Date: 2014-07-26
From: William Brien Shelter

To: Graymoor Spiritual Center
Miles today: 16.5

Today was a big day for us and I was excited. First, we would visit Bear Mountain then walk through the zoo there and finally we would walk over the Bear Mountain bridge which is something I'll always wanted to do once I learned about the trail.   Our first climb of the day brought us up West Mountain and there we got our first glimpse of the NYC skyline in the distant, I was so excited to see the city I love so close by. We then had to hike up a steep uphill which I hiked years before with my friends when we first hiked the trail and it was a dreadful experience back then. Back then we had overpacked bags, no water and the weather was brutal, it also didn't help that I made my friends hike thirteen miles that day and that uphill was the final push. I was excited to revisit the climb and see how I would handle this time around and it wasn't that hard this time, I guess 1300 miles of practice does that to you.   While hiking towards Bear Mountain we came across a group of dayhikers led by Hikeman who was one of the trail angels that left the water out there for thru hikers. He asked if we were thru hikers and when we said yes he told his group to stop and they all pulled out food and snacks and handed it to us. After talking to them for a bit, they left us and we stood there in shock with our hands full of food. We ventured on towards Bear Mountain we stopped at the Perkins Memorial Tower for lunch as it had vending machines and porta potties. Let me tell you those porta potties were some mighty fine ones, they had urinal cakes, had that magical blue solution and even had two ply toilet paper. Needless to say I did my business there and upon leaving the next person who went in yelled 'Oh my god'. I guess some people don't think that people poop in the porta potties, lesson learned.   We finally made it to Bear Mountain and since it was the weekend that place was packed. The trail down to the beach area was well manicured and had plenty of stone steps with dayhikers huffing and puffing up and down them all while music blaring from below. We got to the beach area and man did we stand out. It was all families there and we were the only thru hikers so we got some looks as we meandered through the area. A man approached us and asked if we were thru hikers and when we said yes he had a proposition for us. He's a professional photographer who's planning to make a book with thru hiker portraits and in exchange for our pictures we could have as much of his homemade chili we could eat,only on the trail does this happen. We heard about this guy from other thru hikers so he was legit and we agreed to do it. Along the way to his car, a family who was picnicking came up to us and gave us watermelon and ziploc bags of cookies and trail mix,I guess they come here annually and have seen the thru hikers come through,it was an sweet gesture. So we went to to his house which wasn't far and he took our photos, I'm not a photogenic person but I was happy with the photos and waiting for the finished results which I'll post on here.   Once we got back, we relaxed at the lake and had a few beers before heading back to the trail. Bear Mountain has a zoo which was closed so we hiked on and crossed the Bear Mountain bridge which was a cool experience, the views up and down the river were beautiful. What wasn't so beautiful was the climb on the other side of the bridge, it was steep and it was hot so that resulted in a miserable hike. On the bright side after that miserable hike we ended up at a gas station which had a deli inside and we treated ourselves to a delicious sandwich and soda. We stayed there for a bit before moving on, we only had a few more miles left in the day.    After digesting for a bit, we headed to the Graymoor Spiritual Center which let thru hikers camp on their ball field and provided us with a porta potty and pavilion with electricity. There were about fourteen hikers there which is the most we've seen in a long time. We sat on a bench for a bit soaking in everything and reflecting on such an amazing day. New York has treating us so well, the terrain has been tough but the generosity has softened those steps.