Total Miles: 821.2
As soon as I got out of the shelter this morning to go to the bathroom, I came face to face with a deer. She sat there for a few minutes just staring at me before deciding to move on. The number of deer I've seen in New York has been pretty surprising. I hardly go a day without seeing at least one.
Today was supposed to be drier and cooler than the past few days. I was looking forward to that. I headed out pretty early towards the first obstacle of the day, the Lemon Squeezer. Just before it, there was a small ledge that I had to get down. I thought I would be pretty easy until I got stuck hanging halfway off of it. I couldn't just jump with my pack on since I'm sure the impact with the extra weight would have made me cry. I had to hang on with one hand while carefully wriggling out of my pack, throwing it down, and then jumping. It was probably way more complicated than it needed to be. The Lemon Squeezer itself wasn't difficult, just fun to pass through. It is a rock that is split that the trail passes through, so it's a tight fit.
There were so many small up and downs today, and it made for some slow going. There was a lot of trail magic in this section, mostly gallon jugs of water. These were found at almost every road crossing, and there were quite a few today. It was really great to see considering there weren't many other options for water on the trail today. I'm sure it must have been a great relief in the heat. There was also a cooler of trail magic with fruit, yogurt, granola bars, Little Debbie's...all kinds of great things! They were from a man named Headley. He also had a box fully stocked with first aid supplies and things of that sort just up the hill a ways. It was really incredible. I don't think us hikers could thank him enough for that. I spent a little bit of time there enjoying some of the goodies before moving on. Today has been the first time I've seen mileage signs in New York too, the ones that show how far it is to the next road or shelter. I had been thinking about how there weren't any the last few days, so this was a nice surprise too.
As I climbed up to Mombasha High Point, I looked up to the sky and thought it looked like some rain clouds were moving in. Sure enough, just a few moments later, a small shower passed through. I took cover under a tree and waited for it to pass. I stayed pretty dry surprisingly, and I was certainly glad I decided to wait it out.
The rest of the day passed without much excitement. There were a lot of very rocky climbs I wasn't expecting, but most were pretty short. I was thinking about staying in Greenwood, but all the options were too expensive so I moved on. I had heard from Chaco that she and Doc were at Cascade Brook, so I decided to make the last 3 miles there. It was already past 6:30, so I booked it and made it in about 45 minutes. I'm still not sure how. I saw a few deer on the way, but the rest was a rocky blur. I was relieved when I saw Doc's fire and quickly dropped my things. I had been hiking with Chaco through the 100 Mile Wilderness and had met Doc in Monson, so I've been trying to catch up with them for a while. We talked for some time before I finally set everything up and was able to crawl into my tent. I'm hoping I can convince the other two to go into town tomorrow. It will be nice to have some company for a few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment