Date: 2013-07-18
From: Bear Mountain, Overlook Lodge

To: Graymoor Spiritual Life Center
Miles today: 6.4

Hard to get going today. I'm sitting at a table along Hessian Lake, with a little bit of a breeze.I was told that the continental breakfast at the Inn was more complete than at the Overlook. I got a ride over there from a nice couple from NYC named Bill & Mary. They are artists who come up here to paint, but hot weather makes that difficult, so they are going to a sculpture show. Breakfast wasn't much different except for a waffle-maker & some fruit -- that's hard to get on the Trail, so I guess it was worth the trip. I still had some cleaning & sorting of gear to do, so was a little late checking out. I managed to get a ride to the post office from a Swiss couple, mail a package ahead to myself, & then get a ride back to the pool. My ride was with a retired soldier, who lives near West point. When I asked about the noise, he said gunfire didn't bother him after 30 years in the military.Now I was finally ready for the swimming pool [didn't get in free like some thru-hikers]. The pool is huge: 30 yards across, so you can swim laps from side to side, & maybe 125 yards long. Pretty crowded, but not so much in the deep section where I wanted to swim ¢ 20-30 laps with a break in between. Having lost some weight on the Trail, I found it hard to do the backstroke -- I don't float well enough, so my legs drag me down! Well, it was fun for a while; then I had to get back out in the sun & prepare to hike. At a park shelter, I met Goldilocks, Jabberwocky, & another hiker, who were trying to get up the resolve to venture across the bridge in the hot sun. The trip across the Hudson River seemed long: sunny & not much wind. Wind is nice on a hot day, but I'm always afraid it will blow my hat off on a bridge. There's a steep Mtn. straight ahead [Anthony's Nose?], but the Trail, after a little bit of grungy road walk [lots of traffic], goes gradually around the side of it. After 5 miles of small ups & downs, I reached US 9, where there is a deli right at the crossing.A few hikers I didn't know were leaving as I arrived. I got a very good sandwich & ate it there. While waiting for them to fix it, I saw a woman emptying a case of [day-old?] Danish into the trash, so I asked her for one & got it free. Fun Size & Bottle Cap came up while I ate, & I watched their stuff while they got their sandwiches. A nice break, but it will be dark soon.I was planning to stop at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center. When I came this way 12 years ago, they were still giving free dinners to hikers ¢ they've stopped that but still let hikers camp at their baseball field, which has a pavilion, a cold shower, & a privy. The guidebook said the turn-off was 0.6 mile beyond the highway. Somehow, I got my head twisted around the idea that that would take me 45 minutes. So at around that time I started looking for a blue-blaze trail to the right, which I imagined would take me to the monastery. Eventually, I came to a blue-blaze trail, but I knew immediately it was the wrong one, leading to a shrine on a hilltop above the monastery. I had gone 34 mile too far! I probably should have gone on & found a place to camp along the Trail. but I thought camping was not permitted in the narrow Trail corridor; besides, I wanted to go back & figure out where I went wrong. So I went back as far as the gravel road with a sign: "Watch out for speeding traffic". Seeing no other signs, I went down it any way, figuring I'd get to the right place eventually. Down the hill a bit I found a house & a couple of cabins. Since one cabin had a light on, I knocked on the door & met Brother Daniel [I'm sorry if I got the name wrong ¢ he's apparently the monk most interested in helping hikers, after a previous one died.] & his dog. He decided it was easier to drive me to the campground than to give me directions from there, so he took me to the nearest place on the road (gates had been closed for the night). He also showed me the place I should have got off the Trail. It looked like nothing I had seen in walking ¢ I'll check it out in the morning. There were 8-10 hikers camped there, some around a smoky fire & some already in their tents. I found a table to sleep on on the pavilion, got a quick shower, & went to bed. One advantage to getting there so late was the mosquitos had gone to bed already.