Aug 5th, Day Five

Our beautiful water supply/bath tub

When I woke up this morning Miles was not shivering uncontrollably at least.  This means the new blanket was worth the walk out of the way.  It was still not super easy to cover seventy two inches of body with seventy inches of blanket, but he will make due. 

Today was the first day of the trip where we hiked in the woods all day; we did not go into a town or happen across one.  There was just us and nature.  We walked by a really beautiful waterfall early on in the day.  We stopped to refill our water, and then Miles took one of the coldest baths of his life. 

Walking along the rocky ridges, overlooking the lake.

Someone had placed an American Flag on one of the hilltops, which we thought was really awesome.

For a lot of the day we were hiking along really awesome rock outcroppings that jutted out of the trees at random places.  They would provide views of the area then you would go back into the tree line and continue along the ridge again.  The trail also followed a beautiful lake down below the hill, the views were awesome. 

 A handful of yummy.

One of the coolest things today was the huckleberries.  They were prevalent along the ridges where we were walking, and they were in season.   Miles would frequently take a respite from his pack and pick handfuls of the small berries to supplement the food supply we carried.  It is great being back in the wilderness again!

Traveled 18 miles of trail.

-SM-

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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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Aug 3rd, Day Three

The Hudson on a rainy morning.

Holy crap it gets cold at night, I mean really cold.  Miles embarked upon this journey right after one of the hottest weeks that can be imagined.  This had made him believe that all he would need for the night was a sheet.  Well judging by the look on his blue face this morning that may have been a slight miscalculation.  He also decided, in his infinite wisdom, that a pad would not be needed this trip either, so there was no insulation from the ground.  We packed up camp, and Ed took us back to the trail where we struck out for our next destination. 

What it's like to stand on a peak, in a cloud.

It was raining again as we took off up the hill.  This weather pattern was going to have to change.  On the plus side it really provided some amazing views or lack of views.  At one point we were walking in a cloud I believe.  We also started to enter into some real forests, not just woods surrounded by highways and suburbs.  It was really nice simply walking through nature, enjoying the peace and quiet.  This part of the trip brought us into the bottom of Harriman National Park, where we started to move a bit westward away from the Hudson River. 

The lean-to which we camped behind

A really beautiful part of the path through the moss.

We reached our destination with some daylight to spare, but immediately we set about making camp.  The tent was erected upon the grassiest patch that we could find, to compensate for no pad.  We walked out onto the rock in front of the shelter and began cooking dinner.  In the distance some forty miles away the NYC skyline was visible on the horizon; we had come a long way. 

Ramen noodles, dinner of champions.

NYC is just out of range of the camera here, but not of the eye

Traveled 15.9 miles of trail.

-SM-

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Aug 2nd, Day Two

Watching Miles roll over this morning one would have thought he was recovering from a shooting or a stabbing.  Pain rolled across his face as his legs changed position.  Finally a little before check out time he managed to limp to life, and slowly start to gather himself together for the day.  We discovered that the viewing screen on the camera was not working, so no reviewing our photos during the trip.  We will just have to hope it still works correctly and use the manual viewfinder to shoot. 

One of the bucks down the hill.

We check out of the hotel and limp on down the road.  Knowing he would be sore Miles only planned to make 5.75 miles today.  The trail led through a narrow strip of woods that ran below an apartment complex.  Its saving grace was it was on the side of a very steep hill so the civilization was rarely in view. At one point looking down the hill we saw three buck deer with velvet antlers which was pretty cool.  There were also some really awesome views of the Hudson River again as we topped many of the rock bluffs long the shore. 

Me enjoying snack time.

Views from the top of the cliffs.

By the end of the day Miles legs were actually feeling better than the beginning, we had succeeded in working some of the soreness out of them.  For the night we were being picked up by a gentleman named Ed (thank you Ed!!) who allowed campers to camp in his back yard for this leg of the journey.  Considering the first park shelter is over twenty miles from the hotel, this is a huge blessing.  Ed has also been a through hiker and hiking enthusiast for a while so he had some good knowledge and stories to share with us. 

Another great view of the Hudson River.

The maiden raising of the tent.

We put up the tent for the first time and made our first meal on our little denatured alcohol stove; we were easing into the camping well.  Miles had to use his knife to add many more oxygen holes to the flashing around the stove before it worked, in the end it looked like it had run afoul of Al Capone and a tommy gun.  We were eating ramen noodles in no time. 

Traveled 5.75 miles of trail.

-SM-

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Aug 1st, Day One

Well a journey of 360 miles begins with the first step, actually though it begins with a 4:30AM alarm.  Miles and I knew we had to get an early start because camping is not allowed in the first section; therefore we had to walk 23.15 miles to reach a Motel 8.  After taking a subway and a bus across the bridge, we walked to the beginning of the trail.  We took our picture and first steps right about 6:30AM. 
 

Sunrise over the Hudson River.

A deer our for an early breakfast seemed unfazed by our company

 

 

The first four to five hours were really nice, there was lots of wildlife, great views over the Hudson, and the walk was pleasant.  All that changed however with the arrival of a rainstorm.  It was more demoralizing than anything, but we kept on trooping.  

Baby turkey too young to fly using its camouflage to blend in.

 

Upon our determination that we were over half way through our first day, we spied upon a burger place on the side of the road we were currently walking on.  It looked like a great place to get out of the rain, and enjoy a warm meal.  This would allow us to slowly transition into the through hiker life.  The burger and beer were very enjoyable and uplifting.  They, and the shocked reactions we received upon the revelation of our journey, lifted our spirits and helped move us down the path. 

A view of the Hudson from when it was nice out.

For the second half of the day it continued to rain off and on.    We kept moving forward knowing we had to make the distance by night fall.  Miles body was beginning to wear down, he was slowing his pace, and we stopped a little more frequently. 

In the late afternoon we reached the hill above the town which would be our home for the night.  The rain was steady and hard, as we descended it turned into a downpour.  Miles was moving at the pace of an old lady with a walker; each foot not quite passing the other to complete a step.  Dripping wet and "dog" tired we hobbled into the hotel lobby.  For Miles I believe the highlight of day one was the bath that he nearly fell asleep in once we settled into our room.

And a view when it was raining.

It was a rough day one, it tested our resolve, but we are still going; we are resolute.

Traveled 23.15 miles of trail.

  -SM-

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Delay

So I know today was supposed to be day two of the hike already, but that is going to have to be delayed.  My antiquated computer no longer seems compatible with the blog site, and is not allowing me to create the posts I desire.  For right now the project is on hold untill either the computer can be fixed, or we aquire a new device to blog from.  So sorry, I will be fixing this as fast as I can.

Spike