Day: 090
Date: Sunday, 23 July 2023
Start: Bear Mountain Bridge (AT Mile 1410.4)
Finish: Canopus Lake Beach (AT Mile 1430.7)
Daily Kilometres: 34.2 (Ascent 4662', Descent 3747')
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2391.7
Weather: Very warm, humid and mostly sunny.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Egg, cheese & sausage subs
Lunch: Snickers & Mars bars
Dinner: American subs.
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles; Julie - mosquito bites.
Highlight: As we stopped for our late lunch break, at around 2:15pm, a hiker coming the other way told us there was Trail Magic at a trailhead just under three miles further on. We needed a break, but were also keen to get some cold drinks and other treats if they were on offer. The risk was that the Trail Magic could be gone by the time we got there. So, we shortened our lunch break and headed for the next trailhead arriving about 3:45pm to find there were plenty of cold drinks, along with some food available, including Vegemite sandwiches courtesy of two Australian (former thru-hikers) Trail Angels there. We enjoyed the treats and conversation.
Lowlight: The mosquitoes were really bad today. Julie had a permanent unhappy grimace on her face as she swatted away the pests all day, while Dave was in constant danger of doing himself an injury by swatting while holding his trekking poles or losing his balance while swatting.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
The motel manager kindly drove us back as close to the trail as he could at 7:00am and we soon crossed the impressive Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River and climbed into the forest on a mild calm morning.
Almost immediately we were being bitten by mosquitoes and that continued all day (see above). It spoiled what would otherwise have been a nice, if a little warm, day for hiking. We walked out first six miles through peaceful forest on mostly reasonable trail to a road crossing where there was a gas station/store. The store was very busy with Sunday morning traffic including many motorcyclists. We bought some breakfast, plus subs for lunch, and ate our breakfast sitting outside watching the passing parade.
The next six miles of trail proved a bit tougher and slower than we hoped. There were some good sections where we could walk normally but also lots of short sharp climbs/descents and rocky twisting trail.
We took a break for lunch at a road crossing and heard about some trail magic further along (see above) which brightened our mood and gave us something else to think about besides mosquitoes. The distance to the trail magic seemed to pass slowly, but was forgotten once we saw unlimited cold drinks (Dave disposed of four cans in short order) and met the friendly and interesting trail angels.
It was 4:45pm by the time we left with six miles remaining to Canopus Lake Beach where we hoped to camp. Apart from a mile where it seemed to follow an old railbed, the trail remained hard work and slow. It was 7:30pm by the time we reached the picnic area at the beach. It was a surreal scene, as the area was officially closed at 6:00pm, but thru-hikers were tolerated after that and a number sat at picnic tables chatting and eating their dinner while park employees worked around them cleaning toilets, grounds, etc, and then left. We ate the rolls we had bought for lunch and then used the shower and the one open toilet to wash.
By this time it was getting dark and the other thru-hikers had left to go to the official thru-hiker camping area a few hundred yards away. We decided to sneakily camp behind one of the buildings where we were closer to the water and toilet and further away from the other campers. It was late by the time we got to bed and we'll have to make sure we leave early before the park employees arrive in the morning.
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