Date: 2005-07-08
From: Graymoor Monastery

To: NY 301
Miles today: 11.8

*** For a change of pace, and to keep me out of trouble, Estee is going to write this journal entry since she walked this day with us. I will fill in everything that happened after she left***Estee:First off, let me state that I am writing this under duress. It seems that OC1 has suggested that I write this entry to keep SWIFT from bodily harm. This wisdom explains why OC1 remains happily married for as long as he has. I'll start from last night.Mike and I got into the the Graymoor Monestary at about sunset. After brief hello's, SWIFT walked with us to the pavillion and almost immediately, he began a systematic violation of my poor, innocent backpack. He removed the 'things I didn't need' and gave them to Mike. After Mike left, we set up for bed. I was wrecked. I had worked a 12 hour night shift in the ER the night before, came home and started getting ready for my 3 days with Jorge and had only gotten about 2 hours sleep since the day before.We crawled into our sleeping bags and I pretty much slipped into a coma until about 1 am. I started hearing something...or lots of somethings out there. I figured they were coyotes but, I was too tired to take a peek and find out for sure. Besides, the guys are bigger than I am, and if they were looking for a meal, OC1 or SWIFT would be the better choice.Now, I don't have a Trail Name, but if I did, it would have to be Night Pee-er, because, after all, whenever I am out in the wilderness, that's what I do. I wait until it's dark and realize, 'I gotta go.'I contemplated my need to 'go' for quite some time, since I wasn't really sure if the 'somethings' were still out there. It was, after all, a walk across a soccer field to get from the pavillion to the port-a-potties. By 3 am, my kidneys won the battle. I wiggled out of my bag, and ventured out into the dark. Turns out, it wasn't that bad. I made it to the bathroom and back safely. I crawled back into my bag, with my promethrin treated bandana over my face to keep the mosquitoes away. I slept for a couple of more hours until SWIFT and OC1 woke me, I guess it was about 6:30. It was raining. Great, fabulous, just what I wanted. But, hey, I walked to the bathroom last night, so I can do this too, right?? WRONG!!We packed our gear up and headed out. It was a light drizzle at first, and we walked out of the Monestary grounds and onto the Trail. SWIFT and OC1 thought it best for me to take the lead. This served 2 purposes, 1 was that OC1's feet were still in the process of healing and 2 was so that I could set the pace and the temptation of moving fast would be eliminated. The Trail itself wasn't that bad; mostly flat with some very short rock scrambles. It was pretty easy following the blazes, the Trail was marked pretty well. The only real problem I had was figuring out how to use the straps of my trekking poles correctly. OC1 and SWIFT must have each shown me half a dozen times, but I kept getting it wrong. I silently prayed that the rain would stop. It rained harder. As I walked through some tall grass I could hear a tiny voice in my head say, "Don't whine...Don't do it!" I could feel my jaw clench. My eye glasses were covered in beads of water, or fog, or a combination of both at all times. We stopped a few times, to adjust gear, wipe my glasses off, or have a snack. The whole time it rained. Now my shirt was wet, my pants were wet, my shoes were wet, my socks were wet. SWIFT pulled out a rain poncho and handed it to me. I was shivering. "Just walk, and dammit, don't whine." My jaw hurts.I think at one point, OC1 said, "It looks like the rain is easing up." LIAR!I kept reasoning with myself, thinking, it can't possibly rain all day, but it did.At this point, pretty much everything was mud and muck. You could actually hear suction break when I pulled my shoes from a puddle of black slime. I kept walking. My jaw clenched harder. "Just walk...walk, and don't whine."I started thinking about calling Eric. The deal was, if I was unhappy at any point, I could call him and he would pick me up. After all, this was SWIFT's walk, not mine. I didn't HAVE to do this, he did. I could be in my nice, dry, warm bed. I silently contemplated my choices.I can't whine!! I HAVE to!!!I threw down my poles, stomped my feet, threw my head back like a 3 year old having a tantrum at Toys R Us, looked up at the sky and yelled, "HOW MUCH CAN IT F**KING RAIN?!?!?!"I think I might have scared OC1. It was all downhill from there. The tiny voice in my head was now full blown Turretts Syndrome. It was like a snarling, wild eyed beast had been let loose from his cage! Everything was F this and F that. F YOU SWIFT! F YOU VERY MUCH!!I composed myself again, smoothed out the soaked poncho I was wearing, and calmly announced that I was going to call it a day. This was more than I was willing to do.It wasn't the walk that bothered me. I loved that part. It was the rain, constant, unrelenting, annoying rain.I called Eric, who greeted me with, " I was wondering when you were going to call!" He picked us up, McDonald's burgers in hand. We dropped OC1 and SWIFT off, and headed to Eric's house, where, oddly enough, the only thing I wanted was a shower.Now, don't get me wrong, I loved being out there, in the woods. I plan on doing it again very soon, just NOT in the rain.I have tremendous respect for SWIFT, OC1 and all the through hikers who don't have an Eric to call and rescue them when it sucks out there. You are all a special breed. I think I'll just stay in the ER where things are normal.Jorge:We jumped out of the back of Eric's truck 1/2 mile short of the park. There was a little confusion going on there because we didn't know exactly what was going on. Some guy was yelling at us from a house that had a sign that said: PRIVATE RESIDENCE. I jumped out of the truck, I was going to give him the finger, it was a good thing I didn't because what he was yelling was that, there was a picnic pavillion across the street. He said we were welcomed to stay there. He was going to call the police and tell them we would be there. That was a hell of alot better than going a mile off the Trail to the campground, setting up our tents in the rain, figuring out what to do with our wet clothes, and cook in the rain.Right now, it's 7 o'clock, we are in a huge pavillion with 10 picnic tables and 2 fireplaces. No firewood, but it's comfy. We have clothes lines rigged up and our stuff is laid out everywhere, drying. We have picnic tables picked out for us to sleep on. The weatherman says that tomorrow it's supposed to stop raining at 6 am and get hot. He also says that if Estee were still on the Trail, it would be raining for 3 more days. That's it for today.