It was another good day with some more major milestones reached. It was a hot day though, which made the going just a little slower, and forced us to carry a bit of extra water. That’s been one of the few problems with New York, the on trail water situation is not great. You basically need to fill up whenever you find a good water source. Most of the sources in our guidebook are all dried up already, so water planning is tough. So instead of gambling, we just carry the extra weight.
Our first big milestone of the day was reaching the top of Bear Mountain, which overlooks the Hudson River. On a clear day you can see the New York City skyline, but today was just a bit too hazy so we couldn’t really see it. There were some nice views from the tower on top of the mountain, and there were some vending machines so we could grab a cold drink. We also hit the 1400 mile mark on Bear Mountain, meaning there’s less than 800 miles to the end of this hike.
When we reached the bottom of the mountain we met up with John, a friend who grew up with Bear Bell’s mother and works as a ranger at Bear Mountain. He was very kind and brought us out for an excellent Italian meal for lunch, then dropped us back off at the Inn. If you’re reading this, thanks again John!
We took the trail through the trail side zoo, which is the lowest point on the whole AT. The zoo contains many animals that are found throughout Harriman State Park, and many that we’ve actually seen in the wild. Right after the zoo, we crossed the Hudson River, and climbed right back up the other side. We’re now officially east of the Hudson.
We only did about 5 more miles after crossing the Hudson. At the end of that stretch we hit the Appalachian Trail store, which is really just a gas station/ deli, but we got some huge sandwiches and some beverages for dinner. After that we walked about .6 miles to the Greymoor Spiritual Life Center, where they allow hikers to camp at their ball fields. They’ve been allowing that since the 1970s, and it’s a nice little setup with a pavilion, port-o-lets, a water spigot, and a shower. There’s quite a few hikers here tonight but only really two that we know. I’m hoping that the temperature dips a bit tonight, because I sleep much better when it’s cooler.
