Date: 2022-06-07
From: Stealth camp past West Mountain Shelter 

To: Hemlock Springs Campsite
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke at 6am. We are worried about finding water. Sources are getting slim and by July a lot of them will be dry. I feel sorry for the bubble of hikers coming behind us. Breakfast was the last 2 mini powdered donuts for each of us. We need water before we can cook anything. Then wa-la! We found a small stream. We had to cup out water but at least we had water!The next several minutes on the trail was spent walking though huge bushes of flowering mountain laurel on either side of the trail. The laurel doesn¢t have a smell but it sure is pretty.A while later we stopped for a mid-morning snack. We sat on a log and, as always, Coffeebean put his gum on the log. (Note: if you ever do any hiking between here and Georgia, be sure to check any logs before you sit down on one. You will probably find his gum. He has left more pieces of gum on logs!) Then he said ¢Where is my gum?¢ We found it. Stuck to the butt of his pants! I pulled off as much as I could and then used duct tape to get the rest off. I am a master gum-remover!Our next big climb was up Bear Mountain. It had beautiful stone steps in many of the places but an escalator would have been even nicer. :) At the top of one of the views was a beautiful wooden bench dedicated to the memory of the chief forest ranger. We sat and enjoyed the view, sun, and lovely breeze. We called Mackenzie to wish her well on her plane trip. She has a carry-on plus a bag to check. Why so many clothes? She answered ¢Because ¢a girl has to have options!¢ That girl! There were a number of benches along the hike up. We texted Cool Whip about them. He once said that he always stops and sits when he sees a bench. When we reached the summit of Bear Mountain there was a beautiful stone tower - Perkins Memorial Tower. Even better! There were vending machines with cold drinks and ice cream! We bought some iced tea and loved the taste. (Somehow we ended up with 4! We¢ll find out if we bought that many or it was a fluke when the credit card statement comes.) We¢ll get ice cream next time. No flush toilets so I had to use a port-a-potty. Better than digging a cathole!  The tower was really beautiful and you could climb to the top. On each level there were big pictures made from tiles showing the construction of the tower. The tiles were so beautiful. We really enjoyed that and it was a popular place. Very busy, even on a Tuesday.The walk down to Bear Mountain Recreation Area was a mile but it was made for the public so the path was crushed stone with beautiful steps between. At the bottom were informational signs showing how workers built the steps and the cribbing wall along the path. No mortar was used, only gravity and pressure keeps everything in place. The recreation area was really crowded with school groups everywhere. The area had picnic tables and a beautiful ¢lake¢ with paddle boats and the old Bear Inn. We didn¢t eat there but there was a restaurant. There were big grassy fields to run around on. Some of the kids were playing volleyball. There was a building that housed a stunning old merry-go-round. It was only open on the weekend too. (The schools in NY don¢t get out until late June so I¢m thinking that¢s why most things aren¢t open till the weekend.) There is also a small zoo called the Trailside Zoo and Museum. It is closed now during the week due to construction (but open on weekends!). The AT trail actually goes right through the zoo and thru-hikers get in for free. (The bear cage in the zoo is the lowest point on the AT.) The concession stand was closed because the zoo was closed so no hot hamburgers for lunch. Just our usual. We filled up our water bottles in the bathroom because the outdoor spigots were turned off too. We were so disappointed about the zoo. We took the path under the road and were then to follow a blue blaze around the zoo. The first blaze was by an open gate so we went through it but couldn¢t find anymore blazes until a zoo worker told us we were in the zoo and it was closed. She was very nice and showed us where we could get put that would put us by the bridge we needed to cross. Opps. Well we got to see a few animals anyways.We walked across the Hudson River over the Bear Mountain Bridge. It was quite a view and pretty windy. Once across the bridge we turned left and had to walk on the road for a bit. Then we crossed to the other side of the road and looked up. That was one tall mountain! And, yup, we had to climb it. No beautiful stone steps or crushed gravel this time. Ugh! Straight up over rocks and tree roots and no switchbacks. Today was more humid than the last few and it was mid afternoon so it was a killer! We finally got to the top and found a stream for water. Just above that was the Hemlock Springs Campsite. Rain was due at 5pm so we wanted to be setting up camp by 4. It was only 3:15 but we called it a day. Set up camp, ate dinner, and hung out in the tent. The rain has come in little spits here and there. It is supposed to rain until 7 am tomorrow then clear up for the day. We¢ll see. It finally started to rain consistently about 6pm so we had to cook dinner under the foyer flap, carefully, so we didn¢t burn the tent down. That would have sucked. We ate a Mountain House (dehydrated meal) for dinner (I didn¢t eat much. Didn¢t want to start tomorrow looking like a blowfish.)Hiked 8.6 miles.