Day 34: lets blog the day!

Today seems like it will be more eventful than most so I'm going to stop every couple of hours and write.

400 am wake up to rain coming in the tent, have to get up and put rain fly on tent in the dark.

730 am wake up, still raining. Go back to sleep.

8 am rain stops, lay there a while, finally get up, eat cheerios and a pop tart. Pack my stuff. Am on the trail by 9. I drink the last of my water. I made a mistake yesterday and didn't bring enough. There are vending machines two miles ahead.

9 to 10. Hike up bear mt. One of the most well maintained trails I've seen, the top half is all crushed gravel and trees in bloom. It's like walking through a garden. Get to vending machines, so thirsty I chug a powerade. Get another for the trail. No water source up here.  Poop in a porta potty that is vile. Worse than most privvies.

Climb another tower built in the 30s. That was a popular time to build towers.

Sit down on a bench to write this, chat with a guy named john who is a Chaplin at west point. I recommend a nice look out I saw on the way in. He blesses my day. Back on the trail by 1045.

1145 down bear mt, so many stone steps. They even have a museum about stone steps at the bottom. Stop at a big park, there are many vultures here lurking in the trees.  They are eying me up. Finally get some water from a fountain, but it tastes bad. So I only get one liter. I know there is better water ahead. I think about doing lunch here but I'm not hungry.

100 pm: just hiked  through a zoo. Also the lowest point above sea level on the trail. At 400 something feet. I was all ready to make a joke about caged animals being the low point, but all of their animals are rehab or rescues. Most of them handicaped. It was actually very nice. I think with this park being so close to nyc they have some money to make bear mountain, weird lake with vultures, and the zoo pretty nice. Then I crossed a suspension bridge over the hudson, did some road hiking, and ended up back on the real trail. Rocks straight up the side of the hill.

So halfway up the hill it was close enough to 1 to do lunch and my belly was growling. I didn't eat any meat protein yesterday so I'm going with tuna for lunch. Tomato basil tuna, with onion powder and pepper from my spice kit. Also will finish off that sport drink from this morning.

Four more hours of hiking today. There is a campsite up ahead, I'll stop there and consider my next move. I want to end within a mile or two of parking to make meeting Mike and Phil easy.

430: feet were tired so I was gonna stop early. Had a sweet stealth camp picked out. Right across the street from a market and deli, so breakfast and dinner would be delicious. When I went to the deli I ran into a bunch of through hikers including topknot, the super friendly guy who talked us into eating a half gallon of ice cream. This time he talked me into hiking another mile to a monestary that lets you camp in their ball field. I'll be social tonight, I guess. I'm a bad crazy loner. Just ate half a hero, I'll have the other half tonight. A vanilla coke and a mango Italian ice.

Now to go back pick up my gear and hike one more mile today.

545 hiked that extra mile got to the monastery campsite. Saw two turkeys with a bunch of mini turkeys with them.

Wrote an email to Mike and Phil. I'm sitting between three groups. My through hiker friends, who are chilling in tents. This group of guys in matching AT shirts, who are making a crazy complicated curry, and doing some hike bragging. I've been following these guys since the vultures at the lake. And the third group seem to be people camping at the monastery, playing  a bible themed version of mind trap. (Cue falsetto metal voice: MIND TRAP !!)

I should set up my tent, but my shoes are off and this picnic table is comfy.

645 tossed a frisby around with a guy named flicker. Turns out he works for the pro ultimate frisbee team in pittsburgh.  It turns out that there is a pro ultimate league at all. I saw him yesterday, he gave me some water when I was making camp, since I was almost out. Turns out he has been hiking with topknot. They have been carrying the frisbee since devils backbone, and this was the first time he got to toss it around. He gave me pointers on throwing side arm. Maybe someday I will dominate disc golf. It was pretty fun.

Turns out I sent the "hey meet me here" email a day early. Did you know today is Thursday? I didn't.

Almost 7 now, tent is set up. Going to eat the rest of this sandwich, drink a bunch of water, and go to my tent to read. I've been reading the Shackleton book. Turns out old timey descriptions of logistics are great for falling asleep. Soon they will be stuck in the ice and start dying. (Is that how you spell dying? Dieing? Dyeing? One of them means they are coloring their clothes)

700 posting this blog.

Miles 11
Water: 4 liters
Overly long blogs: 1