Date: 2018-05-30
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Miles today: 0.0

Wed Day 107 5/30 nero 7We got dropped off back at the orange Turnpike where we ended yesterday. It was about 10 a.m. We met a few sections hikers. Then we came across Ultra Runner who we had seen yesterday when we were done in waiting for Curtis. Ultra had said she was beat as well yesterday. This was a very tough section for all. We didn't feel so bad for wimping out. If Ultra thought it was tough and felt run over, it was a tough section. I haven't met many tougher than Ultra out here on the trail. She had been picked up at Rt 17, by a friend from Boston, driven an hour away to an REI, got new shoes and a complete resupply then an hour back. Here she was. She couldn't have gotten that much sleep eitger. She was carrying a 42lb pack. I couldn't imagine carrying such a pack. Athletic Superwoman. She considers it weight training. When she runs her 3- 200 mile races one in August, September and October she will only imagine how light she will feel. We spent the day hiking with Ultra Woman. She would lead on the downhill cuz even with 42lb she was faster than us. Then she would drop back on the up hills so she could take themm at her pace. She was a wealth of knowledge and an absolute delight to hike with. We were only planning to do 7 miles. We only wanted to get a little further ahead because we were just run down, beat up, ridden hard, and put away wet. It was a perfect day. The temperature was perfect, there was a nice breeze blowing. This section of hiking had a few exciting moments like the Lemon Squeezer, which was a narrow passage between two large rocks. There was an easier way sign. Ultra Woman took the easier way. You had to reach up as high as you could, grab a hand hold on some sharp Rock and pull yourself up. After I did it, I wondered how smart that was to put so much pressure on my knees as I was pulling myself up. This is an exciting kind of hiking, more of what I imagined the Appalachian Trail would be like. The forest was beautiful. This was Harriman State Forest. All the trees mature and the ground cover was grass. The grass is waving in the breeze. It felt like a vacation to be hiking only 7 miles. It was a perfect day like I said. It was so enjoyable to be just hiking 7 miles, in ideal conditions, in good company, at a slow pace. After six and a half miles we bid Ultra Woman goodbye and spread out the tyvac. We ate some food and both fell asleep in the speckled sun. After while No Excuse passed by and called out to me. Quite a picture of us sleeping alongside the trail. It took quite a while for the shuttle to pick us up. On the way back to the James Motel I saw a thru hiker at Route 17 trying to flag us down. The taxi driver didn't want to stop. I said stop !!! stop!!! I know that woman. She was begging for a ride to someplace else then where she was. She was a strong thru hiker who started at Springer Mountain. A male friend had come to join her for a section. He was a disaster, who could not hike at all. She wanted to get him some place where she could send him back to wherever he came from. It wasn't a matter of friendship, it was a matter of you have to hike at the same rhythm and the same patterns or anybody you're hiking with will ruin your hike. I had actually never met her in my life. But she was a thru hiker and you take care of any other thru hiker you come across. She was very grateful we stopped. Their phones weren't connecting and they were having a heck of a time. We took them back to the James Hotel. She was very greatful.