START LOCATION: Corbin Hill
FINISH LOCATION: Mt. Algo Lean-to
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 19.5
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,456.4
MILES TO GO: 722.7
I broke my tent last night. I just finished blogging the Jul 2 entry,
and I was getting ready for bed. I took off my shirt and leaned a
little too far inside the tent pushing the walls out a bit. This put
stress on one of the male/female threaded connections that was
loosening... unbeknownst to me. It popped the connection and ruined
the outer bit of threading. I cursed, hemmed, hawed and finally used a
large rock to provide some opposing force to the loose rod and keep my
tent aloft. It worked for the night. In the morning I was able to fix
it at least temporarily... A pair of pliers lent from a section hiker
allowed me to screw the connection back together, and it seems to be
holding fine now. Cross your fingers.
We broke camp at 9 and headed down the hill to the "Appalachian Trail"
Metro North train station. It's just a stop user on the weekends. It
takes you from Grand Central Station in NYC straight to Mile 1,437 or
the AT. At 9:34, we realized an outbound train was due at 9:38. We
waited to see who would get off. It pulled in right on time and sure
enough, a flurry of about 25 hikers... All different shapes, sizes and
ethnicities with packs of all different shapes, sizes and brands
flooded the platform. We chuckle and wondered if any of them were
starting a flip flop thru hike from that point. Probably not.
We walked a half mile to Tony's Deli... The subs were ordered were as
big as your head. I had turkey and provolone. It was fantastic, but
barely finished it. Well done Tony, well done. A friendly dude and his
teen son walked up and started making trail talk. It turns out he's a
big section hiker and trail angel named Sasquatch. He knew lots of the
hikers we know even some of the ones Smokestack knew from his
abbreviated hike in 2009. He filled us in on some tips and suggetsions
for what lies ahead. At last he offered us a lift back to the
trailhead. Wow... A half-mile asphalt walk in the blazing sun would
have been miserable. Heck yes we took the ride! Great guy... Thanks
again Sasquatch!
The 5 or so miles to Wiley Shelter was nice, fast and smooth. We took
a long break there with a bunch of weekend warriors and I even took a
quick nap on the shelter floor. It was a nice bonus. The 4 mile push
to the Ten-Mile River Lean-to was smooth as well... This stretch also
comatained something special... The New York/Connecticut border. It
wasn't much, but we took some pictures and basked in the New England-
ness.
The 8.7 mi push from Ten-Mile River Lean-to to Mt. Algo was a
different story. It had a big climb, lots of rocks and tons of ups and
downs. I venture to say it's the hardest section since the Roller
Coastsr that we had in northern Virginia. Anyway, we were whooped when
we got to Mt. Algo Leanto (same as a shelter). We considered going on
tonight and check out Kent, CT, but eh... We were thoroughly
exhausted. We'll see it on 4th morning!
New Jersey... Too many bugs, horrible water and still plenty of rocks.
But I loved Walkill Wildlife Refuge, Pochuck Swamp and Roselle, NJ.
New York... I liked it. Challenging, some smooth fast spots and some
nice vistas. Bear Mountain Tower and Bridge were my favorite sights.
Plus, NY had some great radio stations. I might have hiked through it
quicker if I hadn't been trekking pole air-drumming to Lady GaGa so
much.
-natedog
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