Date: 2018-06-10
From: Palisades interstate parkway visitor center mile 1395.7

To: Hemlock Springs campsite mile 1406
Miles today: 10.3

I woke up last night at 1 2 3 4 and 5. Just looking at the clock and closing my eyes again. I got up around 6:15 and took a shower getting myself ready for our scheduled 7 breakfast down the street at Perry's.We headed back to the motel after discussing Rivers tent situation, which needed some repair to the screen mesh around the bottom. She had noticed the tears when she was taking her zero last week and had ordered the necessary repair screening which she picked up at the post office yesterday, so we were able to get the repairs done in about 30 to 45 minutes here at the motel together. The tent will be needed tonight and tomorrow because the only options for us are tempting, either 10 miles or 16 miles out. No shelters will be available to us this evening. So making this repair before we left today was imperative.I'm excited about today's hike, will be going up over Bear Mountain Crossing the Hudson River walking through Perkins Memorial Park and the zoo.Our Uber driver was nice with a London accent and he was thrilled to pick up my pack to feel the weight. He said it felt more like 55# to him. We left the bookstore and crossed the Palisades walking the 2000 feet to the trail. The noise and the traffic cause anxiety for me but once inside the woods I could hear the birds and peace started enveloping me. We had a nice climb talking with some day hikers and watching a flock of birds eat berries from a tree. At the top of the climb near the trail to West mountain shelter we enjoyed the view and our hard earned snack and met Erick, Andrew and Stuff Sack. Erick is hiking to Maine and the others are out for a week or so with him before returning to NYC. We ran into Rich, a trail maintainer and supervisor who was out painting blazes and we each got to paint one. It was really an awesome feeling. Climbing up the rest of West mountain was tough but I was elated to have painted that blaze. We crossed the street and started up Bear mountain for what I thought would be a tougher climb. Immediately we started to see an increase in the number of day hikers on the trail without water and some lost. We were asked questions like "are we almost at the parking lot", " which way to the Inn", etc. We tried to help as best we could but we only have maps for the AT and I think some of these people were no longer on the trail they started out on. The top of Bear mountain was jammed with people. Thru hikers were suddenly the minority and we were stopped and asked a host of new questions and for Instagram and journal information so they could follow us. That was pretty fun! We ran into Dozer, Napper and Riddler who we haven't seen since Cabela's back on Memorial Day. We hung out for a while at the picnic area and snack bar munching, using the flush toilets. Eventually we decided we should move on to make the campsite across the bridge. We missed the zoo which closed at 4:30 so we we took the blue blaze trail around with Bacon. When we got up the bridge the trail markings were unclear, as is much of NY unfortunately. We crossed on the right hand side of the bridge, a mistake. When we arrived at the other end we had to cross a 3 way intersection. We later learned that many hikers run into this issue because of unclear markings. As we walked across the bridge I had a sinking feeling that this Mountain in front of us was going to be an evening climb. I was right. Guthooks calls it a moderate climb but it was anything but. It was a steep overused and abused trail section with trash and glass used by day hikers going to Anthony's Nose. We saw several day hikers descending. One stopped us to ask about our hike and said "the trail isn't steep is it" as we were looking up at our climb. A passing doe stole the scene and we escaped. After cussing for a while at how steep the climb was and how late we'd make camp we finally arrived. I left River downhill a tenth of a mile getting water. I dropped my pack up at the site and doubled back to help. It sucks carrying water and your pack. We arrived back up at the site to see that Erick, Andrew and Stuff Sack were out site mates. They were super nice and welcoming as we made camp. We collected ourselves with our food bags and stoves over at a log and cooked a hasty late dinner after hanging our bear lines a little up the trail. I can eat in the dark but can't throw a bear line in it, so I wanted to make sure we wouldn't have to struggle to get our bags hung. We had great conversation with the boys who wanted to learn PCT style of bear bag hanging. So after dinner we taught them how by headlamp. They're great learners and I know they'll teach others this preferred method. It was obviously beyond hiker midnight when I crawled into my tent. I had such a fun day today with great memories.