[at-l] Ken Knight writes!!!

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley)]

You can write to Ken at  krk@speakeasy.net


I am sitting on the couch of Paul M's (those who know who
I am talking about will know who I am talking about) house
typing this email on his laptop (and therefore not able to really
  view the screen so excuse any typos and such like) here in
Three Arrows. It looks like the nasty heat wave has finally
broken. Of course, today I am off the trail... The last several days
have been really brutal with temperatures at their lowest in the
upper 80s with ridiculously high humidity readings too. I know
some people, Antonio you come to mind, thrive in this heat but
I slow way down and the sweat flows off me in rivers. I have had
some short hiking days because of it (and one long one). I last
wrote when the Visor ate my journals for lunch so that means I
suppose I had gotten to Kent and Ten Mile lean-to. I'm some 40
  trail miles south of that now I think near Canopus Lake and NY
301. This is an area that some of you will remember I hiked a bit
  of two years ago on a short (made shorter !
by weather and lack of experience I suppose) trip two years ago.
On that trip I went from Pawling to about Morgan Stewart Shelter.
Things look a lot different today .
I enjoyed the last bit of CT but was quite happy to leave that state.
The hiking is relatively level and footing is quite good. There are a
few open ridges to slow me down but overall I can, in theory, really
move. Reality is, of course, different. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
Seeing this part of the Trail in the dog days of summer is certainly
different from the mid days of autumn. The colors have not changed
and the leaves are all still up. And, this time, the sun was beating
down upon me relentlessly. With all the heat somehow the views just
were not as great as they could have been even though there were
several especially on the ridge between NY 52 and RPH Shelter
(lovely cinder block building). Nuclear Lake somehow did not have
the same pizzazz that it had two years back. Maybe the colors
were just not as vibrant and this time I had no trouble following the
trail around it. It is still a pretty lake though.
The hiking around Nuclear Lake was fun but I think I went to far.
I did around 13.5 miles that day and really felt it. The heat just
drains you. Still, I am glad I did that hike and even though I wimped
out and stayed in an overpriced motel room that night so I could be
sure to get to Stormville to fetch my Newton (thanks, Lar) the next
day I suppose it was worth it.
The next couple days had some flobs in them. The hiking from RPH
to Canopus Lake is actually pretty easy, but for one section. There
is a massive fallen tress about 4.5 miles from the northern end of
the section (call it 4.2 or so from RPH) blocking the trail. For the
life of me I could not find my way around it and no on,e I mean no
one at all, came by to lend me a hand. I wandered around that region
for a while and then plopped down and waited for a few hours for the
heat to subside a little before heading back to RPH shelter where I
know water could be found (I was really low and needed the liquid badly).
Maybe I shouold have been more daring in bushwacking around the
huge tree, but I wanted some help. After all, I remember my last
bushwhacking experience at Belters Campsite. Of course, I knew
the next day I would have the same problem, and when that day
(yesterday) came I did. Finally, my sole shelter mate (doing a section
from Ma though NY) came by and she provided a v!
voice in the wilderness to follow , but I still ended up making my own
trail around that tree. The people that care for this piece of AT need
to do something about that spot. Once I got around it things got easier.
The view of Canopus Lake is great and there is clearly a lot of history
here (i.e. stone walls small stone building remains; how people farmed
these mountainsides is a mystery to me).
I got to Fahenstock Memorial State Park in early afternoon. The clouds
had settled in and I had heard thunder on and off but all we got were a
couple sun showers. The temperature was dropping a little bit, but it
was still in the mid 80s in late afternoon even with the overcast sky. T
aking a swim in the lake was lovely. The waters were warm, soothing,
helped wash away some grit and grime. Maybe they even helped my
clothing a bit. And to top it off I lucked out and got a hold of Paul and
therefore spend some time with him and his family and neighbors.
Yes, I do have some memories of Three Arrows. Though things like
the dock on the lake have been re-designed I remember how they
used to be at least a little bit.
So, with the exception of the problem with the fallen tree and the
miserable heat this has been a good, albeit slow, hiking week. I am
not going to set any records for speed though I am getting miles in (
yes, there are a couple small holes so I could be sure to get to
Stormville for example, but I don't really care - small yellow blaze
  travel is no big deal). Maybe I am getting some momentum at last.



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