Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Aug 21st, Day Twenty-one




Small creek waterfall.
Today we woke up early to attempt over twenty miles of trail, with a stop at about mile fourteen to resupply.  Miles had ramen for breakfast so he would not have to get the stove out again, and we departed.  The trail started going by a big bog pond on top of a ridge, then we followed the outlet stream down from it.  There were some gorgeous little waterfalls as we descended. 
Vroman's Nose from the bottom.

After this we continued on a seemingly endless section of ups and downs.  They seemed pointless, and were therefore very annoying.  They brought us to a highway which we then followed for about two miles till we reached the trail for Vroman’s Nose.  This was a huge cliff that jutted out above the highway, and looked a lot like a nose.  It was a pretty prominent landmark in the area; people back at the biker bar had talked about it, and told me I would probably hike over it. 

Vroman's Nose at the top.
The trail up to it was pretty much straight up hill, it probably climbed faster and steeper than most of the Catskills.  When we finally achieved the summit however, the view was spectacular.  We could look up the entire valley below us all cover with corn fields and such.  Looking the other way we could see the edge of the town were we would resupply. 

Can't get the food!

Got the food!

Food is gone!
After walking down the other side of the mountain we walked around the edge of a corn field to reach town.  The trail was so over grown that Miles chose to walk between the rows of corn instead, much like he used to back when he was a kid.  We finally break out of the corn field, and reach a road.  Across a bridge is the town, and the first thing we see is a gas station / subway; that immediately becomes our destination.  The last of our food was used up on the mountain so we were completely out.  Miles went hog wild once he got in the gas station.  He ordered a large pizza, and as it was being made he bought out the entire store, or close enough.  The one thing he did not want was to have to worry about food as we finished out our trip. 

Mmmmmm, Pizza!
When the pizza arrived we believed ourselves in heaven.  Miles sat down with the whole pizza and a mountain dew, and got to work.  There were a couple people who made disbelieving comments as they walked past, no one thought little old Miles could actually put away that much food.  He did though, he was even most of the way through before he even remembered to take a picture of it.  After the pizza, he ate two ice cream bars and we continued on our way. 

This is where the story gets rough.  The ice cream and mountain dew and pizza all started rolling around in a confined area.  Miles goes climbing out of town as the sun is getting low, and his stomach feels as though it became the battle ground for world war three.  It was the only time during the hike where thinking of food was not pleasurable.  We made it about five more miles in that condition before light ran out.  There was no need for dinner that night, we just went right to sleep.  



Traveled 19.6 miles of trail.
 

-SM-
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