Date: 2014-07-22
From: Graymoor Spiritial Center

To: RPH shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: broken clouds

Today felt more eventful than usual. Could be that there were a lot more people involved but nonetheless I had to deal with more things than the typical day of out hiking in the woods. Instead of painfully just trying to get rid of songs stuck in my head that were implanted by other people singing them on repeat because it's stuck in their head, I had a lot more face to face interaction today. When your hiking in the woods you're kind of stuck with whatever comes to mind such as remembering random historical moments of your life or going into a paranoid mental spiral about something trail related. If you're talking to someone, you're typically walking side by side or interacting in ways that aren't always face to face. You got stuff to do like shovel food in your mouth, pitching your tent, filtering water, etc. Well yesterday I said something about how weird it is to be over stimulated when you've become accustomed to straight forward simple living. Today was another day I ended up in a state park where there was throngs of people. And then unexpectedly, a busy Chinese buffet restaurant. You gotta mentally prepare for that kind of stimulation or you're going to get sucked into people watching like a weirdo. Anyways, maybe I should jut journal. It's past bedtime and I want to get this over with.Last night I wanted to join in a yoga session held by Not Yet but I got swarmed by Mosquitos every moment I was outside the safety of my tent. It just wasn't going to be worth it so I basically paced in circles around everybody in the pavilion until I really couldn't care less about being anti social. I feel like the Mosquitos love me in particular because my blood reacts so well to their spit. I went to sleep and left camp at 7:30am - ended up lingering around waiting for my phone to charge. I had intent to do 25-30miles today to help catch up to other hikers and make it to Frankenstein's trail magic party (wow that sounds like a theme park ride or something). Almost left without saying goodbye to say Bobcat who is leaving the trail to prepare for school. Luckily he caught me in typical bobcat fashion running across the field in his underwear yelling, "say goodbye, you bastard!" with his heavy Israeli accent. I actually was crossing the field to take a dump but didn't see him because he was sleeping on a picnic table using his tent as a blanket. It's never a dull moment with that guy... When that was done with, I hit the trail hard. It felt good and I was amused by how the trail quality ranged from wading through thick waist high bushes over planks tossed onto marsh and impeccably flat trail built nearly on top of a well constructed rock wall.In the afternoon I found myself off course trudging through soppy pools of mud when I passed a sign adamantly advising hikers to stay off the road if you're trying to reach Clarence Fahnestock state park. I did not intend to go there anyway so I heeded the warning and continued the wrong way when I was supposed to cross the road. Yeah, I figured it out eventually... I also remembered I needed to check with Two Sticks about meeting up. She left the trail a couple months ago but lives in the area. Today was her day off and she wanted to go hiking! She had friends with her and I eventually ended up finding my way to the state park anyway. That was where I got interviewed, overwhelmed by children, grandmas (grandmas tend to love me and try to get me to marry their granddaughters), and couldn't help but notice a few remarkably beautiful women. Plus a girl who didn't drink enough water today which resulted in a fainting spell thus leading to smacking her head on the concrete ground. Drink your water people! I eventually continued on my way to RPH shelter and was convinced by Two Sticks and friends to join them for a Chinese buffet restaurant about 20 minutes away. Turned out that it was meant to be because I mean just look at my fortune cookie. I wasn't even going to crack it open but Two Sticks was having none of that. So uhm yeah. That was kind of my day. I guess I need to do 30 miles tomorrow!