Day 107: Return to civilization

Hiked 17.5 miles, staying in New York City.

When I woke up this morning it definitely looked like rain, but so far was holding off.  I had hoped to sleep in a little bit, but RedKnees was in the tent next to me and had set an alarm and it went off for about 20 minutes before he woke up and shut it off.  Well once I'm awake I might as well start hiking.  I packed up and was getting ready to head out when all of a sudden the rain hit.  I don't mind hiking in the rain but there is something so unpleasant about starting off in the rain.  I sat down in the shelter and waited out this initial shower and headed out when it was over.

I said farewell to people in the shelter (who were just getting up).  Whistler (Field Stripper) is pushing ahead to meet a friend in Connecticut.  Monk is getting off trail for a week for a family reunion.  Beetlejuice is getting off trail for a few days to visit family.  So I won't see any of them for a while.  I walked the first five miles until I got to NY 52 where there is a deli slightly off trail.  It is here that I stopped for a delicious breakfast sandwich and a liter of OJ to power me through the day.  I had hoped the others might catch up with me here but they were slow getting out of camp I guess, so I gave up waiting and kept going.

We joked with Monk about setting up a tent on the bunk in the shelter
and he took it as a challenge.

Early morning view from the trail

Other than that the rest of my hike was somewhat uneventful.  The rain thankfully held off for the rest of the day.  I passed around a lake called Nuclear Lake which although it looked like it could be decent for swimming I couldn't get over the name.  It sounded as if I touched the water my skin was going to melt off or something.  I got a view off of the top of West Mountain (another one) and could see what I think is Pawling, NY where I got off the trail today.

9 AM photo

Nuclear Lake

View of Pawling from West Mountain

As I think I mentioned before I am getting off trail for a zero to go see NYC and a train runs through Pawling, so it was a perfect place to do that.  I got a hitch into town with the first car I saw.  I was worried I was going to have trouble though because the road was not busy and it took almost ten minutes for that first car to pass by.  The driver's name was Sam and he pointed out a bunch of things in town and suggested a lunch spot, a very nice man.

Pawling

Pawling

Pawling is a really neat town.  The downtown is small and compact, making it great for hikers.  It is also a very beautified town center and is really pleasant to walk through.  The people at the tavern where I stopped for lunch were very friendly and talkative.  Overall I would say it is one of my favorite towns of the trail!  I got to the library to upload some pictures while I waited for the train to arrive.

The train to NYC was about two hours long, but the time passed very quickly.  I met this guy Chris, an art dealer and the two of us chatted pretty much the entire way in to the city.  My stop was Grand Central Station where I transferred to the subway.  It was a real shock to the system walking into Grand Central having been in the woods for three months.  There were so many people all rushing about, it was a bit overwhelming.  Grand Central is huge too and it took me a little while to get oriented and figure out where I needed to go to catch which subway train.

Grand Central Station

I am visiting my godfather, Ralph and his wife Liz.  I eventually made it to Manhattan and found my way to his townhouse in The Village.  I guess it is a full house this weekend as Liz's nephew Liam is also staying over as he is an opera singer and doing a show nearby.  The four of us sat down to a late dinner (after I had showered and dumped my stuff in the laundry).  My mother had apparently warned them that thru hikers might eat more than the average person and they came prepared.  It was quite the spread.  I wasn't long for the world though as it was way after hiker midnight (9 pm), so I bid everyone good night.