[at-l] The wnadering takes a pause

[krk@speakeasy.org (kenneth knight)]

It is Sunday mo0rning and I am at my parent's house. Yes, I am off the
trail. Yesterday, just became too much and I got off. The southern
portion of New York just got me down. I am not sure what is next for me.
I had thought of skipping over the remainder of NY and jumping to New
Jersey but I seem to have lost my trail guide (probably left it at
Orange Turnpike). But, I am getting ahead of myself....

I think I last wrote to everyone when I was in Three Arrows.
Geographically speaking that is not far from Canopus Lake and where NY
301 and the Taconic Parkway intersect. That was about a week ago.

I left Paul M (thanks Paul for letting me stay, I had a great time) on
SUnday morning. The day was gray and warm, but nowhere near as hot as it
had been. I was going to go to Graymor Friary and hopefully enjoy a good
dinner. AS I recall the day, and without looking at my journal entries,
it wasn't a bad day. I thought, for a time, I was moving much faster
than I was, but the trail was generally quite nice. I only saw a few
people that day including two southbounders who I would meet at Graymor
later on.  As the day wore on it became clear I'd not make dinner after
all (it was just a faint hope to start with). But, I was still enjoying
myself. And then I got myself confused. I got two roads reversed in my
mind (and am still wondering what one of the paved roads I crossed relly
was since I still believe I started the section of trail that Graymor is
in around 15:15). I was at Old Albany Road thinking it was Old West
Point road and that Graymor was just half a mile away. AS I tried to
figure out what the trail was doing (if there was an offset blaze
pointing the way I never saw it - road blazing still needs to be
improved I think; even if the trail just jogs down a road 50 feet there
should be an offset blaze pointing in the right direction) a couple
pulled up and asked if I was a hiker and if I needed a lift. I am; and I
did. They clued me into my mistake, that Graymor was still 2+ miles
away, and gave me a lift to the friary. That is one big complex. I had
been imagining something out of the Cafael mysteries (yes, I know
different order of monks and vastly different time), this is something
very modern and substantial.  I was able to take part in dinner, barely,
and spent the evening chatting with the other hikers there before
drifitng off to sleep on the concrete floor of the old ballfield
pavillion.

The next day the good deed done by that couple would exact its revenge
upon me. Since they came in a different way than I would have hiked I
wasn't sure how to leave. It took a while jsut to follow the blue blazed
road to the trail (I made a wrong turn). It then took much much much
longer to figure out which way the trail went. I spent well over two
hours just getting to US 9. I certainly hiked more than the 0.9 miles
that would require. Sheesh... I suppose I was trying to fill in the hole
I had, yah that is it.

I then got confused by the carriage roads by Canada Hill and spent a
good bit of time on them before realizing I had not seena  blaze in a
while. The horse manure piles were also a good clue I was not on the AT.
It is too bad the views that day were not good, because I'm sure from
the top of Canada Hill (remember a hill is a moutain that is less than
1,000 feet; this one is about 900) would have been quite good. Oh well.
After the nasty descent off Anthony's Nose (no, I did not take the half
mile side trail to its summit) I strolled down the poorly blazed (I saw
one) route 9D (I think) and over Bear Mtn. Bridge. Big bridge. And if
the day had been clear awesome views of the Hudson Rive3r would have
been viewable. As it was, things were a bit gray.

AFter crossing the bridge I never found the AT entrance to the Trailside
Zoo. It must be there somewhere, but the blazes left me completely
befuddled since they seemed to point towards each other. I ended up
taking the road walk that you do when the zoo/museum is closed or if you
are walking with a dog. That took some figuring out too and was a mite
frustrating (as my Mom can probably attest since I called her from the
pay phone at the bridge). But, I got to Bear Mtn. Inn with enough time
to spare to get my mail. Which was when I learned that the bounce box I
had there wasn't the one I really wanted. It is the other box, which is
in Vernon, that had the NIHM battery recharger. Sigh....

The Inn is a nice enough place though pricey. If I were doing it again
I'd probably stay at the motel in Fort Montgomery (or is it Lee?). I
ended up taking the next day off because even the walk to and from the
post office made me feel a bit crummy. I wandered around the park.
Fianlly found the trailside zoo and museum (good exhibits) and slept a
lot.

On Wednesday I took off again. I was expecting Bear Mountain to be
really hard. It wasn't too bad. I enjoyed the ascent and the views back
towards the river and Hessian (sp?) lake below were great. At the summit
you see the Perkins Memorial Tower which from the top you can see good
views in all directions (sic). The ranger up there, Ranger Mike, tries
to help tlong distance hikers. He'll give you a soda, Mountain Dew (not
my favorite), and places water at some points on the trail south of Bear
Mtn. though I never saw the jugs (never saw the ones that were supposed
to be Orange Turnpike either, maybe they were on the western side of the
road). He told me he has had 400 hikers pass through so far.

The mountain that gave me trouble was West Mountain. While the ascent
was steep and hard, therefore slow going, I think I actually was moving
well and I felt good about it. The views again was grand. However, at
the summit things slowed way way down. The trail makes a hairpin turn to
cross the mountaintop up there and it took me a half hour to figure that
out! Then the walk along the western slopes was just slow going. I think
I was creeping along at about a mile per hour. Maybe a bit better than
that, but it felt worse. The views weren't as good since by this time I
was staring into the sun.

As you come off the summit you ren-enter the forest (which seemed a bit
more alive on the western slopes than it had on the summit or eastern
ones) and the trail blazing could be better I think. There were a lot of
time it was hard to distinguish the trail from what surrounded it and
that slowed me down a bit too. But, I perservered and in time got to the
Palisades Parkway. That turned out to be a road crossing that wasn't
nearly as bad as I feared it would be.

The rest of that day, getting to the shelter, was quite nice. Though
generally uninteresting. I could not see NYC. Too much haze.

The next day was a short one. Delibaretly so. I spent most of it at
Tiorati Lake. A very nice spot and if they had a snack bar they'de
really clear up. But, they just have vending machines.

>From  the shelter just south of the lake to the end of the section is
tough hiking. Rocky, rugged, slow, frustrating. Very slow. The trail was
hard to distinguish from the surrounding ground often and the rocks just
got to me. SPending 3 or so hours trying to get past the Lemon Squeezer
was no fun either. I just could not find the bypass trail and there was
no way I was jumping off that 7 foot drop (I thought it was less at the
time). In time I found the by-pass trail since I saw a day hiker with
his dog come up it, but it was a slow aggrivating day. I did have to go
back through the Lemon Squeezer, and get suitably squeezed, to retrieve
my poles which I had tossed off the huge drop before realizing just how
huge it was. I spent all morning and the beginning of the afternoon just
hiking the 4.4 miles to route 17! I was upset.

I wanted to go into Southfields to spend the night and cool off. I knew
I wasn't going to make the next shelter and my guess was the AT wasn't
going to provide much in the way of camping areas given how rocky it had
been and how rocky it wsa supposed to get. So, as I am walking down 17
trying to hitch a cop see me doing that and turns around and pulls me
over! He tells me that hitching is illegal and that I should be walking
facing traffic. He then requests my ID (request, yah...) and runs a
check on me. Sheesh. What a waste of his time and mine. Just what is the
rationale for hitching be illegal anyway? What a bloddy waste of time
and aggrivating especialloy since other hikers must come through the
area. Man.

I got to town and found out the hotel there was full (maybe it was, but
I understand Tuxedo Hotel is no longer hiker friendly ever since a lady
hiker commited suicdie there a year or so back). A trail angel who was
in town gave me a lift to another place and I stayed there. He picked me
up the next morning since he wanted to spend the day trying to give out
trail magic.

That would be Saturday morning. My current last day. I spent 3 hours
just getting to Orange Turnpike. I was not having fun. The rocks were
bugging me, the steep descents on the rocks were bugging me more, losing
the trail and following some blue blaze (not mentioned in the guide - at
least not the '98 edition) didn't improve my mood. It was clear I wasn't
even going to make WIldcat shelter at the pace I was making. Heck, I
would not have reached the deli on W. Mombasha road until late
afternoon. I was unhappy, frustrated, and just not enjoying myself. I
decided to catch a bus to NYC and then either come here or maybe pick
the trail up in NJ. The latter idea died when I realized the guide was
gone and couldn't find a way, I did not try terribly hard (and I
couldn't call anyone that would really know since all my contact info
for people like John O. or Kahley was lost when the Visor ate
everything), to reach a town like Vernon, NJ. I caught an Amtrak to
Maryladn instead.

Now I am trying to decide what to do. I will someday return to NY/NJ but
I hope I can do it with someone. Clearly I hike better with someone.
Much better. But, even if I am not necessarily hiking day-to-day with a
partner I have more fun if I can spend time with the same people over a
period of time. I really lucked out last year in Virginia on that score.
I fell in with groups that moved slowly, like I dod. Also, maybe VA. is
just plain easier hiking. I do not know.

So, what will I do now. I am not sure. Maybe try to fill in the Va. 42
to Catawba hole. Go somewhere else. Hike the C&O Canal. Relax for a bit.
If I go anywhere and anyone wants to join me I would welcome the
company.

For those of you, if you are out there, that sent me any mail to places
like Vernon, Deleware Water Gap, or Duncanon, I ams orry I won't see
them on the trail. I will se them when they forward everything to me,
but just not on the trail. I do wish I could have had a yuengling in PA
though.

  ** Ken **