July 17, 2005 | Day 112 | Miles: 10.7 | Total Miles: 1414.1
End: RPH Shelter
Danielle:
Heavy, hot and humid
A late start to the day after another nice meal courtesy of Mrs. Ball and the drive out here. We drove over the Bear Mountain Bridge--seemed much faster driving than walking across--and meandered through the countryside to the trail. The terrain was pretty mellow, which was nice, but boy was it humid! Wow. We're soaked still, and we've been stopped for about 2 1/2 hours. Ugh. I guess we're getting the remains of Hurricane Dennis. Oh well....
As we were hiking along, we were discussing being out here again. Is the pain worth it? Wouldn't it be easier to just go back to "reality"? But we came out here with a goal, and we will do as much as we can to reach it. And how lucky we are to be out here, reaching for our dream... Will we ever have this chance again? And how could we contemplate leaving? We talk in circles, but despite our weariness and pain, we are still out here, and still want to be out here, moving north.
We've been talking to a bunch of other hikers this evening, and lots of others are feeling a bit worn out and down, like we had been feeling. Plus we met up with Lion King, who has hiked the trail before and produced a documentary about the trail. Very cool guy. We were chatting about how tough it's been recently and I think he kind of inspired Snowman to feel a bit better and hang in there, to hold out for the good stuff coming up in northern New England. So at the end of the day, we're happy to be out here again :-)
Ryan:
mostly cloudy, oppressively humid
back on the trail today. the pampering at the balls was fantastic. it was the perfect stop for us. they couldn't have been nicer to a couple of homeless vagrants...food and a bed...fantastic. another great example of the nice people we've met along the trail. my back feels better today. rest is great. i also did a little adjustment on my pack, which i think will help. and some stretching. we'll see what happens. but, it was good to be back out on the trail. (even though there was so humid today, it felt like we were hiking under water.) we've decided we're going to keep going...basically, because we just keep finding ourselves walking north. it's that whole katahdin thing. we bumped into lion king today, he's hiked the trail before and actually made a movie about it. we met him back in damascus. he reassured us that we are getting to the good stuff...very soon. we knew that, but it was great to hear it. only two more days of new york...we're getting there. best of all, we're getting there together. and if we don't get there, we won't get there together. my being hurt has definitely put things in perspective for us. we don't want to get off the trail, but it could happen. either way, we're doing it together, and we're still moving forward.
today's song - ridiculous thoughts, the cranberries
July 18, 2005 | Day 113 | Miles: 17.3 | Total Miles: 1431.4
End: Sharadu B&B, Pawling, NY
Danielle:
Disgusting
The air was heavy. It seemed we were in some sort of twisted sauna, where they turn up the humidity to 99% to open your pores, and then tell you to put on your clothes and pick up your pack and walk, instead of doing the whole true sauna thing... That was how I felt today. Soaked from before we even had our packs on, and wetter with every step. Saturated. I could wring out my shorts and hat string by snacktime at 5 miles... Ugh. If it had been raining, it would have been OK, but when it's this humid out, it's just not right! We really hadn't planned to come into town today, after just our second day back on the trail, but we were so soaked, A/C just sounded sooo good. Pawling is a cute little town, with a nice Main St. This B&B is a bit of a misnomer; it's more like a boarding house. Not quite worth what we are paying, but oh well. We're cool, clean and have clean, dry clothes (hurray for the well-located laundromat!). The terrain was actually quite nice today, and we made good time.
The woods were alive today... Saw 9 deer, about 20 bright orange salamanders, 2 toads, many frogs, 2 woodpeckers (downy, I think), plus fish in both a stream we crossed and in Nuclear Lake, where we sat for an afternoon snack in the slight breeze. The lake used to be a cooling pond for a nuclear plant, but has been given a clean bill of health. Nothing radioactive about it :-) We also saw tons of mushrooms--red, orange, yellow, brown, gray, white and also one that was bright purple.
Ryan:
disgusting
first of all, let's talk about the weather. all those other days i've complained about the humidity...well, they weren't humid. today was humid. it was ridiculous. we were both completely saturated...in about 20 minutes! so, gross. it was just wrong. i've never seen anything like it. basically, we hiked in wet clothes all day...it was like wearing a wet bathing suit with clothes over it...all day. yuk. because of this, i looked at danielle after about 5 miles and said, "we're not camping tonight." i know we just got pampered and spent more money than we should have, but it's just too gross out there. plus, it's raining now, and the weather channel is calling for two inches of rain tonight. so, sharadu b&b here we are. however, the sharadu isn't really a b&b. it's a grouchy lady's house. the breakfast consists of whatever we can find in the fridge. not that any of this is necessarily bad, but we're not that far off from the doyle hotel here. with twice the price. that's the real bummer. but, it was the right call for us tonight, and the great wall chinese was great. so, spend a little cash now, to keep the spirits up and this whole thing rolling. an investment in the future. speaking of spirits, we had a great day...even though it was disgusting. we moved through those 17 miles pretty quickly, and my back feels fine. not 100%, but pretty good. i think it will be ok. everyone we meet is going through the same thing. we caught up to jax today, who was thinking about getting off the trail. but, he's starting to feel a little better, and he's going to stick it out. we're al in the same boat, and we're just trying keep everyone's spirits up. a lot of teamwork going on. in case you were wondering, ny sucks, too.
today's song - desire, u2
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