Date: 2016-07-28
From: NY 17 A-1,371.3

To: NY, Arden Valley Road - 1388.8
Miles today: 17.5

This morning we packed up all of our camping gear from the harmony ridge campground and picked up our hike in New York. The trail through New York is indescribably beautiful. Frequently passing by quiet lakes, weaving through healthy forests of towering trees that are not too crowded to block views of large mossy rocks and grassy undergrowth. Wild blueberries abound. Spectacular. The trail passed through the "lemon squeezer", a narrow corridor of tall rocks that forces most hikers to remove their packs. There was even a fatman bypass, with the politically correct label "easy way". Sherpa didn't have either of those problems and quickly navigated the obstacle. The trail has become significantly more fun with each passing day. Despite the lack of elevation, the builders have found ways to make challenging what otherwise could have been mundane. Not a day goes by now where you don't have to at some point stop, regroup, figure out how to approach a particular feature, and then use your hands to safely pass on. While waiting at a crossing for Sherpa, Porter overheard two hikers (big bird and furioso) say "There's that car again." They were referring to her of course. A little later, Sherpa explained the situation to them, how we switched to a supported hike when she was injured. He saw crockamole, who was hiking the wrong way, just like the first time we met him. This time he had an excuse, he had dropped something. Sherpa chatted with several other hikers through the day, including a 21 year old hiker named cautious. Cautious was sarcastically named for his recklessness. He is hiking the trail to be "care free, with no boss, no homework." He also has no education and discouraging job prospects awaiting him when he finishes. We chatted a little about different hikers we both knew. He gave a profoundly sad response when Sherpa mentioned one guy, "oh that's his name? I've drank at bars with him, smoked weed with him, but never knew his name." It was a good reminder of how empty and lonely the partying lifestyle is. A high school friend of Sherpa's fell into that scene in college. After a couple semesters of it, that friend made a rather disturbing realization about the lifestyle, "I accidentally washed my phone with my clothes and lost all of my contacts. All those people I thought were my friends never even called me. What a waste." The bible says it best "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." Proverbs 13:20. To aquire wisdom, all you have to do is turn to Proverbs in the bible. It is full of easy to understand advice such as staying away from drunkards, not engaging in sex outside your marriage, the importance of a good reputation, the problems with a lying tongue, etc. Praying that as cautious gets older, he will find good influences and gain wisdom so that someday he lives up to his name rather than mocking it. Our hiking was cut short by a storm that rolled through, making the rocks slippery and unsafe to traverse quickly. Thankfully, as the rain poured down, we had a place to stay indoors. Tonight we stayed with friends from Texas. We have been looking forward to seeing them because they moved out here for work a few years ago and their visits to Texas are infrequent. After visiting awhile, we said goodnight, retired to a guest bedroom, and watched Hillary Climton accept her parties nomination for the presidency of the United States. Regardless of of ones political convictions, it was a proud moment for a country which prides itself on equality to nominate its first potential female president, in sharp contrast to many places in the world where women can't even drive or show their face in public.