Date: 2017-06-13
From: Stealth Site in NY

To: William Brien Memorial Shelter, NY
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: few clouds

6/13/27 William Brien Memorial Shelter, NYMiles hiked: 1076.1 Miles to go: 1113.7First off, let me say "Happy 20th Anniversary" to the most patient woman I know. My wife Marguerite has endured my various endeavors over the years, such as Wilderness Search & Rescue and being an on-call paramedic while also working a full-time job as a chemist. And now she's keeping the home fires burning while I am out here living out a long held dream. Today was one of the toughest I've experienced out here in quite awhile. We are into our third day of heat in the 90+ degree range. That kind of heat just seems to sap all the energy right out of you. As soon as we started hiking, 1st Sgt and I were drenched in sweat. And no amount of water seems to cool you down.Speaking of water, caches left by incredible trail angels saved us again today. The water sources listed in AWOL's guide continue to be sluggish, brown, unappealing little trickles that are typically outflows from ponds or bogs. Three times at road crossings today we came across gallon jugs of water. Someone is taking the time to fill these jugs of water and haul them out to the trail just so people they've never met will have fresh water to drink. Amazing!For some reason, I was under the impression that once we passed Delaware Water Gap it would be smooth sailing through NJ, NY, and CT all the way up to Mt Greylock in Massachusetts. Well, it turns out that the terrain in NY is pretty tough. We spent our second day scrambling up and down over big rocks, sometimes slowing down to a crawl as we negotiated climbs or steep descents. And for some reason they don't appear to believe in switchbacks here!I actually have a theory. Remember all the devastating wildfires along the southern portion of the AT last year? I think that all the switchbacks in TN and GA were burned up. When the ATC went to order new switchbacks, they found they were on backorder due to all the Western wildfires. They decided it was more important to make it easier for all the NOBOs just starting out. So, they yanked all the switchbacks out of NY and shipped them south, leaving behind rocky ascents straight up the mountainsides.  I assume they'll replace them sometime in the future. I just hope they don't use cheap Chinese ones that erode in just a couple of years.  All kidding aside, some of these ascents made for dangerous hiking. A young college aged hiker we know named Snooze took a nasty tumble off a particularly tricky climb. His backpack took the brunt of the impact; however, he still ended up with scrapes and a fairly ugly puncture wound on his right calf. Passing hikers helped his sister Sauce patch him up, so by the time we saw them he was doing pretty well. I did insist on examining and cleaning the wound when we got to the shelter tonight. Everyone in the shelter gathered around to watch the show. They were all pretty amazed when I pulled out a set of nitrile gloves. BSI...scene safety...(never mind, it's an EMT joke). I also told him he needs to get the wound checked when we get to town tomorrow. We at least were able to make a stop at the lake in Harriman State Park this afternoon and buy cold sodas and Powerades. We ended up sitting at the pavilion way too long waiting for the heat to abate. As a result, we ended up stopping at a shelter four miles earlier than planned. When we got there, we found that everyone else had suffered just as much with the heat and terrain. That at least made us feel a little better and not quite so much like wimps. In the long run the shortened day won't make a big difference. We planned a six mile Nearo into Fort Montgomery for tomorrow anyway. We will just have to try to get an earlier start to knock down the added milesn. I hate losing mileage all the same. At this point, whereas 1st Sgt and others passed the halfway point back in PA, I still have more miles left to hike than what I've already covered. When we reach Katahdin, I will still have 320 miles left to hike in VA. I imagine, standing on Katahdin high-fiving with my friends, that I will feel like that kid that got to don the cap and gown and walk across the stage at Graduation; however, instead of receiving my diploma, I got a blank piece of paper tied with a ribbon and an invitation to attend summer school to finish that last class that I missed - "The topography of Central Virginia". At least we won't have the heat to deal with tomorrow. We had a cold front, complete with thunder, lightening, and rain, move through this evening and drop the temperature a good twenty degrees. High temperatures for tomorrow are forecast to be in the 70s. Yay.