Date: 2004-07-30
From: Harriman State park NJ

To: Montclair NJ
Miles today: 17.5

July 30th. Around 15 miles but 5 of those were not on the A.T.I woke up to pink and blue skys coming over the lake. I was out of camp by 6:45 a.m. Before 8:00 a.m. I had seen 6 deer. By the end of the day I had seen 20. That has to be some kind of record huh? Most of them were fawns with their spots still on. And one of them suprised me and whe I turned around he was like 8 feet away and never did move on my account.I had an uneventful morning. I went through the lemon squeezer. If I were to do it again I would take my pack off. It was a real tight squeeze and I think someone was being polite calling it the lemon squeezer.Lots of rock scrambles in the morning but then for a while the trail got back to what I can fly along. It was a welcome break.When I got down to the Palisades parkway I felt like that game frogger. Where the cars are zooming by and the frog has to get across without getting splatted. No splat today thank goodness.That's about the time my walk got interesting. The trail splits off. The A.T. goes left and the Ramapo-Dunkleman goes to the right. I just thought I was following the trail and wemt right. I came to a stream and got some water and noticed a note under a rock. It said, "to those who get lost". The rest of the note had goten wet and I couldn't read it. I finally got the idea I was on the wrong trail so I got out the map. According to my map this trail looped right back to the A.T. in about 3\4 of a miles. Instead of walking back I made the mistake of believing the map. I climbed really strenuous ups and more ups. Now I am far enough away that I refuse to go back. The trail gets tougher and tougher and after about three miles of rock scrambling I lose the blazes. So I go where I think the blazes should be. I was lost wayyy up high with no blazes and it starts thundering. Far enough away but I didn't want to be on top of this Mountain with no protection. After about 45 !minutes I decide to retrace my steps down the side of the mountain. I finally see a tree that has fallen and that was the blaze that I missed. This trail goes on forever and boy was it tough....fun and great views but tough. To make a very long story shorter....I finally found another trail and just kept following them down....knowing I would hit civilization somewhere. The storm finally came and I was sitting on a log without my pack or sticks and a bolt of lightening hit about 20 yards from me.....so close that I could feel the hair on my ne@ck stand up. It scared me for a second and then thrilled me. I laughed and laughed and then decided my sisters place was a good place to be. And I was chafing so bad that it hurt to walk. I hadn't noticed it while I was lost cause I was more concerned with that at the time.I ended up in a beautiful private community and walked out of there to a main road where I then hitchhiked out. A nice young woman whose mother loves to hike picked me up and told me I wasn't the first one to get lost on that trail. So, hikers beware!She dropped me off at a litle stip mall with a phone and food and I called my sis to come get me. While I waited I ate some chinese fod and read the paper and talked to the locals. It was only a 45 minute drive for Sherry and the kids. I had a great couple of days off. Ate too much, slept too much, watched lots of movies, played with the kids and even recaulked the tub. Back to the trail monday morning!