Across the Hudson 6/7/09

Sam, his Lab Sallie, and friend Dustin crossed into New York State Thursday, June 4th. On Saturday the trio spotted the Empire State Building from the top of Bear Mountain, a thousand foot rise over the Hudson River. What a milestone! Now just 24-miles from Manhattan, the hikers are on a northeasterly heading and have crossed Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson. This bridge is just about a mile south of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Across the river on the east side, the higher parts of the trail are just 500-feet above sea level, but the terrain gets chopped up with continuous hills and valleys. The land is similar to the hills and gulleys around Grand Gulf, just taller hills.

The menu for this part of the trail is a variety of dry soup mixes with rice or noodles added for carbs. Protein comes from summer sausage and dried meats which are added to the brew. Intake approaches the five to six thousand calorie mark as the group covers some 15-18 miles a day. As for Sallie, she carries her own rations, water, boots, and ground tarp in her backpack. Daytime temps have been in the upper 70's and low 80's with night time lows sometimes in the 50's. The major rain system that swept through the Northeast earlier in the week just barely grazed the AT, so the hikers enjoyed full days of trekking.

On the trail last Wednesday, they met another "trail angel," the former mayor of the small hamlet of Brooksville, New York. Sam, Sallie, and Dustin spent the night at the mayor's house, along with about 12-other hikers. Thursday morning they got into the mayor's truck, and he dropped them off about 17-miles up the trail. They walked back south that day with just small day packs. Returning to the mayor's place, they were fed another great meal. Friday morning, the mayor shuttled the three back up the trail where they continued their journey north. This process of shuttling forward and walking back with a reduced load is called "slack-packing."

The Connecticut state line is just 40-miles ahead. They should arrive there Tuesday evening. From there Sam, Sallie, and Dustin turn north through the Housatonic River Valley and Massachusetts. Just 770-miles to go to reach Mount Katahdin in Maine. Next week, we'll have a video of Sam's trail stove. So long until the next update.

"Inch by Inch, Life's a Cinch!, Yard by Yard, Life's HARD!!!"

Kmac