Date: 2015-07-13
From: West Wombasha Road

To: Palisades Parkway mile 1395.5, 16.7 for the day.
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: scattered clouds

You read that right, I slack packed and still only hiked 16.7 miles. It was a combination of late start (out of our control) and difficulty finding a convenient pick-up spot (also out of our control). So you'd think it was an easy day, but it wasn't. At least not in the morning.I slept in and didn't get up til six. Even so, the local coffee shop didn't open til 7 am so we went to the fancy convenience store down the block. They had the most intricate coffee station I've ever seen, plus a plumbed-in, dedicated hot water spigot for tea. No bitter coffee tasting water for the tea drinkers there!After breakfast, Southpaw and I went back to the motel and got our stuff ready. I was conflicted about slack packing but also felt that it just didn't make any sense to hike with all my gear if I was getting back to the same place tonight, so I went with it.We had arranged for a certain pickup point with Matt, the owner of the motel, yesterday, based on the Guthook app. But the app was calculating mileage from the motel, not from where we would start, and the correct mileage was just too low. So, we had to come up with a new plan and in the end, settled on getting picked up at the Palisades Parkway. It was only 16 miles which was a bit lower than ideal, but the next option was 22 and with a 9 am start, that was out of the question.I hadn't been on the trail an hour when I decided 16 miles was going to be plenty!It was hot and humid this morning and even with just food, first aid and my rain jacket, I was dripping sweat in no time. The trail did its New York thing, which is short but steep ups and downs with some level and easier stretches in between. Sometimes those 'easier' stretches are over large rocks, making them 'not necessarily that easy'. Still, I thought it was all fairly enjoyable. There was again water provided by trail Angels at two road crossings, which really helped. A lot of the water sources here so far are particularly unappealing, low flow pond outflow and the like. Sometimes it is a regular stream but the water is brown. I think that's just tannins but it still looks unappetizing. Late morning we came to the Lemon Squeezer, which is a narrow passage between two large rocks, followed by a climb up a tricky rock face. There were six of us there at the same time and we took each other's picture at each of the two sections. For the climb, some enterprising souls had put a length of pine up, with partial branches like steps to stand on. We made this into a team building exercise and had fun with it. After the Lemon Squeezer, we had pretty easy trail for a while, but the end was another steep climb over Black Mountain. The thing I like about them though is that these climbs are all short, so you're never totally done for afterwards. We were supposed to be able to see New York City from the top of Black mountain an we did see something, but none of us thought it looked like New York, so who knows.You could hear the Palisades Parkway for a while as you we're descending (steeply, naturally), and it did not sound like any road you'd want to cross on foot. Fortunately it actually sounded worse than it looked. We only had to cross two of the four lanes, because we would be picked up at the visitors center in the median. The other two lanes will come tomorrow morning when we start back.It was a pretty long drive back to the motel so we ordered food in and are just relaxing in front of our rooms. We're taking advantage of free laundry facilities and threw our dirty hiking clothes in again. Of course there is a pretty good chance of rain tomorrow, which makes everything extra stinky, but what can you do.We're not sure where we'll end up yet tomorrow but we will definitely cross the lowest elevation on the AT, the 1400 mile mark and a 24 hour deli. Guess which one we're most excited about? Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?