The day started the night before…
I hiked to a monastery and camped in a ball field. Upon arrival I saw that my friends had ordered pizza to the ball field! I had to order pizza too, so I scanned the menu to find the perfect pizza pie. One in particular caught my eye, Hawaiian; pineapple and Canadian bacon ( I was feeling homesick). So I ordered a large and ate 5 slices and saved 3 for breakfast, set up my tent and went right to bed.
I woke up around 3am to a crazy storm right overhead. The rain was coming down so hard that in my sleepy stupor I though for a second it was going to rip my tent fly. The lightning was right above me and the thunder was quick to follow. My next thought was “If this storm isn’t over in the morning, I’m not getting up.”
At 6:30am I woke up and not only was the storm over, but the sky was clear and bright blue! I packed up and headed out. My first stop was the Appalachian Market, a small convenience store. There I did a small resupply and bought a giant breakfast sandwich and then was on my way.
I was hiking with my friend Scrum and he waited for me while I called my friend Laura. We made it to the Bear Mountain bridge and crossed the Hudson river, stopping no less than 5 times to spit off the side. 🙂 The view was really nice!
We followed the white blazes across the road and right into a zoo! The zoo takes in local animals to rehabilitate them after accidents or injuries. We saw bald eagles, owls, deer, beavers and bears! After walking the zoo we met up with Starfish and Sherpa. We were all hungry for one thing… Ice cream. We found the vending machines and got our treats.
Right beside us was a swimming pool, and Starfish had heard from a NOBO that hikers get to swim for free! This was music to my ears since I hadn’t showered in about 5 or 6 days. We all hopped in and did a bit of swimming and a bit of scrubbing…
After swimming we hiked up Bear Mountain to our shelter. By this time it was pushing 6:30pm and we were all tired. The next shelter was only 3.5 miles away, but we could see from the top of the mountain that another storm was coming in. After a few minutes the sky opened up on us and we got power washed by the rain.
Just as we arrived at the shelter the rain stopped. There were 5 boy scouts camped out in the shelter so I set up my tent out back. I was pooped from all the excitement of the day and went right to sleep.
Another great day on the trail. I’ve hiked 6 states and am now in New Jersey hanging out in a church basement. 🙂