Date: 2008-06-07
From: Dennytown Rd

To: Canopus Lake Rd Rte 310
Miles today: 5.7

Saturday, June 7, 2008Dennytown Rd to Canopus Lake Rte 301, Amoeba and Spinner, 3.7 miles, Arden Valley Rd to just north of Lemon Squeezer, 2.0 miles, total 5.7 milesStart 7AM at Dennytown Rd heading east. Still misty and cool.Trail maintenance in this area is more minimalist than farther east. But everything that needs to be snipped off has been, droppings left on the trail to provide footing and help prevent erosion.Thousands and thousands of mountain laurel flowers. See today's photos. I see bumble bees, but no honey bees.Pass through an area of sun rays and dark straight widely-spaced tree trunks growing in grassy and ferny expanse. Barberry bushes that are finding a roothold here will soon change the look of this scene.Very humid. Mosquitoes come out. Bite right through our shirts. Path is lined with tulip tree flowers.Meet NOBO Seattle Sailor. His first hike. Started in Feb. Carrying 37-40 pounds. He stayed at Bears Den with Hopeful, Redwing and Hikelet. Seattle Sailor asks me about Wisconsin Dave.A beautiful level railroad bed out to 301. I remember this piece from hiking with Helen¢s friend Margaret in 2003. See tomorrow's entry.Back at Dennytown Rd at 9:50. Getting hot. I eat a can of apricots I had in the car that I thought would tase good in the hot weather. They do.To Helen¢s for an early lunch. It¢s too hot for me to hike with you today, Helen says.Hot hot hot at Arden Valley Rd at 12:30.Hello to Paddy-O. Great conversation! Paddy-O¢s really knowledgeable about the trail. He tells us he got Bell¢s Palsy as an effect of Lyme disease. When he was convinced that the paralysis of exactly 12 of his face was permanent (damage to the 7th cranial nerve I think he said), he, an engineer, consulted with a dentist about making a false smile! There's someone who can put a positive spin on things. Before he got very far with the design, sensation in his face returned.Paddy-O is hiking up Agony Grind today to keep his trail legs in shape. He says he knows about me from a register entry I made recently saying I was going to revisit the Lemon Squeezer soon to let it know who¢s boss. Me.Toad beside the trail. If he hadn¢t hopped twice I wouldn¢t have seen him. Perfectly camouflaged.What??? Coming toward Spinner and me is a group of hikers, one of them saying ¢Marilyn!¢ I can¢t believe it¢s Helen¢s friend Margaret. After meeting each other at Helen¢s in 2003, and hiking a day together on the AT around Rte 301, we ran into each other in the Whites in 2004, and now here in 2008!Margaret says I know it¢s you under all that wrapping. No one else hikes in such get-up. :- ))We take photos and catch up.Single hiker with small backpack and extra-long legs overtakes us and passes us.Inviting-looking lake off to the left.Mountain laurel in stunning bloom.Hello to a large group of young boys and several men reporting that they¢ve been through the Lemon Squeezer twice.I ask, Are we getting close to the Lemon Squeezer? We¢re so thirsty for lemonade.One of the boys gives me The Look. It¢s not that kind of lemon squeezer. It¢s just a big rock.Meet NOBO thru-hiker Fodor (?) from Washington State zapped by the heat and humidity. We don¢t have this back home, says he.Now, a story,Once upon a time, long ago¢¦250-310 million years ago, during one of the hey-eons of continental mergers and spinoffs, a supercontinent called Pangaea (Greek for ¢entire¢ and ¢earth¢) is created. Where North America and East Africa collide, bang! up well the Central Pangaean Mountains.As often happens after mergers, tensions simmer, particularly at fault points. Spinoffs occur. North America and Africa go their separate ways, tears of separation creating the Atlantic Ocean. Time passes, eroding the Central Pangaean Mountains (after the spinoff, North American vestiges of the CPM¢s are renamed the Appalachians and the Allegenies).Here and there, in the Appalachians and Allegenies, one can find underground pockets of support for continental reunification. One such pocket is located precisely where we¢re hiking today, the Lemon Squeezer in downstate NY in the Hudson Highlands segment of the Reading Prong. (That¢s geology-speak that I learned today (June 16) when trying to this entry.) Be warned. It¢s more than a fair guess that all or some of the foregoing is dead wrong. Remember my trusty old trailname is devolving into ¢Sourceof Misinformation¢. Also I know zero about geology. To continue: In a pocket at the Squeezer dwells a small community of reunification spirits. Their powers are limited but what power they have they¢ll bestow on visitors who bring a suitable sacrifice and an acceptably humble attitude.Last time through this area I taunted the spirits by acting superior. Furious, the spirits saw to it that I left humbled. Today Spinner and I are prepared. We¢ve packed the yellowest juiciest lemon we could find. And both of us are anxious, worried that we¢re not up to the task.Spinner sacrifices our lemon first. Then I re-sacrifice the same lemon, and pack it out. We hope the spirits will be pleased that we are not wasting citrus and we are leaving no trace.Appeased, the spirits grant us safe passage back and forth through the squeezer. At the white-blazed climb north of it, though, the spirits withdraw their bubble of protection. I look at the climb and panic. I know I can¢t get down this, but looking at it now I don¢t think I can get up it either. The ignominy of taking the blue blaze to the left. How I wish for a piece of rebar, or that the blue-blaze was white. As I¢m mulling, Spinner announces she wants to start back to Arden Valley Rd.What to do?Suddenly I realize I¢ve already ¢hiked¢ the piece between the top of the climb and the place where I landed on that about-to-crack ankle last July 20. All I have to do is resettle myself on my butt in the spot where I landed last July and I¢m done with this section.Spinner takes a photo of me waving my now-healed ankle from that exact spot. Sweet victory. Don¢t get too full of yourself, whisper the spirits.5 young men succeed us in attempting the Squeezer. From a distance we watch them scale the vertical rock. One loses his handhold, falls back, gets up, and succeeds the second time.I think the only way I¢d attempt that climb or descent again is with a rope to pull myself up, or lower myself down.Back at Helen¢s, she introduces us to a special Russian ceremony, thin silver thimble-shaped one-ounce cups of icy vodka set out on a tiny silver tray. After another perfect dinner, Spinner falls asleep and Helen and I watch Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Joe E Brown in ¢Some Like It Hot.¢