail route right through the zoo. It was open yet, so we weren't going to wait 15 minutes for them to open. We headed for the trail around the outside of the zoo. Moosie saw an ice cream vending machine so we just had to stop. :-))) He bought a bar and I decided to get an ice cream bar too. It was almost 10, so we decided to wait and see if the zoo opened on time. We got in at 10am and walked through looking at the animals along the way. We saw some fox, porcupines, otters, coyotes and even a couple of bear cubs. We left by the Bear Mountain Bridge that crosses over the Hudson River and walked across the bridge. We climbed the next mountain and again got to the top before we even realized how quickly we were moving. We stopped at Graymoor and had lunch. Two sobos came walking out of the woods. Their names were Chris and Amanda. We talked with them for a while before they hiked on. We were running out of water and had about 8 miles to Dennytown Road where I knew there was a water spigot on the side of an old building. We kept walking until we got there. There were a bunch of small hills we climbed and then walked back down. It had started raining and rained litely for about 2-3 hours. Moosie liked the rain because it cooled him down, I didn't because it made me wet. :-))) We stayed near Dennytown Rd for about 30 minutes before starting to chill down and walking on. There was a cooler I saw and I looked in to find some Gatorade. We both had one and signed the register thanking the trail angels. Thank you for the trail magic...it was great!!! We crossed NY301 and walked 2 more miles before finding a couple nice flat spots. Moosie looked at me with a puzzled look on his face. I said; "What??" He said; "Do you think there's a road nearby with a motel?? I'd split the cost with you." I said ; "We just left your house today...you have learn to sleep in the woods sometimes." ;-))) I set up my tent and ate. I looked over and Moosie was trying to figure out how to set up his tarp. I went over and helped him set up his tarp then he thanked me and he ate his dinner. That's the way I remember it and I'm not changing my story. :-))) It was a fun day hiking and talking. I don't get the opportunity very often to talk all day to a nobo. ;-)))