Day 43: Happy Trails to me!

Summary

June 7th

NY RT 52 to Telephone Pioneers Shelter

NOBO mile #1445.8

Tolmann’s daily mileage 11.7

Tolmann’s total mileage 422.1

In case it has not been noticed yet, and I know I have not noted it here, I crossed the 400 mile mark a couple of days ago. My daily, manual math has failed me over and over, so I have taken to using the calculator to keep me accurate. I need to go back over all my blog posts to correct the numbers, but hopefully the entries moving forward will be accurate. 

My biggest concern this morning was whether the taxi would be available to get me back to the trailhead. So I tried to be all packed up by 8am, when the taxi office opened. Still, that gave me the opportunity to “sleep in” until after 7am, which is a luxury. 

I didn’t have cause for concern, because they answered right away, and sent the cab right along. The cab driver was this young girl, who dove into her life situation for the 20 minute ride. I felt real empathy for her, but it was a little strange for her to open up to me like that. It might have been partly because she had driven me to Fishkill the previous morning, so she felt comfortable with me. Most odd, though, was when she said (as the ride was nearing the end), “I’ll never see you again, will I?” “Most likely not,” says I.

So I got out at the Market/Deli where I decided to get off-trail on Sunday. I picked up a breakfast sandwich and a coffee to have before stepping back on the trail, then filled my water from the outdoor spigot, and started back down the road to the trail.

About halfway to the trailhead, I saw another hiker coming towards me. When we were close enough to talk, we chatted briefly about the deli and its merits (which were high in my estimation), then I noticed he had a bandage on his forehead. “What happened?” I asked. 

“I fell yesterday on the wet rocks. I got 7 stitches.”

“Man, it really is dangerous out here, isn’t it?”

Yet another injury due to the wet rocks!! And another head injury, to boot!!

He went on to the deli, and I to the trail.

The trail was actually quite kind to me today. Ups and downs were moderate, with only a few scrambles. 

I still am struggling with my left shoulder; it takes a few minutes with the pack off or sitting every 45-60 minutes so that the pack isn’t pulling on my shoulders to allow me relief so I can continue. But, I have to say that knowing I’m going to get a visit with Debbie in a few days is hugely motivating me to get more miles in so I can get closer to our meeting locale. 

Anyway, I got to the Morgan Stewart Shelter around 12:30, where I had lunch and met up again with my new friend from the morning, Traffic Director. He left after telling me he intended to stay at the next shelter up trail, called the Telephone Pioneers Shelter. That’s where I was going; I had planned a roughly 12 mile day. So we made tentative plans to meet up there. 

I need to do some research about the Telephone Pioneers Shelter, because it would seem to have a relationship to the original Bell Telephone Company, which my dad worked for his whole career. 

The hike after lunch was much like the morning, with the exception of the trail running along the edge of Nuclear Lake; actually a quite beautiful spot that unfortunately has been saddled with its name due to an explosion at a research facility there that caused a release of bomb-grade plutonium back in the 80’s. The area has since been de-radioactivated (I think I just made that word up), so the name Nuclear Lake seems pretty extreme. 

At that point, I only had a couple miles left to go, and my afternoon mood started to drag at me; I’m hoping I can turn that beat around at some point. 

Now I’ve got that disco tune in my head; ear worm!!

When I got to Telephone Pioneers Shelter, Traffic Director was there with two of his buddies: Alps and Medicine Man. It was fun to plug into another set of personalities. When I told Medicine Man that I was familiar with the Whites (The White Mountains in NH), he started grilling me for info. Then I pulled out the guitar for a little while. 

I have decided to sleep in the shelter so as to make packing up easier in the morning, and as we are settling down for the night, in comes Groceries, a young girl doing her last section to finish up the AT, planning on ending in Caratunk, ME, just north of the Kennebec River. 

While the rest of us are snuggled up for the night, she and Alps are chatting while she is eating dinner after she set up her tent, she’s not joining we old fogies in the shelter; probably a smart move…