Date: 2004-11-11
From: South Mountain Rd, NY

To: Tioriti Circle, NY/ Erdman 
Miles today: 15.5

15.5 miles todaySleeping at Dr and Mrs Erdman's Hostelin Whitehall, Pa.Trail...Arden RdTioriti Circle, NY I was feeling great and drove into a breakfast place to eat. The Dr stayed sleeping in the back of the truck. When we got to the restaurant, I asked her if she wanted to go in and she said no. I went in and ordered breakfast and was still feeling hungry, so I ordered another one. Just as I was done, the Dr came in and had a breakfast sandwich. We drove to Tioriti Circle and I parked and we started walking north to her truck which was still at South Mountain Rd. I felt pretty good and decided that I liked hiking in Harriman State Park more than any other place in NY. The later it got, the worse I felt. I felt like I was getting weaker as the day went on. We stopped by William Brien Memorial Shelter and took a short break. I climbed Black Mtn and then went down and crossed the Palisade Parkway. The sign on the road said that we were only 34 miles from NYC. West Mtn was the next climb and I was progressively feeling worse. The climb slowed me down way more than it should have. I just figured that maybe the two breakfasts were too much, so I just kept hiking. The Dr caught up to me and said she was getting hungry, so we stopped. I figured I might as well eat one sandwich while we were sitting on a log on top of West Mtn. We hiked down that mtn and then got to Bear Mtn and I started really slowing down. I was feeling sick to my stomach and had to make a couple of stops on the way up. I was really working up a sweat on a cool day. It would normally be an easy walk up to just 1300 feet high. When I got to the top, the Dr was already up there waiting on me. She never has to wait on me, but I couldn't keep up with her today. She asked if I was ok and I said that I was feeling kind of queezy. We hiked down Bear Mtn and walked across the Bear Mtn Bridge over the Hudson River. I was doing ok until the climb up the next mtn. It was only about a 600 foot, but it was taking me forever to climb. I would walk about 50 feet and have to sit down. The Dr hiked on ahead because she thought I would be right behing her, but she left me like I was sitting down...which I was alot. I worked up a pretty good sweat again. That was the hardest mountain that I've ever climbed. It was about 2 1/2 hours before dark when we started up the mountain and we only had about 3 miles left to where the truck was parked. It was almost dark when I finally got to the truck. The Dr said she was getting worried about me and was going to come looking for me soon. We drove back to my truck and the heat felt really good in the Dr's truck, but as soon as I got out to start my truck, I started shivering uncontrolably. We parked her truck where we were going to stay tonight and I took her to get something to eat. I sat in my truck and didn't want to do anything. I told the Dr that I just wanted to sit there for a little while. I didn't want to go and crawl into the back of my truck and sleep in the cold weather. I suggested we go find a motel and start heading towards Goosebumps house where we were going to stay for a day this weekend. The Dr called her and asked about motels down that way and Goosebump said we were coming over to her house a day early...my plan worked!!! We drove to Whitehall, Pa and I was fine as long as I stayed warm, but I knew I couldn't walk right now. We got there and I stayed up long enough to be social and then I went to bed after a much needed hot shower. Normally, I don't care quite as much about a shower, especially when it's been cold out. I had walked through Ct and NY since my last shower and this one felt really good. I hit the sack about 10pm and they went into the other room and caught up on trail talk until about 1am. The only thing I can figure out is that I got food poisoning. That's only the second time I've ever been sick on the trail. The last time was several years ago when I came down with Lyme desease.I did enjoy the hike this morning, but it turned out to be a long hard day and we only went 15.5 miles.