Date: 2008-09-13
From: NY 301

To: Graymoore
Miles today: 11.9

Papa Rose and I ended up chatting for quite a while last night. Pretty cool guy. Had retired back in 2005 and ended up putting on some weight. He decided to join weight watchers and started to walk. He decided to do the long trail last summer and started doing sections of the AT. He is actually using Public Transportation to get to where he is going. Gave me some good ideas. Probably a little easier for him since he is retired and doesn't have to really worry about wasting days travelling. He was making his way up almost to the Conn border. I slept pretty good last night. Woke up once to water the leaves around 2. But, once I got up I slept fitfully. It really was pretty warm in my tent. Way too warm actually, but I guess that is better than being way too cold.Papa Rose had told me he got his water from a garden hose over at the park office, so I decided to dump what I had from the campground and to refill with the hose. It was much better. Tasted pretty good actually.I made it back down NY 301 and was on the trail by 8. It was really wet on the trail and still very humid. I couldn't believe how much sweat I had pouring off of me. It was incredible, but pretty gross.   And within 10 minutes the stench of my shirt was pretty nasty. The material really hold the smell and I think as soon as you start sweating all the stench from previous hikes comes out. Just to remind you of how much hiking you have done. I didn't see any wildlife today, but I did hear a lot of birds. Jays, cardinals, titmice, towhees and lots of nuthatches.The trail was pretty boring again today. Travelled through a lot of hard wood forests. No real views or anything interesting.Just a lot of rocks, boulders, and roots.Yesterday, I was able to listen to my ipod for most of the day. Today, though I had to concentrate. It was just way too wet and slippery.Made it to Graymoore some time after 3:30. Found my way to the ballfield and there was a group of guys playing softball. So, I sat down and relaxed and watched them for a bit. They could hit pretty good, but nobody really could field the ball.   So, there was lot of scoring going on for both sides. While I was sitting there I saw a sign that said that there was a picnic pavillion that might be drier than this shelter. I decided to go ahead and move on up to the pavillion. It said that there was water and flush bathrooms in a hall just above the picnic area. I really wasn't comfortable with all the guys there. Probably didn't really have to worry, but I don't like feeling uncomfortable. So off I went.The picnic area is closer to the trail head. Pretty big pavillion. Not as nice as last night, but it would do. There did seem to be a lot of garbage all over the place. Didn't really look like hiker garbage. There were a lot of garbage pails so, don't know why people throw the trash on the ground.On my way up to the picnic area I spoked some vultures out of some trees. There had to be at least 10 of them. The trees were part of a little grove that was backed up my a large tree covered forest. I think that they were roosting for the night.   It was kind of neat.I decided to just sleep on one of the picnic tables because the ground was pretty tore up. Concrete, but very chewed up. I figured it would be dry enough and possibly a little cooler than being in the tent. It was still pretty humid. Plus, I figured I might get up earlier if I was outside. I want to get an early start so that I don't have to race to meet up with the SQ. I couldn't believe how many acorns I saw today. Definitely an abundant drops. Don't know if it signals a long winter or something like that. They seemed different than the ones I have at home. The ones at home are short and squat. These babies were any where from a half inch to and inch an a half. Stepping on them reminded me of the marble scene in the original Home Alone movie. I ran into a nobo today. His name was Alex - didn't catch where he was from. Young guy. We chatted for a minute. I asked him how far he was heading and he said all the way to Katadin. Didn't have the heart to tell him that there was pretty much no way he was going to make it this year since the park closes in about a month. Wished him luck and went on my way.