1777 Trail Parking 1402.5 to Dennytown Road Campsite 1422 (19.5 miles, 396.6 total miles)
The morning came bright and early, as I’d gone to bed after midnight for the second night in a row, due to being at the drive in theater. I wanted to get back to the trail as early as possible, since I was planning on hiking 20 miles and it was a 40 minute drive back to where I left off the other day.
I was ready to go by 7am as planned, but Jedi started talking about breakfast before hitting the road. Baked Potato was taking Jedi, Neon, Halfway (another Cult member), and I back to the trail, and Platinum was taking the rest of the Cult in her car.
Breakfast sounded good, but I was on a budget for the rest of the month. However, Jedi did owe me a beer, and offered to cash me out in the form of breakfast instead. I accepted.
We got our breakfast at Bagel Time again, and hit the road. Baked Potato had his whole bed setup in the back of his Honda Fit, so to fit all of us and our bags in the car required a little creativity.
Halfway got shotgun, since he was the tallest, and Neon, Jedi, and I crammed ourselves into the back half of the car. There were legs stacked all on top of each other, and we drove that way for about 20 minutes, before Halfway got dropped off and Neon took his place up front.
Ten minutes later, we got to the trailhead that everyone else was picking back up at. Platinum and the others had gotten there right before us, and everyone piled out and got their bags together.
We said our goodbyes, and there was a little sadness there. Platinum was going back home for a little longer to continue healing her hip, I was going to be hiking by myself and wouldn’t see them again till Friday. Plus Baked Potato would be off doing his thing as well. I was so glad we’d had the zero day together, though.
It was another 20 minute drive for Baked Potato and I to arrive at the trailhead that I had left off at. It was above and beyond of him to drive so far for us today, so I made sure to Venmo him some more money for gas.
It was another 9:15am late start, but I was already at 600 feet to begin the day, and my hike immediately picked up at the base of Bear Mountain. It was a 700 foot climb over the course of 2.5 miles, so it was a very easy climb. I took my time on the first mile getting warmed up. There were lots of rock stairs again up the mountain.
Once the trail got to the ridge, things leveled out nicely into a smooth gravel path. There were some cool benches on the top of the ridge, and nice overlooks to the Hudson below. I started to see day hikers by then as well, being Sunday at a popular destination.
There was a little monument at the top with a parking lot, and many more people about. Everyone was really nice and friendly, and I saw a lot of day hikers coming up the mountain when I was descending the other side.
The descent was a little steep, over 1100 feet down in less than 2 miles. The trail was very nice and well maintained, though, with more rock steps and walls, and cool plaques stating how the trail was developed and maintained.
When I was almost at the bottom of the mountain, an older man with a cane walked up to me and made a joke of holding the cane out in exchange for my trekking poles to get up the mountain. I had a good laugh about that with him and his family.
At the bottom of the mountain was a park, and a group of guys were asking me about the trail. I got the impression that most of the day hikers I was seeing didn’t really know about the AT, based on a lot of the comments I was getting. I always love telling people about it, so that was fun.
I walked around a lake and through the park, past lots of families having picnics and cookouts. The day was overcast and muggy, and calling for rain around 7, so it was less busy than I’d figure for a typical Sunday.
I passed the outdoor pool down a set of stairs, which I’d seen before. I’d visited the park in 2015, but hadn’t hiked there, so some of it was new and some was not. There was also a zoo that the trail went right through after the pool. I’d been there before, as well, but was excited to walk through again.
Baked Potato (Tater) was going to join me through the zoo and over Bear Mountain Bridge for a little day hike. He was driving back from dropping off some of Sour Cream’s stuff to her, and so I waited outside the zoo for about 45 minutes, letting my feet rest and eating a bunch of snacks.
Tater arrived and we walked through the zoo together. There was a very cool reptile and amphibian room with local species like the orange NFTs I always see on the trail, turtles and fish. Past that, we found the bear exhibit, and got some good photos and video of the bears and vultures that were sharing an enclosure. I’m not usually a huge fan of zoos, but most of the animals there were rehabilitated and unable to be released into the wild, which I appreciated.
I knew there were other exhibits, but we just followed the trail part of it. Last time I’d seen a bald eagle, which I loved, but I had a lot of miles to go and didn’t want to spend too much time at the zoo.
After that there was another highway crossing over to Bear Mountain Bridge, which spanned the Hudson River. Tater had done this hike before, but gets a little freaked out by heights. The height didn’t bother me but it was my first time crossing that bridge. There were nice views all around, even though it was still overcast.
After the bridge was a steep ascent, and we talked about New Orleans while we hiked. Tater is from there, and shared some experiences with me of what his friends and family had been through during Katrina. He’d moved to California by then, but was only 16 when it happened, and had to see his loved ones go through that.
At Hemlock Springs Campsite, after a little bit of a descent, Tater turned around to head back to his car. He’d hiked about 4.5 miles with me, and would have to hike it back to the parking lot at the recreation area.
It had been really nice to have someone to hike some miles with today, since I’ll be flying solo until Friday. I realized it would actually be four roughly 20 mile days to get to Kent, but one would be a 16.5 and I was feeling a lot stronger. 20 miles didn’t even seem like that much to me anymore, compared to at the beginning of my hike.
I had 12.5 miles to go by then, and it was 1:40. I’d taken my time most of the day for sure, and was ready to pick up the pace. I put my headphones in for the first time for the day, and climbed up onto another ridge, and hit a few peaks while I was up there.
There weren’t any views, and it was so muggy I had gnats in my face anytime I wasn’t up on a ridge, but the rain had held off so I was grateful, even if I was covered in sweat all day.
After 4 miles, I hit the Appalachian Market directly on trail around 3:00. I saw a group of hikers there, and was so surprised when Turtle ran up and gave me a big hug. She was my first hiking partner and one of the first hikers I saw on day one of my hike.
Turtle was with Dixie, a male hiker, and her family too, and she introduced me to her ex husband and their two sons, who were hiking with her for three more days, having driven up from Florida. She was getting off the trail and ending her hike after the three days, having accomplished what she needed and wanting to have the rest of the summer with her kids. I totally respect and admire that decision, and am so happy for her, even though I will miss her.
They were going to be staying at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center half a mile ahead and .4 off trail, and so I would have passed them if I didn’t happen to get to the market just then. They were about to head out, in fact, so the timing was perfect, and we got to chat for a bit while they got ready to go.
I gave her another hug, and marveled at how bittersweet it was to run into her like that right before her hike was ending. After she left, I saw Pineapples was there, too. He was a young flip flopper who I’d seen at Delaware Water Gap, and I got to catch up with him a bit. I also met Maestro and Kick, a couple other guys who he was currently hiking with. They were staying at the spiritual center as well that night.
After they left, I got to talking with an older male hiker who had hiked from Georgia (1410+ miles) in only 83 days on one pair of shoes. His name was Shadow, and he had gone a while without a shower, laundry, or battery charge. He knew there were motels around, but they were 30 minutes away and he had no ride.
I called Baked Potato, who couldn’t have been at his car for too long, and agreed right away to come help Shadow get to a motel nearby. He arrived after 10 minutes, and got Shadow packed up and ready to go. I was happy to have facilitated that for him, because he hadn’t met Tater yet or knew about what he was doing for hikers this year.
I was back on trail by 4:10, with 8.5 miles to go to camp. There weren’t any crazy terrain changes up ahead for the most part, just lots of little PUDs. My aim was to get to camp at 7pm if possible. I had done well with the pace so far, it was just the late start and two breaks that had pushed me back.
The trail wasn’t too rocky just little spots here and there, except in a couple spots, and the terrain wasn’t difficult at all, as I’d expected. It was dark in the forest, though, with the cloud cover. The sun had come out for a little when I left the market, but had retreated quickly.
I had eaten a lot at lunch, all food from my bag, and my stomach was almost as full at first as it had hiking Stairway to Heaven in Vernon, NJ after eating the pint of ice cream. It took a little bit to start digesting, so that slowed my pace a bit.
There was nothing of note in the last miles for anything scenic or views, except one tiny view. I was fine with that, because it helped me concentrate on the miles and the music. My feet and ankles hurt a little off and on, but nothing crazy after my late lunch break. The sun made one more brief appearance for a moment.
When I was about 2 miles from the campsite, I saw a car parked near a road crossing. I hadn’t seen any day hikers since the Bear Mountain area, but up ahead on the hill, I saw a family of three who pulled over to let me hike by.
I stopped to talk with them, and their names were Lucy, Willis, and Philip. Philip was a little blonde haired boy of two years old, and I told them how my friend, Ashley, up in Maine had just started being able to hike with her baby who was born six months ago.
We had a really nice chat about the trail and my hike, and they were so sweet and supportive. I spent about ten minutes with them, and when I hiked on, I felt a renewed vigor in my hiking that always comes around when I make a connection with another hiker while on trail.
I hiked past dark green ferns and blueberry bushes that had still yet to bear fruit, and plenty of clear running streams. Tater was going to camp in his car at the campsite parking, and had let me know there was a spigot at the site, so I didn’t have to stop and spend time filtering water.
The rain held off, and I got to camp at exactly 7:30. I dropped my bag and lay in the grass for a moment, before setting up and making dinner. It was only me and Tater there for the night, and we hung out while I got some writing done and ate dinner.
It started to rain around 9, getting heavy on and off, but nothing crazy. I listened to the drops patter on my tent as I got ready to fall asleep. The rain was set to clear up by 2am, with three sunny 80 degree days in my future. Of course, that is also subject to change if I’m hiking 20 miles per day, but I’m optimistic I’ll have some great weather before my zero at home.
Overall, it was a good day with great company throughout, and it was awesome to see Turtle one more time. I’ll miss my Cult friends the next few days but I have a lot to look forward to ahead, including my 400th mile early tomorrow morning. Onward and upward.