Day 104: PUDs

Hiked 20.9 miles, tenting on top of Black Mountain.

Today I woke up to my watch alarm.  I haven't done that since at least the Smokies, but given how bad the heat has been I wanted to get as many miles in before the sun started blazing down.  I was a little slow getting out of camp, mostly due to the large number of mosquitos in the site.  I could see them all over the mesh of my tent and it probably took me ten minutes to man up and leave my bug free zone.

On top of Mombasha High Point

9 AM photo

Today was primarily a ton of PUDs (pointless ups and downs).  This is the name that thru hikers give to these steep, tough climbs that reward you with no view and just a steep down climb.  Yesterday was similarly packed with them, but today they got steeper and longer and were packed even closer together.  For the first time on the entire trail, I looked uphill to see a white blaze and the phrase "you have got to be effing kidding me" was uttered out loud.  None of the climbs were over five hundred feet.  Nevertheless climbing hand over foot even over a few hundred feet elevation is tough, let alone doing it many times.

Pond Island

I got a small view off of Buchanan mountain, other than that the first 12 miles passed slowly and uneventfully.  I did get to cross over I-87 though, that was neat.  It took about six hours just to accomplish these first twelve miles, a very slow pace for me.  At the twelve mile mark though I came to a road and hoped off the .1 miles to get to Pond Island.  This was a large pond with a rocky shoreline.  I stopped to eat lunch and had a nice long swim.  I found a great seat in the water between two slabs that was shaped exactly like a recliner.  I sat there for quite a while, the water was rejuvenating.

I managed to get out of Pond Island without getting stuck there for a long time, a big achievement given what a nice spot it was and the fact that I had it all to myself.  Shortly after Pond Island was a landmark known as the "Lemon Squeezer".  It is a narrow pass between two enormous boulders that narrows as you go through it.  I made it through fine, but my pack had to come off and go sideways.

Entering the Lemon Squeezer
It's hard to tell scale, but I can almost completely stand up in that gap

The Lemon Squeezer gets narrower and narrower as you go along

Looking back after passing through the Lemon Squeezer

See that white blaze?  That is above my head when standing in front of
 it and we had to climb over that rock.

I kept going another few miles until I hit another road.  This time there is a public beach just .3 miles off the trail on Lake Tiorati.  It was a really nice sandy beach and I immediately hopped in for my second swim of the day!  I also hit up the vending machines there for some ice cream bars and sodas.  Just as I got out of the water Beetlejuice and Zip showed up and I spent some time catching up with them.  Just as I was finally getting ready to move out, in walked Obie, Redknees and Monk.  I hadn't seen Monk in a very long time so of course I had to stay and catch up again.

These deer weren't even phased that I was standing there

There were a ton of baby birds in the rafters of the beach pavillion

This nest of baby birds is looking pretty crowded

The beach at Tiorati Circle.

By this point it was getting later (so much so that the beach had closed) and I realized I would be getting to camp close to dark.  Instead of cooking in the dark I opted to eat before leaving and everyone else joined me.  Finally after three hours there I had run out of excuses.  My possibility of getting to Ft Montgomery tonight was obviously not feasible now.  Instead I opted to camp up on Black Mountain, a mere six miles away.

The pavilion at Tiorati Circle, stay classy RedKnees

Dusk view form Black Mountain

If it wasn't so hazy you could see New York City in the distance

I had to book it to get there by dusk, so I put my head down and slammed down the six miles in less than two hours.  When I got there I found Zip already set up and found a spot for my own tent.  From the top of Black Mountain you can see the NYC skyline, part of the reason I chose this destination.  It is one of the only views of the city we get on the trail.  It was a little hazy and when I first got up there you couldn't really see the city, but as darkness fell I suddenly could see the city lights and just make out what I think is the Empire State Building, very cool.  The bugs finally chased both of us into our tents for the night.