September 2, 2005 -Ten Mile River Shelter to Telephone Pioneers Shelter

I left shelter after a breakfast of pepperoni and toast and coffee. I had to set up my tent last night inside the shelter
to get relief form the bugs. I got to Wiley Shelter at 9:30 a.m. and it was a real garbage pit. There was junk all over
the place. I did get water before the shelter out of a hand pump and the water was good. I stayed for a while for a
break and met some sobo hikers hiking north for the day in a slack packing mode. I got some trail magic before the
road [Hoyt] and drank a Diet Coke and took one with me to the shelter. The next shelter is 9 miles so here I go
again. It was fairly easy hiking to Pioneers Telephone Shelter. I got here at around 5:p.m. Down at the railroad
tracks and at the road before the shelter was Appalachian Trail Station. You can catch a train on the weekends to
New York City for about 10 dollars. At county road 20, Dover Road, I passed the largest oak tree on the trail. It is the
Dover oak. After crossing the oak tree road I found some Concord grapes growing and gorged on them and carried
some to the shelter.  I also ate some wild cherries on the trail today. The mosquitoes are bad here tonight and it
seems almost impossible because the only water source is very dry. I had heard that this site was dry but I never
believe the stories told. I went down the little creek and under a large boulder about 100 yards down I found a small
nice puddle with many frogs in it.  I filtered the cold water which was very tasty with the frog spit in it. I know from
experience that you have to keep going down sometimes to get the water and tonight it paid off. I had broccoli and
rice for dinner. When I was cooking I looked under the shelter and found a M.S.R. pot holder a lot nicer than my old
one so I decided to take it and get rid of mine later. I also found a nice Nalgene bottle, 2 ounce one for my soap. I
had to buy some dish soap in town and I will leave some here in the big bottle I hear that water is even scarcer
farther south. I got trail magic for the second time today at Leather Hill Road. I had Oreos, bagels, beer, pumpkin
seeds, and much more. There were even chairs to sit in. My feet blisters are much better today and my right knee is
90 percent too. I heard a lot of people coming up the trail at 6:30 p.m. I think the foreign language is Spanish that
they are jabbering. At least there will be more for the bugs and I may be spared a few bites with more competition.
The group are from Ecuador and are very nice people. I got a smoky fire to run out the bugs. I had the shelter to
myself.   

September 3, 2005 - Telephone Pioneers Shelter to Morgan Stewart Shelter

I slept pretty well and woke up at 5:30a.m. I left an hour later and took my first break to eat and rest at Nuclear Lake.
A local told me not to drink the water here even though it is suppose to be safe to do so. In the 1960’s this was a
meltdown area and the lake was the cooling water for reactors. It later became a super fund clean up site and is now
very beautiful all over. You still wonder why they did not change the name of the place along with the clean up. I left
the lake area and seemed to run out of gas. Maybe it is radiation poisoning? Ha. I decided to stop after only 7.6
miles. My feet hurt and this shelter had good water and here I am. This shelter had what people call a silo pit or a
missile silo. It seems to me to be an old cistern. People are caught up on the nuclear thing I think. There is a hand
pump 300 feet over the hill and I washed up and rinsed out some clothes which are getting dirty quick in the heat. I
met Two Pack today, a north bounder thru-hiker.  He told me that Flapper who I met at Mount Collins in the Smokys
was here yesterday. I missed him when he went into town at the Dover Oak! I would like to see him again. Maybe
later old friend! Flapper was going into New York today. I have been reading the New York Times and New Orleans
is messed up real bad and the gas has hit $3.00 a gallon all over. Bush Sucks. The preceding political statement
does not necessarily reflect the views of this web site. Ha. The Ecuadorians showed up and at 6 p.m. and Mark who
came in on the train from New York today will stay here tonight. Mark was bragging at how he had never hiked and
that he did big miles from the train station today. I had done this same mileage in two days. About ½ hour after he
got here he could not walk he was so sore. He was miserable all evening. Poor guy turned around the next day and
went back to the train station. I was able to talk to my wife Virginia from Mark’s cell phone. I told here I would call
here tomorrow from town.     

September 4, 2005 - Morgan Stewart Shelter to Ralph’s Peak Hikers Club Shelter

I was up early and left shelter at before 7 a.m. I had no energy today. I stopped at the Deli at route 52 and ate a
Reuben and potato chips. I bought bread rolls and Lipton dinners and a big apple fritter etc. I called Virginia and left.
I found out that Supreme Court justice Request died from the headlines at the news stand. I am reading that people
in New Orleans are killing each other and that it is really bad there.This shelter I am at used to be a small house I
think. It is three sided and looks more like a house. It has a water pump with nasty looking water in it. It does
however have a nice big apple tree outside. I met the Cheshire Cat here tonight. He is finishing up the trail for the
third time going north. Moosetracks who I have met several times is here tonight with others. Where will I go
tomorrow? I got a beer here when I got to shelter ahead of others. I drank it warm too.   

Sept. 5, 2005 - R.P.H. Shelter to a Camp on a ridge 2 miles south of Dennytown Rd

I was up later than usual with 4 others in the shelter. I left at around 7:15 a.m. There are a lot of apples at this
shelter and I paid the price today. I have the loose craps all day. Ha. It will clean you out! I hiked slow and only 7
miles to Lake Canopas, [Fahnstock State Park]. I stayed here at the park in 1981 but today I took a swim in the lake
and washed out clothes and enjoyed the day with it very sunny out. The trail went around the lake and was a rugged
trail but so nice to look down on such a pretty sight. If you get in this area surely go around the lake on the trail. It is
well worth the effort. I felt new energy as I left the lake area. After leaving the lake the trail followed the coolest trail. It
was an old small gauge train bed which was used during the Civil War to get out the iron ore for the Union. Much
work was been put into this graded railroad bed which is now the Appalachian Trail. This is a must see area too. It is
a very even grade for two miles through here and the stone work is neat to see. I met a few people today, Twinkle
Toes and Java Man who were nobo thru-hikers. I am camping out tonight under the stars and the bugs aren’t bad
here either. I love sleeping out on a clear night. I don’t have a view here but it is still nice up top. This site has been
used a bit and is very clean with lots of wood. I had to carry water up from the bottom but it is a nice place here. My
right tendons are hurting tonight. I hope it gets better soon. I took some Ibuprofen tonight to ease the pain. I ate
dinner before I got here at the camp site. I used up some of my water and now I have enough for in the morning.  

September 6, 2005 - Camp sight on ridge to Greymore Friary

I hiked 7 miles into Greymore. I got trail magic on the trail with iced tea and water which is hard to come by around
here. I made it to the Monastery by noon and washed out clothes and took a very cold shower. This time I stayed at
the ball field which is fine but not like it was in 1981. Then we were treated like kings with our own little room and two
meals. Too many hikers later we get a cold shower on the edge of a ball field away from the masses. I saw an
electrician at the shower area and asked him if a Brother Bosco still was at the friary. He told me yes. He had been
over the hikers in 1981 and had been very kind to us all. I would have liked to see him again but it was a long way to
walk over to where they were located so I stayed at the ball field. I met Wounded Knee here tonight once again. I
had met him at Muskrat Creek Shelter after I had spent two nights at Standing Indian Shelter after a hurricane. He
remembered me and we laughed at how we had met once again. He would surely make it to Maine

September 7, 2005 - Monastery to ½ mile north of West Mountain Shelter

I left Greymore at 6:50 a.m. after toast and coffee. I got to road U.S. 9/N.Y.403 quickly and had a hard time even
getting across the road to hitch into town. Once across the road I got a fairly quick ride into the town of Peekskill.
This is not an easy place to get in to. The driver drove me around and we finally got to a grocery store but I was
worried I would never get a ride back to the trail. There were many turns and underpasses and I was surely lost. I
got my groceries and had something to eat in town and called my wife and was ready to get back out of town about
an hour later. I was in the middle of town when I started to hitch out. I could not believe it when a construction truck
stopped and the man said he was a hiker too. He went out of his way and gave me a ride all the way back to the
trail. I thanked him a lot because I knew I could have spent the rest of the day getting out of town. He really made it
easy for me. I continued to hike and came down into Bear Mountain Bridge and crossed it. It cost me 35 cents to
walk across this bridge in 1981. It is free for pedestrians now. On the other side of the bridge is the Bear Mountain
Bridge Museum where the trail goes right through the middle of it. It is free to all hikers. I went through the museum
and spent about an hour there too. I met a man there who said he had hiked the trail in the 50’s after he had gotten
out of the military. I was not convinced of it since he did not seem to know the trail like a hiker. It had been a long
time and things as I know do change over the years. He sure seemed to believe he had hiked the trail. I bought two
ice cream bars at the vending machines and up and out of the park I went. I walked up to the picnic area and lake
and did not get water where I should have and before leaving the area I had to bum some much needed water off of
some picnickers. I would have walked back if they had not had water. I was grateful. The picnickers had just finished
eating and ask if I were hungry and I said hikers are always hungry. They gave me chicken, pork chops, corn on the
cob, and a soda. I felt like Yogi the bear today!! I thanked the thoughtful people again and started up the steep Bear
Mountain. It took me 90 minutes to get up on top of Bear Mountain and there were great views but the place was
overgrown and there was no water here except for vending machines. I hiked off the mountain with no water. The
tower up top was closed along with the restrooms. I made it to about ½ mile from West Mountain Shelter at dark and
cowboy camped out in the open without water. The shelter was one mile from where I had to stop at dark. I had
beautiful views from the ridge. You could see Bear Mountain and the bridge all at once. It was one of the prettiest
evenings that I had on the entire second trip. I was bummed out later to find out that the West Mountain had one of
the nicest views on the trail and you can see Manhattan from there. I don’t remember this shelter in 1981 either. I
met Super Feet today again. He camped out too a little farther north. Super feet looks like a fellow I went to school
with years ago. He reminds me of me in 1981 with his red tinted beard. It is 2 miles to water tomorrow and I will have
to get there to eat in the morning. I am totally out. I had to take a shot of booze tonight and I feel no pain now. It is
cool here with a good breeze tonight. The bugs won’t be a factor tonight. It is so dry around here. All of the creeks
are dry and the springs aren’t dependable either. I climbed in the bed at dark and slept well.   
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