Date: 2005-05-27
From: West Mtn. Shelter

To: Tenting on stream north of South Highland Road
Miles today: 17.6

Starting Time: 6:50Starting Location: West Mtn ShelterEnding Time: 6:00Ending Location: Tenting on stream north of South Highland RoadMiles: 17.6Morning Weather: Overcast, then clearingAfternoon Weather: Sunny and high 60's! But then at 6:00 pm, thunderstorms!Breakfast: Granola barsLunch: Sub, chips, and Pepsi at Fox's DeliDinner: Pasta RoniMisc. Food: bars and gorpTrail Description: A little easier today. Still up and down, and still incredibly rocky in isolated spots, but somehow it was easier. See complaints below for scathing condemnation of the NY AT club.People: TRex, Mike, Cool park lady who opened the zoo for me, Cool P.O. lady who set the other P.O. guy straight on Priority Mail forwardingAnimals: I finally saw a black bear!!! But it was in the zoo at the Bear Mtn. Wildlife Center. Money: 8 for lunchComplaints: The club members and leaders that maintain Harriman and Bear Mtn. State parks, plus the section north of them that I have just walked, should be ashamed of themselves. The general trail condition is shoddy near every rock outcropping (and there are lots of those). The blazing, however, looks like it was done by a 10 year old. I would be entirely embarassed if that was the result of my work.I came to at least four trail intersections today where I had no idea where to go. Faint blazes are the main problem, although no blazes is also common. What makes it worse is that there is what I will call "double blazing" at many of the rocky spots. I think they are trying to provide an easy/hard option for hikers. But later you might come to an intersection where you see more double blazing, however, this is just the old blazes left over from a reroute that they didn't remove. Hence, you sit at the intersection and wonder where in the heck to go. Faint blazing is their worst crime at intersections...you keep chugging long and never see the trail take off at a 45-degree angle. It is so obvious of a lack of effort that it is pathetic, and these are supposedly some of the historic parts of the trail (the first trail to be cut back in the day). It should be a showcase, not a blowout.Oh, and my toe hurts still. I think I'm going to get new shoes.Thoughts: I passed 1,400 miles today!!! Also, I had to set up my tent in a mad dash to avoid the rain, which is something I haven't had to do yet. I wasn't quite finished with the hike I had planned for today, but I was close, so instead of donning rain gear and getting wet, I pitched my tent and am nice and dry-ish (nothing "airs out" in 100 humidity). Today was my last day "alone" on the trail. Tomorrow Amy (my wife for those who don't know) joins me for the rest of the way! For everyone's information, she is much better looking, smarter, and currently smells better than me (but we'll fix this one soon). She has put in many hours assembling my maildrops thus far, and has just finished a Herculean effort to assemble the remaining boxes for the rest of the hike. Oh yeah, she's also more productive than me on a daily basis. Her trail name, as coined by yours truly, is "Biscuits!," because she kneads her feet when she gets in her sleeping bag, producing swish-swish sounds until the required warmth has been reached. We call this action "making biscuits." A similar action is our cats kneading whatever is soft and fluffy (fleece blanket, Amy's hair, my gut) with their front paws. Also, her trail name ends with an exclamation point because, dear readers, she hikes and lives with gusto. So, don't get thrown off with the weird punctuation, because the name Biscuits! needs the exclamatory quality to fully describe the hiker.So, from now on, look for posts from Biscuits! and Boomerang! Because she was doing the posts to trailjournals.com, and is now hiking, the updates will probably be less frequent. Sorry for this inconvenience, my dear and loyal readers, but I'd rather have her hiking!