7/23/99: West Mountain Shelter   Miles Today : 23.1 Miles to Katahdin : 785.5

Yea, less than 800 miles to go, another good milestone! Today was a typical Tale of Two Hikes, being the best of days, and the worst of days.

I started out this morning with Peach Buzz, Colorado and Pending. DB decided to sleep in this morning, so the rest of us headed out. After five mile or so, we came across Pappy's Deli, with the reputed best subs on the AT. Peach Buzz is going to NY for a few days so she could not come, but the rest of us dropped our packs and walked to the deli. I asked what was their biggest, best sub, to which I was told the Deluxe Italian. Wow, was this a huge sub! They had to skimp on the lettuce to fit all of the meat in the sub. Oh yea, we are eating these things at 10 AM.

Well, that was great, but shortly after our early lunch, the blister on the bottom of my foot began to bother me. I slowed down and let Colorado go ahead. About halfway through my day, I came to a nice secluded swimming spot and along with Miles and Papa Squat, enjoyed the cool water during the heat of the day. I had to be alert, though, since a copperhead had been spotted earlier.

The trails through New York are very trashed, and its obvious that Harriman State Park is only 45 minutes from New York City. I did get to see a ton of wildlife today, however. There were tons of deer, and I got my first look at a male today. I also bumped into a real mean rattlesnake lying right on the trail. It took me a good 10 minutes to poke him out of the way.

More problems getting water today. Despite the rain yesterday, everything is still bone dry. So towards the end of the day, I planned on going to the Palisades Parkway rest are for water, as instructed by the ATC. However, the rest area lost power for a WEEK, hence no H20 from the well. So on my way tothe shelter, I was tired, low on water and without a plan. Then, just under a mile before the shelter, I heard something: Running Water! Despite the drought, the notes and the data book telling me that there was no water to be found, here was a spring pouring out the wet stuff.

Well, that energized me and I hiked with renewed strength and got here in 20 minutes. It was late when I got here, 8:30, and I still had to cook and get ready for bed. Its a headlamp night tonight. Tomorrow into Bear Mountain.

-Chomp

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