I want to be a part of it - New York, New York!

Start spreading the news, da da da da da. Ha Ha. We have been singing that Frank Sinatra song since we got into the state. Now we have made it to the big apple. :)

5/19/07 17.3 miles to Wildcat Mountain Shelter. Damp cool day outside today. Tried out my new pack this morning and decided after the top of the first mountain that I was not a fan. I called REI from the top and ordered the one I should have gotten but was didn't so that is now coming to New York City and I will get it in a few days. Started raining shortly after that first hill and continued on most of the day. Sometimes heavy, sometimes not. We crossed over to New York after about 10 miles and that is when some serious rocks started. No one said there would be rocks in New York. It was mainly rocks on top of the ridge but with the rain, it was super slippery. I didn't know I signed up for rock climbing when I started the trail. Somehow Hobbit and myself made it through the day with only minor injuries (both of us scraped our knee on our last mountain of the day). Got into the shelter pretty early and climbed into dry clothes and our sleeping bags. Several section hikers caught up with us here and we all spent a cozy night listening to the rain and swapping stories. Even Squire made it. Happy to be warm and dry in my sleeping bag.

5/20/07 21.7 miles to Palisades Parkway and Holiday Inn Express. So this day turned out a bit differently than I planned. Rainy and chilly this morning so no one wanted to get going out on the rocks again but by the time we did, the rain had tapered off thank God. And what a climb it was this morning - more hand climbing over the slippery rocks and the terrain was tough. Apparantly our days of 25 miles are over - we are in New England. Walking along the trail this morning and saw a bear! I actually got a look at this one. He was probably a yearling and very curious - even got up on his haunches to check us out. Definitely glad we were all travelling ina group. Hobbit tried to get me to walk in the back and I said no way! Got to the road and all of us were exhausted already after only 10 miles. Tried to call this adventure leadership camp that was in the area that help out hikers with slackpacking and lodging. Couldn't get ahold of them all day so on we went. The terrain got better and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Got to go through Lemon Squeezer and ran into all kinds of day hikers. Got to the very busy Palisades Parkway and both of us were pretty tired and ready to quit for the day. Hobbit was nice enough to splurge on a hotel room so I got my own queen size bed for the night and a much needed shower. I bought a very large pizza and cheesecake and we were set for the night.


5/21/07 26.5 miles to a campsite 1.5 miles from 301. Long day today and happy to be setting up camp - cowbody style. Had a great continental breakfast at the hotel - filled up on all kinds of juices, we about cleaned them out. Got a ride back out to the trail from a guy getting ready to graduate from West Point this week. He is the son of a guy that has been reading Hobbits online trail journal - how cool is that. Back on the trail and headed up several steep climbs. At the top of one of the climbs, I passed a rattlesnake sunning itself on the rocks. I was trying to tell Hobbit about it and he stopped right by the snake, I just couldn't get the words out. Glad it turned out okay. That snake must have been old to not have rattled at us! On the climb up Bear Mountain, we ran into Holly and Amanda again. They are section hikers who were headed to the hotel we were at the night before. It was pretty cool to see that the trail headed right in the Bear Mountain Zoo so we checked out the school groups and the critters. Across the Hudson River with some neat views of the skyline of New York City and up to Graymoor Monestary. Had a nice lunch there in the afternoon and back on the trail. Long afternoon of hiking but we made it to the road we wanted to get to. It took us awhile to find a campsite and it wasn't the best but we were tired so there we camped.


5/22/07 22.8 miles to Pawling, NY and then the train to NYC. Got up and out of camp by 6 am. A little motivation goes a long way. I was really tired this morning, guess I will be needing the day off tomorrow. Stopped and had several snacks, trying to get myself some energy. All of us were pretty pooped. There are so many ticks in the area that the trail conference posts signs at all the road crossings warning hikers about lyme disease. One of the symptoms is being really fatigued so ofcourse everyone is paranoid about it. I am definitely keeping a look out as I find several ticks everyday. Made pretty good time today even though I felt sluggish. Got to Pawling before 3 pm. Grabbed a sandwich and some soda and bought our tickets for the city. Pretty exciting to sit on the train and people watch after all this time. There is so many people and they all smell so clean and they are all in their own little worlds. Got into Grand Central Station and it was crazy. Everybody rushing around trying to get somewhere. It is definitely a different world than the one I live in on the trail. Hobbit's daughter picked us up there because we couldn't have gotten anywhere on our own. Walked around a bit and found a nice irish pub for dinner. I finally got a black bean burger! Headed towards Time Square and that was awesome being there, especially since we had our packs and still hadn't showered yet. What a surreal experience. Took the subway to her place and tried to figure out what is going on with my packages of new shoes and a new pack. Happy to be here!!

5/23/07 ZERO DAY ZERO DAY!!! Hitting the town today so I will post you on all of our adventures later.
Love,
KY Blue