7/09/01
It was an early morning start for me as I had a food pickup and a lot of miles to do today. I was hiking by 7:25 a.m. and covered five miles by 9:30. I reached the crossroad that would take me to Stormville, NY for my post office visit. The post office was located 1.9 miles off the trail, so I attempted hitching to get a ride into town. With few cars and a high speed limit, my chances appeared slim so after 10 minutes of trying I gave up and hiked all the way in to the PO. The PO sits on the outskirts of town so I had no incentive to go further since I still had a lot of miles ahead of me. Fortunately for me a college coed stopped to get her mail while I had the usual pile spread out on the sidewalk in front of the PO. She told me that one of her college professors had hiked the AT and had shared stories from his thru-hike with the class. After asking me some questions about my hike she offered me a ride back to the trail. I was grateful as the road hike down from the trail was a steep grade and the heat of the day was already bothering me in the exposed sun. She dropped me off at a deli .3 miles past the trail at my request.
Grits and Surefoot were eating at the picnic table when I arrived and I found Phantom inside on the telephone. I sat down with the guys with a large bag of potato chips and a chicken cutlet sub and a soda for an early lunch. Then a pint of Ben & Jerry's for dessert was consumed before Phantom and I hiked together back to the trail. The afternoon hiking was difficult with steep terrain and large rocks that made each step up or down a full two or three foot step. Phantom and I were both worn out when we arrived at the Telephone Pioneers shelter in the early evening. "Thankful", a southbound section hiker, was at the shelter when we arrived. Phantom and I sat talking with Thankful for over an hour as we were too tired to move. Finally Phantom went to set up his tent as I continued sitting and talking to Thankful. Before long a heavy downpour surprised us which lasted 20 minutes before clearing took place. Phantom and I prepared our dinners by the shelter, then I set up my tent as well for the night in anticipation of the mosquito onslaught. Beatle arrived at dusk just in time to say hello before we retired to our respective tents for the night. It was a rough day of hiking and I was happy to be in the tent to recuperate for the night. Today's stats: low 65, high 87. Sunny and hot, then evening shower. Today's mileage: 16.6; cumulative 1425.7.
