Date: 2010-07-19
From: West Mountain Shelter

To: Graymoor
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: moderate rain

"Cramped up Coyotes and Bears - Oh My!" or "Singin' in the Rain"   Today was quite short in mileage, but seemed really long for some reason, almost like a few different days strung together. I suppose that's because there were a lot of different things going on, not simply hiking from Point A to Point B. It's going to be hard to touch on everything that happened on two 8 1/2 x 5 1/2-inch sheets of paper (my standard per day limit), but I'll try.   I had a nice, early, peaceful morning and left the shelter without incident. I had 5.8 miles to hike before my town stop. Just after I started to climb Bear Mountain, a big thunderstorm started to roll in. I continued climbing for a few minutes, but quickly decided that climbing a mountain in a thunderstorm was a bad idea. I saw a low, flat area to my left and pulled off to wait it out. I got away from my pack and poles and stood there in my rain jacket centered between all the trees (but not exposed). The storm grew nearer, and the rain became heavy. I just stood there with the rain beating down (a very odd thing to do, by the way) and counted the seconds between lightning and thunder. I decided that if any got within 5 seconds (about a mile away, supposedly), then I would crouch down and cover my ears. Thankfully, it never got closer than 10 seconds. As the storm moved away, I hiked on. The sky was clearing, with lots of low-lying clouds handing around, when I summited Bear Mountain. It was beautiful! The tower on top contained some really neat pictures of Bear Mtn State Park when it was created. It's a very neat place!   I hiked some incredible, beautifully-built trail down the north side, and into the sad part of the day. For a long time (since well before March 11), I've been looking forward to hiking through the Bear Mountain Zoo. The AT goes directly through it. The Thru-Hikers' Companion description reads, "... contains many native species, including black bears, and offers a unique, and sometimes emotional, experience for thru-hikers." Sounds cool, right? Well, it wasn't! I read "sometimes emotional" as "spiritual, moving, etc." Unless they just have a strange take on it, I now think they must have meant "sad." The habitats/cages are all WAY too small!!! Storm had warned me about this, but I didn't imagine it could possibly be as bad as it is. It was, indeed, very sad. I usually think PETA is pretty crazy, but this would be a great use for the organization! Anyway, moving on...   I hightailed it out of there and walked into Fort Montgomery. It took longer to walk than I expected, and the town was tiny, but had everything I needed. I was off for several hours and proceeded to pick up and sort my maildrop, get amazing lunch (a fresh caprese sandwich, sushi - a Philly roll, and a Diet Coke) at Foodies, charge my phone, make phone calls, and purchase other resupply items. Hikers - Foodies looks like a dive from the outside, but it is fantastic! They were also super friendly and let me hang out sorting resupply, charging my phone,etc. for as long as I wanted. I've been trying for the last few days to really limit my phone calls (especially to Braids, because it just makes me want to be home with her). It was REALLY great to talk to both B and Mom, but seemed to go by so quickly. That made me a little sad, but I picked myself up easily.   I hitched (illegally!) back to the trail and was on my way across Bear Mtn Bridge. About halfway across, I met my first SOBO thru-hiker of the season. Yay! During the afternoon's 6 mile hike, I had the great pleasure of hiking through two more back-to-back gnarly thunderstorms. Since I was already up on a ridge, I decided to just do what most thru-hikers do in a t-storm - hike faster! This one got much closer, one thunder crash coming a mere 2 seconds after its lightning flash. For some reason, instead of hunkering down, I yelled a really ugly word and practically ran down the trail. I was soon at the road, where (thankfully) There's a convenience store right at the trail. I felt much better after a huge hot chocolate and a hot dog. After only a half mile more, I showed up sopping wet at Graymoor Monastery's picnic shelter to cheers of friends. A cold shower, dry clothes, pizza, and Diet Coke later... I'm finally warm, and all is right5 with the world.