Date: 2004-07-16
From: Somewhere In the Woods

To: Brien Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 25.7
Weather: light rain

Day 138Start: Somewhere in the woodsDest.: Brien Memorial ShelterMiles: 25.7Total: 1379.2Today reminded me of Georgia. A lot of big ups and downs. New York has some very technical rock scrambles and bouldering sections. The Lemon Squeezer was rather interesting. I almost had to take my pack off to fit through. Its basically a crack between two huge rocks that you have to walk through and climb up out of. Needless to say, I threw my poles up top out of the way and then wedged myself through. It was quite a sight. I waited around for Sweaty Pig since he has an injured arm. He ended up throwing his poles too, then he handed his pack up to me so he could get through it.I got trail magic from a guy just past the interstate crossing. He was parked at the trail head and handing out sodas, fruit, and chocolate...everything a weiry hiker needs to keep going. The guy handing out trail magic also told me the red stuff in my water is runoff from the trees and a filter wont get rid of it and it supposedly wont hurt you.I met a lot of new thru-hikers today but can only remember a few of their names: Wrong Way Brown, Dimple Rocks, Enigma, Popeye, River Otter, and four others I can't remember.I caught upto Sweaty Pig. The last time I saw him was in Damascus, Va. He pulled a muscle in his left arm and almost went home because of the pain. He is now taking a prescription pain killer that is also keeping the swelling down. Otherwise he's doing good.I saw WonderLost today too. He's the 78 year old guy from Kansas we met way, way back. He has jumped around a bit but is moving well. I guess he only plans 2 more weeks of hiking then he's going back home. He says he's been away from his family long enough. It sure is amazing and sortof scary at the same time to see him out here. Good luck to him...he's come a lot farther than a good many others have. When I came up behind him he was leaning over on his poles staring at the ground. I asked him if he'd lost a contact even though he was wearing glass. He just looked up at me and said in his old shaky voice that his feet and legs were tired. I told him it was only 1.5-2 miles togo but that didn't seem to help. Then I told him about the big, free cookout tomorrow at the lake and he perked up a bit. I was kind of thinking I should offer to carry his pack the last few miles and then I remembered someone saying they lifted it and it was really heavy. So I just offered him water and! snacks but he declined. I walked on ahead and kept feeling more and more sorry for him. It was nothing but rocky uphills all the way to the shelter. My legs were tired and sore, I can't imagine what his must feel like. I am sure he will make it though. He's a tuff ol guy. Tomorrow I get to cross the Hudson and hopefully walk through a zoo.Well off to sleep...in the hammock for the forth night in a row. I dont think I will be able to go back to sleeping in shelters anymore :-)~Dances with Wolf Cookieoh, I almost forgot:From the register entries it looks like I am the following days behind my ol friends:Leki-less, 8 daysMc & Willow, 8 daysCastro, 5 daysTailwind, 5 days