Day 101, miles today - 15.4, total - 1,413.9

June 26, 2013

Bear Mountain Bridge Motel, Fort Montgomery to Campsite at Dennytown Road.

I got up at 6:30 this morning. I ate breakfast at the bagel deli across the street from the Bear Mountain Bridge Motel. It wasn't a great breakfast, but it was convenient. 

At 9:00 the owner of the motel gave me a ride back to the trail. The A.T. goes through the Trailside Zoo. I got to the entrance at 9:30, but they didn't open until 10:00, so I had to wait. It was only a quarter mile from one end of the zoo to the other, so it didn't take long to go through. I stopped to look at most of the animals.

I got a text from Phys Ed. He said he has gotten off trail. He has an irregular heart bear at times and the last few days it has bothered him a lot. He thought the heat was making it harder on him. I had hiked with him on and off for a few weeks. I was sorry to hear it.

After the zoo I crossed the Bear Mountain Bridge which crossed over the Hudson River. Right after that the trail had a steep up. A little after that I saw B-Rocket and Moxie. I hiked with them the rest of the day. Moxie hiked a little slower than B-Rocket and I so every half hour or so we stopped to let her catch us. 

We stopped at the Appalachian Market. It sets right on the trail. I needed to resupply for a few days and it was lunchtime. They had great food! They didn't have a lot to choose for resupply, but it had to do. We ate outside at one of their picnic tables.

It was hot and humid again today. We decided to hike a couple more miles to a place that had picnic tables and benches in a shady area. Once there we took an extended break. We each fell asleep for a period of time. It was a nice break from the heat. The plan was to hike later into the evening to makeup for the long break.

We camped in a field near a water source. We had hoped to do three more miles, but rain was moving our direction, there wasn't much daylight left and we had water here. So, we all liked the idea of setting up our tents before it started to rain. It held off for awhile, but by 10:00 pm we got a heavy rain.