Aug 4th, Day Four

AAAAHHHHH COLD!!  Who would have thought it could be cold in August?  Miles sure never did, thus he declined to purchase and pack a sleeping bag, and decided a sheet would suffice.  Today we awoke before the sunrise, and being unable to sleep, got out to break camp and warm up hiking.  The really awesome part though was since we were up so early the sun had not hit us, it had however already reached the buildings in NYC in the distance.  We stood upon the top of the rock where we had eaten dinner the night before and every building in the city glowed orange like fire.  It was one of the top sights of the trip. 

NYC at sunrise.

Today was the day in which we would reach the Appalachian Trail and start our four day hike upon it.  The primary goal for the day though was to find something that could serve as a blanket.  About twelve miles from my camp we knew there was the town of Harriman, which was what we figured to be our best bet. 

Path through the ferns.

A beautiful fern hillside.

Our intersection with the Appalachian Trail.

We reached the road that led into town in the early afternoon and started down it.  The hike in was miserable, hiking along a busy highway is not fun.  The first thing we saw was a gas station.  We went in to get some supplies and ask if there was a shopping center around.  The clerk told us that there was a shopping center about 5 minutes further down the road, which of course meant it was 45 minutes for me. 

About a hundred yards in front of the Wal-Mart that we were intending to go to however, there was a TJ Max.  To save ourselves the anguish of walking that extra distance we decided to become maxinistas and purchased a fleece throw blanket.  Finally there would be warmth tonight. 

The new blanket, yes the bones are on purpose.

The lakes we camped next to.

We walked back out of town, stopping and getting an ice cream at the gas station along the way.  That evening we did not make it to the shelter which we were hoping to but instead found a really pretty camp site by a gorgeous lake.  We made camp, feasted upon our delicacy of ramen with salt and beef flavor, and let the frogs sing us to sleep.

Traveled 14.1 miles of trail.

-SM-

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