Date: 2005-08-22
From: Seven Lakes Drive, Harriman State Park, NY

To: North of Little Dam Lake, NY
Miles today: 16.6

16.6 miles todayNorth of Little Dam Lake, NY I woke up about 5:30 this morning and layed in bed a while. I finally went out in the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. I wrote a few emails and started packing up my stuff. I am leaving the Moosie's home today. :-((( I've had a great time there again. I really will never be able to pay them back for all their kindness...but I'll try somehow!!! It's been fun hiking with Moosie again and it's always great to see Mrs Moosie. I made a couple egg, sausage and cheese sandwiches for breakfast and kept working on that pot of coffee. Moosie wanted to see how my tent set up, so we went out in his yard and set it up. When I went inside, their neighbors dog came over and lifted his leg on my tent. I guess he didn't think too much of it. ;-))) I finished packing, took a shower and checked out the Weather Channel. It looks like some nice weather this week. I said my goodbyes to Mrs Moosie and got a nice big hug...I love those hugs!!! Thanks. :-))) Moosie, Stewie (their dog), and I left for the trailhead. We stopped on the way so I could resupply. I bought too much stuff to eat. I have some towns coming up soon, but the stuff I bought looked good, so I'll carry it until I eat it all. We drove 1 1/2 hours to the trailhead 4 miles south of Bear Mountain and Moosie dropped me off at 12:10pm. I'm excited about hiking again, but it's always hard to say goodbye to friends. Moosie and Mrs Moosie...Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! You both have made my hike alot easier and much more fun. I met a nobo by the name of Kentucky almost as soon as I started walking. I came up on a 5 foot black snake that I think might have had a frog because when the snake saw me and acted like he wanted to bite me, a frog went hopping away. I saw the first box turtle I've seen on this hike a little later. I was climbing West Mountain, then went down and crossed The Palisades Parkway before climbing Black Mountain. I hiked on to William Brien Memorial Shelter and signed the register and talked to a couple of overnight hikers that were there. I hiked on and was kind of just zoning out a little when a 4 1/2 foot rattlesnake let me know I better not get any closer. He was laying right in the trail and reared his head back like he wanted to bite me. That made 2 snakes that wanted to bite me today. He was a fat fella. He had some nice colors to him. His tail and rattles were very dark compared to the rest of him. I took a couple pictures then let him be. I hiked on and when I came to the road that goes to Tiorati Circle, I sat on the same rock that I found Zulu sitting on last May when he was waiting on Frogcaller. I was in the area doing a little trail magic back then. I sat there about 15 minutes before hiking on. I saw 4 deer today. One 4 point buck, one spike buck and 2 does. The bucks still have velvet on their antlers. I also saw a 4 point buck the other day when I was walking with Moosie, but I forgot to write about it in my journal then. I climbed Fingerboard Mountain, then walked past Fingerboard Shelter without stopping since I had a break a short while before. I got to the Lemon Squeezer and went through that. The hardest part is before you get to it when you have to come down a short, steep rock scramble. The Lemon Squeezer is a crevice between 2 large rocks that you have to walk through at an angle for about 30 feet. It's pretty narrow. I got down to Arden Valley Road and was real happy to see that someone had left a couple gallons of water. I had been conserving mine all day and I needed some pretty bad. I drank a litre and filled up 2 one litre bottles to carry. I walked on down the trail and when I was passing the trailhead, I saw 2 hikers and a guy by a truck. I went over to see what they were up to and met 2 nobos by the names of No Hurry and Sweet Tooth. The guy by the truck was the trail angel that left the water I had just got. His name was Paddy-O and he knows lots of my friends. He said he had just recently seen Frogcaller up in Maine while she was picking berries and he knew Moosie and Goldilocks really well. We talked for about an hour while I enjoyed 2 cokes and about a quart of fruit juice. That stuff tasted great and really hit the spot since I hadn't been drinking too much today. The streams in this area are mostly dry right now. Thanks Paddy-O, you were there when I needed you. Very good to meet you too. It was getting late in the day and I still wanted to make a few more miles, so I hiked on. I crossed an overpass on I-87 and I was making better time than all the people heading south on the interstate. They were at a stand still as far as I could see. I climbed Arden Mountain, then about a mile later I crossed The Orange Turnpike and hiked another 10 minutes before I found a nice soft flat spot and set up my tent. It was already dark when I got to where I'm stealth tenting. I ate a little dinner and called it a day...a good day!! There is an owl that's hooting not too far away while I've been writing this.