July 10-11 in NY

July 10, 2005 | Day 105 | Miles: Who knows? | Total Miles: Who knows?
End: Who knows, but we're in a Tent somewhere over the NY border
Danielle:
Sunny and warm, but not humid
As I write this, we have no clue as to our true location along the trail. The book lists several streams, as do the profile maps; the map itself does not. So where we are is a mystery... We'll figure it out tomorrow when we reach some real landmarks, but for now we're somewhere along a ridge in NY, camping by a stream. So far, it's just us. I think this might only be the 4th time ever that we've camped alone on this trip. Kind of nice.
Meghan and Chris were nice enough to comply with our desire to get back on the trail not too late today, and dropped us off for a 10am start. We hit the NY/NJ border after a late lunch. 8 states down, 6 to go. Woohoo! NJ was nice and short. We like that :-) So far the hiking in NY has been enjoyable. Lots of short little climbs, we've been told, throughout the state, but today wasn't too bad. We're feeling pretty good after our day off, which is always a good thing :-)

Ryan:
sunny, warm
we don't know where we are. definitely not lost, but we don't know where we are. the nj/ny maps are less than accurate, and our ol' buddy wingnut is little help. so, we just plopped down next to this stream, with this really great campsite, and here we sit. we're going to hit a road at some point early tomorrow morning, and that should tell us where we ended up. most importantly, however, we're in new york! thanks, jersey, it's been fun. 8 states down, and 6 to go. we've heard that the trail in new york goes over every little bump they could find, and it's lived up to billing so far. up 100 feet, down 50 feet, up 75 feet, down 100 feet. at least the views have been nice. either way, only 90 miles of new york, then 50 of connecticut, and we're in new england. (connecticut isn't part of new england. i feel very strongly about this.) we're feeling well fed and rested after our day off with the family. it was our first day off completely away from the trail. normally, we're still in a "trail town", but it was nice to be removed from the trail for a brief time...we didn't have to think about it. and, believe me, there's no place like jersey city to make you happy to be back in the woods again! thanks to my sister and her reluctant boyfriend for hosting the smelly people. chris asked us to put our packs in garbage bags for the ride back to the trail, so they wouldn't contaminate his car. meg also conveniently wore her flip flops, so they couldn't hike with us for a little bit. ah, city folk. great to see the whole family, though, and we definitely feel re-energized. now, if we could only figure out where we are...or where we're going to end up tomorrow...
today's song - new york, new york, frank sinatra (i'm working on new lyrics that fit our situation a bit better. "start spreading the news...we're hiking to maine." and "my 8th pair of shoes...is starting to fray...from all those rocks back in p-a...not new york." ol' blue eyes is rolling over in his grave.)

July 11, 2005 | Day 106 | Miles: If yesterday was 12.4m, then today was 16.5m | Total Miles: 1372.0
End: Island Pond, unofficial campsite, Tent
Danielle:
Sunny, hot and humid
Well, based on when we reached the road this morning, we think we figured out where we camped last night. Silly book. It's a great resource but boy, can it be annoying when you can't connect it with the reality of the trail! Oh well. We just keep going north...
It was hot and humid today, and all the short, steep climbs they talk about in NY became a reality. Ugh. Ups and downs, and most of them steep, and seemingly unnecessary. Like they just wanted to be tough. I got really tired out by it all. Our 16.5m took us way too long... Oh well. Sometimes that's just how it goes... We did see two deer, a black snake, a garter snake, a few frogs leaping about, and tons of little toads bouncing across the trail. The largest was the size of my big thumbnail and the smallest were smaller than my little fingernail.
We got some trail magic towards the end of the day when we needed it most. We still had a few miles to go and we were worn out. A former thru-hiker had some soda, juice and goodies in the back of his truck just before our final climb of the day. So nice! Perfect pick-me-up. He also told us there was good camping here, which is where we had hoped to stop, but you never know... We found a beautiful spot up above the pond, looking out onto the island in the middle. Very peaceful and nice. It's still hot so Ryan even decided to go for a swim! I just stuck my legs in... He said it felt great. Brave man! :-)

Ryan:
Sunny, hot
the people who designed the trail in new york have never hiked, much less thruhiked. all we care about is getting from point a to point maine as quickly and efficiently as possible. the ny/nj trail conference is all about finding rock piles to scramble over. they take us up and over every little bump and knoll they can find. as a result, we're tired and grouchy. it didn't help that it got pretty hot today. ah, july...yuk. all that made for a tough day. we did get some great trail magic from paddy-o just when our spirits were at their lowest today. timing couldn't have been better. plus, he assured us that the place we hoped to camp was ok. actually, it's better than ok. one of the nicest places we've camped yet. on a little rise, right next to a lake. i even went for a swim. this spot should be in the at brochure...probably without me swimming, though.
today's song - won't give in, finn brothers "what does it mean when you promise someone, no matter how far, whatever may come? it means that i won't give in."