Date: 2015-08-02
From: West Mountain Shelter

To: Graymoor Spiritual Life Center
Miles today: 13.4

The sunrise from the West Mountain was the best on the trail thus far. The NY city skyline was lit up from behind in perfect clarity and the Hudson Bay was something to see. It was pretty good timing as I had been listening to the Last Of The Mohicians which was actually set in this area! It sort of brought history to life as the events in the book were inspired by things that happened here. Inspired by the view and by the events unfolding on my trip I wrote the following in the shelter log.Gazing upon the NY Skyline at dusk, Watched over by Lady Liberty herself.I have hiked Appalachian Mountains, And have fared hard from theft and pain,But I am finding goodness and generosity in every state.Finding inspiration from such as the "Bionic Woman," (Niki Rellon)My current complaints all seem to fade away.Scott Jurek, pushing himself to his limits, inspires us all to dig deeper,Like the Bionic Woman, in pushing ourselves to do more. Seeing the goodness of people, I see there is hope for America.~Squarepeg (edited)I retraced my steps to the trail and on to the ridge of West Mountain where there were views galore! Then it was down the mountain to Seven Lakes Drive and on up Bear Mountain to the Perkins Memorial Tower. The George Wahlbridge Perkins Tower on Bear Mountain was neat to climb so I took a video going up the tower and put it on Youtube. There were vending machines nearby with Pringles and Powerade to fuel me on so I snacked on some and got some to go. The views from the tower and surrounding area was incredible. You could see the Hudson River and the towering bridge which we would soon have to cross. The trails were very nice and manucured down to the Lodge and zoo. I rested and got a hot dog and beer at the lodge while charging my phone. Joker showed up and I got another beer for myself and one for Joker and a burger, as I was still hungry. The phone and iPod were charged so I then walked to the pool and took a free shower and washed my clothes in the shower before heading over to the zoo, which was very depressing as the animals looked very sad and the habitats were so tiny as to be depressing to the animals and visitors. This is where I ran into Joker again. We grabbed a soda from the vending machine at the end of the Bear Mountain Bridge and started hiking together across the tallest bridge on the trail. The wind was blowing fiercly and the Delaware River was way below us as we crossed and were exhilerated by the experience. Joker almost lost his hat from the wind and he was lucky that the wind carried it into the street instead of into the river below where it would have been lost forever. Once across the river it took us a few minutes just to find which direction the trail went from there. I spotted a white blaze off the road to the left and off we went. It was one heck of a steep and brutal climb and we took numerous breaks along the way up the mountain. When we reached the top, Joker and I accidently took the Camp Smith blue blaze trail to Anthonys Nose with its awe inspiring view looking back down and over the river, bridge and town that took our breath away. There was a flag and memorial to Second LT Justin L. Sisson who gave his life in the service of our country in Afganistan on June 3, 2003. We paid tribute to this fallen warrior before moving on. We set our goal as the Graymoore Spiritual Life center where there was camping and a pavilion at their ball field at the monastery. We stopped in at the store on the crossing and got dinner and a six pack of IPA to share while eating at the picnic table. We ate, drank and talked merrily before finishig the last 2 miles. There at the center we were greeted by trail magic as a day hiker had made a feast for the hikers of homemade food, drinks, snacks and dessert. Luckily as a thru-hiker I still had an appetite and enjoyed a large plate of food and a beer that someone handed me. I set up under the pavilion which was dedicated to Robert Masline and Frank Dileo on a plaque outside. It was time to get cleaned up, along with my clothing and I felt much better. Someone set up a fire ring and started a small fire and we all had a great time while being very safe. Soon it was dark and time for bed so I hit the sack and was fit and full.