Date: 2016-05-19
From: Seven Lakes Drive

To: US 9, Appalachian Market
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I did a better job of following the trail today, no extra non-AT miles. We had a beautiful day for hiking, moderate temperature, light wind, dry. We did a key swap between Seven Lakes Drive where we quit yesterday and the Appalachian Trail Market. Initially we planned a shorter day and we were going to stop at Manitou Road, but we felt good and decided to do a few more. I did the NoBo leg so I climbed Bear Mountain first and it seemed a lot easier than I remember. The tower and the public facilities at the top looked considerably better than they did last year, I guess the maintenance budget went up. There is a change in the AT on the north side of the mountain. The last two years, the lower section of the trail has been under construction, but this year it was open and they did a fantastic job. The engineering on this whole section of the trail is amazing, I counted over 800 stone steps, but I think I lost track of which hundred I was on - so there may be a hundred more or a hundred less. None-the-less, the steps are incredible, they wind in and around the in-situ boulders and contours. There are placards along the way and a special exhibit at the bottom that explain how the steps are created and set in place, an incredible amount of manual labor with very special techniques.At the bottom of the mountain, there is a nice public recreational area wrapped around Hessian Lake and the AT passes right by the lakeshore. Then the AT veers off, passes through a tunnel under the (busy) US 9, and winds through the Trailside Museum. Today we learned that the museum doesn¢t open until 10:00, so both Princess and I had to take the blue blaze trail around the outside of the museum, apparently it doesn¢t get a lot of use and is considerably overgrown. I¢d recommend that hikers time their hike to go through the museum when it¢s open. For the sake of any maintainers who might read this, Princess (going southbound) saw no indication that the museum (and the AT) was closed when she went through at about 8:30 AM, until someone ran out to tell her that she shouldn¢t be in the museum and that she had to go back and take the blue blaze trail. I was NoBo and when I went through the tunnel, that info was posted on the wall and I knew that I had to take the blue blaze [but I still had to step over a chain to take the blue blaze].Then we got the great experience of walking across the Bear Mountain suspension bridge over the Hudson River. I¢ve never been a fan of bridges and heights, but I guess I¢m outgrowing that and it doesn¢t bother me so much now. I took some pics on the way across, but they look the same as those I took last year. On the north side of the bridge, the trail follows the road for a bit, then heads up a fairly steep slope. There¢s a blue blaze at the top to ¢Anthony¢s Nose¢, but I¢ve never gone there (0.6 mile). We finished at the Appalachian Market, a very busy market/deli at the intersection of two roads and the trail. It has great sandwiches and good roadstop food, but not a good hiker resupply stop. From there we headed to Cold Spring where we have reservations at the Pig Hill B&B (what a name). This is our first time here, and we really like Cold Spring. I¢m writing this outside the Cup-O-Ccino Cafe, after a latte and a couple of local IPA¢s. It¢s a nice town and really lively today since it¢s graduation weekend at West Point. The Academy is across the Hudson, and it seems all accommodations within a 30-mile radius are fully booked. We were lucky to get into the Pig, but we like it. Too bad we leave too early for breakfast, but Dave says he¢ll be up and have coffee and a sandwich for us. We¢re looking forward to a great dinner at The Depot. Interesting story on The Depot. As we were sitting outside the coffee shop a couple of hours ago, Princess happened to start a conversation with a couple sitting on a bench across the sidewalk. She asked if the man¢s ice cream was good and he said absolutely. We talked a bit, we told them that we are hiking the AT, they were interested and before he left, the man suggested that we look him up on the web (George Martin) - he said he knows a lot about walking. We did, and it turns out that he was a defensive end for the NY Giants and after he retired from the Giants, he walked 3,000 miles across the US to raise money for the 911 survivors. A really nice man and he suggested that The Depot is a great place for dinner, so we plan to try it out.