Date: 2015-06-03
From: Graymoore Retreat picnic shelter

To: Mountaintop Market
Miles today: 23.9

First long day for a while. Not as bad as the past few days either. The morning started out foggy and cold, but at least not raining. However, everything in the woods was still drenched. The rocks and roots were still incredibly slippery, so the steep climbs and descents were once again a speed bump. The trail in NY seems even more monotonous than anywhere else, even Virginia. Perhaps because the weather has been so dire, and there haven't been any real views. It just seems like the trail has been designed to go over every single rock mound in the area, no matter how short/steep/pointless. I noticed today that one rocky climb had a flat, smooth trail about 20 feet to the left of it. Of course the AT did not follow that trail. I had a brief scare on the trail before lunch. A large group of day hikers had bought a couple dogs with them, but the dogs were on leads. I passed as we were all entering the same area and didn't think much of it. Until 5 minutes later when I heard a jingling noise behind me, and the bigger pit bull type of dog was standing there. Obviously the owners had let it off the lead and it had immediately sprinted after me. Thankfully, this dog did not attack me. I cannot really describe how frustrating it is that I am now scared of all dogs on the trail, except tiny puppies. Later, I met Stoat and Poppins and we agreed to meet at the Mountaintop Deli and camp behind there tonight. After that, I made my way down to the beach, which was 0.2 off trail. The beach was deserted and the water looked like a swamp. I would not have swam there. I had lunch, converted my trousers to shorts, and sprayed copious bug spray. By then, the sun was high in the sky and blasting away. It felt great to finally feel warm and dry again, if more than a little sweaty.I got to the Mountaintop Deli at 5.30. It is a much better resupply than the Appalachian Market yesterday. I had a sub and chocolate milk for dinner, followed by two 35 cent ice cream sandwiches, then later some tea. I have been very spoiled the past few days with all this real food, but it hasn't made even the slightest difference to my (perhaps overly) skinny body. It was really nice to just sit outside with Stoat and Poppins and chat, whilst simultaneously indulging in some real food. It's not very often these days that I get to spend time with other women, so it was a very welcome change.Now we're camping in a large grassy space behind the shop. There is a hose with clean water and a power outlet. I even discovered wifi later in the evening.The shop opens about 6am, so it's just in time for breakfast. The only thing that is lacking is a toilet, but I guess you can't have everything.Tomorrow I will be hiking about 15 miles to Pawling, NY. I'm planning to take the Metro North into the city. The trails run about every two hours from there, so I hope I can time it right! I also hope that whoever has to sit next to me on the train does not have any sense of smell. Also, the mosquitoes have even managed to bite the tops of both my ears. I didn't even think there was much blood there- maybe it was actually black fly bites. Either way, it itches and is impossible to scratch.