"Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world."
- John Muir (thanks Erika)
Start: Holiday Inn Express
Finish: Stealth camp near Bear Mountain Zoo
Today: 9.0 mi
Total: 238.4 mi
Holy heat wave, batman! 96 degrees and 60% humidity, ah! It was really nice being back on the trail for maybe 15 minutes, until the heat caught up with me. Before long, even before the first climb, the sweat began pouring off me. The heat sapped all my energy and after we had completed the first climb I felt as if all my muscles had melted down and drained into my boots, resistant to do any more work.
As I walked through this sauna, I noticed how different each day can be. The terrain, the rocks, the trees and even the bird calls were different. I look forward to the changing landscape up north and definitely the cooler temperatures.
"Boom"...Heather asked me if that was thunder. "Boom, Boom." There it is again. I looked up and saw a completely blue sky. Every once in a while there was another..."boom." A southbound hiker told us a little while later that it was artillery fire at West Point. I hope they're not aiming at two hikers on Bear Mountain. Actually, in this terrible heat, maybe I do.
About 5 miles into the day I was walking down a path under thick tree cover with a steep drop on my right. I was concentrating on my footing when I heard another foot move in the brush. I looked up to find I was face to face with a beautiful, 200 pound deer. She was less than 4 feet from me. So close I was tempted to but dare not pet her smooth, shiny coat. She didn't run away so I'm not sure if she wasn't afraid of me or was just to hot to exert herself. We left her alone, grinding up the trail in our boots when she gracefully pranced down the trail on all 4 legs - show off!
As we climbed Bear Mountain a welcomed breeze occasionally cooled our scorched skin. Behind it, though, were some scary looking clouds. The approaching storm and booming thunder (not artillery this time) were headed straight for us. Within minutes we knew we were in trouble - too far up the mountain to go down and too close to the storm to escape.
We found a valley with some tall, strong trees to hide out in. You could sense in the air that the rain was quickly coming. Heather wanted me to pitch the tent to stay dry. I didn't like the idea but we were protected in a small valley so I didn't think the aluminum poles would attract any lightning. I wish we timed ourselves because we probably set up that tent in less than 30 seconds and jumped into it - boots, packs and all. The heavy rain was punctuated by louder and louder bursts of thunder. I counted the seconds between the flashes and bursts to calculate the distance of the lightning. It was coming. I was getting really nervous.
The flashes of lightning and sound of thunder were on top of each other. You could actually feel the ground tremble under each burst. After one particular bolt of lightning, Heather and I both looked at each other. We were scared. I envisioned, almost in cartoon form, one of us getting struck by lightning and being able to see your skeleton like an x-ray machine. I told her to put her face in the ground and butt upwards. Supposedly, its best to get struck in the meat of your butt than any other area.
The silence between each burst of thunder was excruciating. I thought that after the next close burst there would be a Brian shaped hole in the side of our tent, but the lightning began to subside. I've never felt so alone and helpless. If firemen rescue cats from trees then who rescues hikers from mountains?
As the rain eased and the clouds became less gray, I knew we had a window of time to get down the mountain. We rolled up the tent and hiked another 2.5 miles down. Along the way we saw a bunch of wild turkeys and a black snake (spotted by Heather). Near the end of the hike we finally reached the Bear Mountain trail-side zoo. Hikers enter this zoo for free which was very much appreciated. Passing through the gate, without paying, I wondered if I wore Heather's SCUBA diving suit to the aquarium, if I would get the same treatment. The end.
~Daddy Long Legs
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