Date: 2004-06-22
From: Seven Lakes Drive near Lake Tioratti, NY

To: Day 82: Graymoor Friary, NY
Miles today: 17.4

On AT Day 82 Hot Chocolate and I got up at 4:30 a.m., ate a big fried eggs, corn beef hash and toast breakfast and then drove from the Black Bear Campground in Florida, NY to Seven Lakes Drive near Lake Tiorati, NY in time for us to start hiking by 7:00 a.m. My wife parked our truck on the grassy shoulder of the road so she could do a SOBO day hike, but as her trail journal will reveal this decision resulted in her getting a parking ticket and contracting Lyme disease. As we both set out on the mild to warm day the sky was completely overcast and it soon degenerated into a light rain followed by mist and then back to solid cloud cover.The short 2-mile hike to the William Brien Memorial Shelter went by quickly and other than saying ¢Hi¢ to a couple of section hikers, I passed up this lovely facility without stopping. Going over Black Mountain produced numerous great views of the countryside, including a river that appears to drain Lake Tiorati. Crossing the island-divided four-lane Palisades Interstate Parkway was a little hairy ¢ so much so that one of the hikers noted in the registry placed in the midway island that he really needed to practice for the upcoming 10-yard dash.Later on while I was trudging up the half-mile or so road walk near the top of Bear Mountain, I met a young father and his two young sons going in the opposite direction. I was surprised that this trio was excited to see me. It seems that the oldest of the boys (10-12 years old) was writing a report on the AT and as such he and his father were thrilled to actually meet an ¢official¢ AT through hiker. At their request we took a group photograph and I wished them all good luck with their future hiking adventures. A few weeks later I received an e-mail thank you note with a copy of this picture.After reaching the summit of Bear Mountain, I stopped at a bench next to the Perkins Memorial Observatory where I had lunch and a friendly chat with two middle-aged SOBO AT section hikers. Unfortunately, because of the rain and mist I was unable to see the NY City skyline as promised in the AT guidebook ¢ maybe next time¢¦Reaching the bottom of Bear Mountain, the AT entered the grounds of Bear Mountain Inn and then the Bear Mountain Trailside Museum and Zoo where I finally got to see a couple of black bears, unfortunately these well-fed bruins were in a large concrete pen ¢¦ Seriously, this lovely facility was actually very interesting and ¢free¢ to AT through hikers. It also included one of the oldest and lowest sections of the AT since it opened in 1923 and dropped to 123 feet above sea level. Immediately after exiting the Trailside Museum and Zoo the AT crossed the Hudson River via the extremely impressive Bear Mountain Bridge built by the Harriman family in 1923. The AT then rapidly climbed a series of small hills reaching an altitude of nearly 900-feet before it descended toward US 9. On the way up the first of these hills, I met a SOBO AT section hiker about my age from Scotland who noted that the weather reminded him of home.After a day¢s hike of 17.4-miles, I reached the Graymoor Friary¢s ball field around 6:00 p.m. where I immediately gathered great tasting potable water for dinner from one of the faucets. It was sure a real treat to not have to use my filter. I ate my dinner in the ball field shelter along with a number of other NOBO AT through hikers including Swiss Miss, Hemlock, Newt and a guy about my age who was finishing his second consecutive through hike. Not wanting to disturb anyone with my early start the next day, I set up my tent on the ball field and went to bed. The capstone of the day was a brief clearing of the heavens to produce a beautiful sunset ¢ I don¢t know if the good friars had anything to do with this blessing ¢¦