Date: 2005-07-21
From: Telephone Pioneers Shelter

To: Schaghticoke Mountain
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: scattered clouds

The sun is up and I have no idea what time I left this morning. The mosquitos were out in force so I did something different once again. I set my tent up inside of the shelter. I slept late for the first time in a long time. Ramblin Man and the Corporal stayed at the shelter last evening as well as FIDO. FIDO stayed in his tent next to the shelter and the other two hikers stayed inside with me. Two section hikers set up their tent near by as well (a mother and son team I believe). My plan was to walk to Pawling, NY today and call my son Joshua to see if the link up was good for my wife. Ramblin Man and Corporal were also going to go to town to do their laundry so we left together. When we came to the road we observed another awesome site, The Dover Oak. Another magnificent tree, older then any on the AT (so I have read). We hitch hiked together and was picked up by a local within a few minutes. The gentleman who gave us the ride told me something quite interesting about the town we were going to. There were a number of Billionaires that lived here (I think he said nine in all). Billionaires, I find that so unimaginable, but hey what do I know. I was just happy to get a ride in the back of an old pick up truck.   I could not get in contact with my son at first so I did the next best thing, laundry. I figured if there was a problem with the planned pick up then at least this trip to town would have been time well spent (besides eating food). Two hours later I finally got through. The plan was a "go" and I needed to be at the West Cornwall Post Office by 6 PM on Friday. So much for the short days, the trail however had been much easier to hike lately (thank the Lord) so all looked doable. I figured I just needed to be hiking longer during the day, at a slower pace, with more rest stops. For one of the very few times on the trail, I needed also to do something I did not want to do. I had to set the alarm on my watch to comply with the adjusted plan. I only had to do this but maybe ten times on the whole trip. Primarily because I either needed to get up to leave early or it was set so I could get up and make it in time for breakfast.    I wanted to do some extra miles this evening as well so I continued on by myself. If anything I wanted to get on top of the Schaghticoke Mountain that lay ahead of me. The mountain was at 1330 feet and there was a 1030 incline from the last shelter, (Ten Mile River Lean-to) at 290 feet. I ended up just shy of the summit at about mile 1447. There was a great vista there and the cool breeze coming across the ridge line was comfortable to say the least. It was getting dark when I settled in. I had plenty of water from an un-named spring along the trail (a blessing for me). While I was making camp a Male "Tom" Turkey came strolling by. Here on the trail the Eastern Wild Turkey is King and this one was a beauty. His head was as red as a rose and he strutted like he was in charge, an awesome site.   After watching a beautiful sunset I settled in for the night. Not a bad day considering I hiked 21.3 miles of trail, 2.2 miles of road and about 12 hours of time, not a bad day indeed. The alarm was set for 5 AM and sleeping on that mountain was a treat.personal note: Thanks for the e-mail Just Visiting, say hey to Fig for me... Peace WB