Date: 2009-07-10
From: William Brien Memorial Shelter, NY 

To: East Side of the Hudson River, Bear Mtn Bridge, NY
Miles today: 8.9

Cell goodOG notesThe hiking was tougher today than I remembered it. I knew we would have to cross the Palisades Interstate Parkway during today's hike, which meant we would go down between mountains in a gap. Again, on the Palisades Parkway, the southbound traffic was busy and the northbound not so much. I saw on the map that we had at least two climbs today. I didn't remember how tough they would be. I don't know if I was stronger last time or my memory is failing, but it sure is tough. Also, I met my son and father on top of Bear Mountain in 2006 so my mind was intent on getting there on time back then. I think the remainder of New York is a lot easier; I'll report on it in the next few entries.The trail goes right over the top of Bear Mountain. At the top is a five story tower, The Perkins Tower. We were able to see NYC again. This is the first time I remember seeing the tall buildings and realized what they were. I've been at this tower over forty years ago when there was a lot less air polution and the view would have been clearer, I may have seen them then. It's amazing how we appreciate things more as we age. We were supposed to get a maildrop at the Fort Montgomery Post Office today. When I got there we discovered it wasn't there. The person at the counter was very helpful and patient. I left the building thinking of what our options were. The first thing I did was to look at my shipping label sheet. When I printed the shipping labels I also printed them on plain paper to carry with us. I immediately discovered my mistake, I had the wrong zip code. I went back inside to ask the clerk what P.O. belonged to the zip code. He chuckled and told me it was Bear Mountain, NY. He then told me they had just closed for the day and would not be open tomorrow. I mentioned he was very helpful, and he immediatly said he also works at that Post Office, too. He told me he would stop by there, pick up our box and bring it to Fort Montgomery tomorrow. Fortunately we were planning to spend the What a great day! The hiking was hard because of the terrain even though we didn't do a lot of miles, but some things took place that were exciting and fun, to me. First, the Bear Mountain Monument was interesting. Then as we were descending Bear Mountain, we saw signs that warned about construction taking place at a certain part of the mountain. We had seen a recent issue of "AT Journeys" that had an article about rock steps being built to replace the worn out AT up Bear Mountain. Apparently hundreds of steps are being made out of rocks on the mountain. We really wanted to see them, but you can't see them from the existing AT. As we were just about to leave the area that has the warning signs, a man was coming down from the site. I asked him where the steps are and he asked if we were thru-hikers. Since we could answer that we are, he offered to take us up to the site. Exciting!He let us put our packs in the back of his pickup truck and then led us to the base of the steps. They are amazing!! It was exciting to see them and learn about how they're being made. Our guide was Eddie Walsh ("Rock Warrior" - hiked the AT in 1997). What a nice guy, and so informative. We can't thank you enough for sharing this exciting project with us!!! Your tour was the highlight of our day!!We then entered the Bear Mountain Park and came upon "Ice Fingers" and "Simple Man" doing trail magic. It's Ice Fingers' birthday today, and what she wanted for her birthday was to do trail magic for their hiker friends. They were making delicious cheese burgers. We spent some time with them (enjoying cheese burgers), and then moved on.The AT goes through the Bear Mountain Museum path. I loved that! There are a lot of signs telling about things in nature, and notes about the AT. It was so interesting, and I loved that the AT is incorporated into the museum. Cool. It was fun to hear a child say, "hikers!" at one point. As if we were part of the display. That was fun.So it was a fun day for me. We're in a Holiday Inn Express hotel now...another luxury night. Back on the trail tomorrow.Old Goat & Check Six