Date: 2017-06-17
From: Morgan Stewart Shelter

To: Wiley shelter, NY
Miles today: 16.4

6/17/17,  Wiley Shelter, NYMiles hiked: 1137.1 Miles to go: 1052.7Today's hike was much better than yesterday. As my friend Sue said, I got the pep back in my step. I suspect I may have had a little bug of some sort. I had no energy and my joints from my hips down all ached. Without going into details, I also had some gastric discomfort I had attributed to rich deli food. All that was gone today and 1st Sgt, who was also feeling peppier, and I were able to step it out. One issue, though, was that it had rained all night and the woods were all drippy and wet. This, of course, made the rocks very slick. We both ended up taking pretty hard falls. I banged up my left elbow and he banged up his right hip; but, no permanent damage to either of us. The trail was very nice today. Some ups and downs; but, nothing too extreme, and the treadway was pretty smooth. We also saw some pretty cool sights. The first one was Nuclear Lake. There was a plutonium research facility located there from the 1950s to the 1970s, when they had an explosion that contaminated the lake and surrounding shoreline. It was remediated years ago and the facility is long gone. What's left is a beautiful lake, teeming with fish, geese, and beaver. AWOL's guide does warn you not to drink the water or swim in the lake, though. As we were passing the northern end of the lake, I heard a woodpecker banging on a tree; but, I could have sworn that it was a Geiger counter going off. We continued hiking through bogs, farm fields, and across rural roads all day. At one of these crossings we passed, the Dover Oak, the largest tree we will see on the AT. It was HUGE! I assume it's a couple of hundred years old. Imagine everything it has seen in its lifetime. I think when a tree gets that big, it must attain a certain amount of wisdom. I just wish we could hear what it has to tell us. Shortly, after leaving the Dover Oak, we came to another unusual sight. The AT actually has its own train stop. On weekends, you can catch a train from the AT and ride it to Penn Station in Manhattan. Many of our friends have taken zero days in New York City. Even better than the train stop was the deli located nearby. We were able to stop in and have a huge sandwich while we recharged our electronic devices. If you are ever in Pawling, NY, I highly recommend you stop at Tony's Deli. It was 0.7 miles off-trail; but, definitely worth the 1.4 mile round trip. Of course after eating a huge lunch, dragging our stuffed bellies up a long hill was torture, especially in muggy heat. Oh well, it was totally worth it. After a few more miles of rolling trail, we reached the Wiley Shelter. It is a fairly small shelter that sleeps six. Although the expected rain never came during the day, thunderstorms are expected overnight. So, 1st Sgt and I opted to sleep in the shelter to keep our equipment dry. We are sharing it with a woman in her 40s named Jessie's Girl. Her hiking partner, Grace Note, is set up in her tent near the shelter. All the rest of the regular cast of characters is here tonight: Sitting Bull, Hoops (she's back from registering for college), Moonshiner, Chipmunk, Mantis, Ramsey and Reek. Reek has to catch the train back to the city tomorrow. As a reminder of his time on-trail, he's left with a raw and chewed up left heel. I cleaned and patched it up as well as I could with supplies from my rapidly shrinking first aid kit. Hopefully, we got padded enough for him to hike the five miles he has to go tomorrow. Tomorrow is a big day. We cross into Connecticut! Woo hoo another state down!