Given the ridiculous temperatures, our plan is to do a short slackpack. Neither of us wants to zero, but we don't want heat stroke, either.
Kelly gives me the coordinates to our destination and I plug it into my phone. We arrive at the parking lot and I jump into her vehicle and we only get a couple miles away when she realizes that the 1777 Trailhead is a 40 mile drive from this parking lot. What!? After consulting the app and Google Maps, she realizes that we made a mistake and we drove to the wrong trailhead. So we turn around, get my truck, and then drive to the right trailhead
By the time we get to the right trailhead and get on the trail, it is after 10:00 a.m. The temperature is already in the mid 80's and the heat index feels like 92°. At least we're slack packing and not doing a huge climb with a loaded pack today.
The trail starts right up a hill and we are rewarded with lots of ripe blueberries right on the side of the trail. This is the first time we've been able to find more than a couple at a time. While we're enthusiastically stuffing our faces, a hiker passes by us, clad in a long sleeve dark shirt and dark pants. He must be cooking in this heat!
He is a thru hiker from Arizona, probably why he is okay with wearing so much clothing in this weather. His name is Candyman. We tell him our names - Trash Panda and Velcro, and remark that hers is a new trail name. He says he will do a naming ceremony at the top of the mountain at the tower.
We continue hiking up Bear Mountain on a beautifully constructed trail made from carved stone steps, which we climb up for hundreds of feet vertically. We get to a burned out section with gorgeous views of the Hudson River to the east.
We don't get far until we walk by a tree covered with big red purple berries. I realize they are juneberries (Amelanchier), and yell at Kelly to come back and try them. She returns, and soon we are eating handsful of more berries. At this rate it will take all day to reach our destination.
At the top of Bear Mountain we cross a parking area to a big stone tower
The surrounding park offers beautiful views of the Hudson River and many people are milling about even though it's a weekday.
Candyman is outside of the tower with his pack off and we ask him to do Kelly's naming ceremony. The ceremony is really cute and she is now charged with practicing Leave No Trace principles and officially called Velcro.
Another young man walks up with a pack and Candyman says his name is Toad. I asked the young man if he is the same Toad that we met with Fizz last week and he says he is (it's embarrassing to admit that a lot of hikers look similar due to the scraggly beards and long hair that many of the men wear out here). Toad says he had to take a few days off the trail and now he is here.
The descent down Bear Mountain is knee jarring on hundreds of steep stone steps. We marvel at the amount of effort it must have taken to construct this trail. I'm so thankful we are going down the steps and not up, especially in this heat.
The steps end at a lake which offers paddle boats for rent near the trail. We follow the white blazes around the lake on a wide, paved walkway around the perimeter, with hundreds of picnic tables occupied by barbecuing picnickers. The smell of barbecued meats makes my mouth water.
The concession stand is closed, but I am relieved that there are vending machines tha credit cards since my cash is at the bottom of my pack. I don't normally desire sweets, but one of the vending machines offers ice cream, and I buy a coconut fruit bar. It's partially melted, but I don't care. It is delicious and I scarf it down before it can melt further. We walk by another vending machine and I buy a strawberry bar this time, as we enter the park admission area.
As if this day can't get any better, the trail then travels through a park complex with a public swimming pool that offers free swimming for thru hikers. We don't stop to swim, but proceed on the trail to an actual zoo that is literally on the trail.
The zoo is small but cute, with small interpretive plaques that name some of the trees and dicuss wildlife habitat. We walk by the bobcat enclosure, and I'm disappointed that the bobcat isn't it where we can see it, not that I can blame the poor creature for avoiding the heat.
Across the walkway, a porcupine pops out and then turns around to retreat to the interior of it's den.
The best part of the zoo is a fan that sprays droplets of water into the trail. I stand in front of it for five minutes, my face close to the fan, enjoying the delightful cooling affect.
Just before we leave the zoo, Toad catches up to us, and we walk out together. The trail immediately jumps onto the Bear Mountain Bridge, where we cross the Hudson River via a pedestrian walkway. This is the lowest elevation of the entire Appalachian Trail, at about 150 feet.
On the other side of the bridge, we cross a busy highway and head back into the woods to climb up another mountain. Toad continues up the road to the nearby Amtrak station, planning on taking a train into New York City for a few hours.
The trek up the mountain is not very long, but it is brutal nonetheless, due to the blistering heat. We need to stop a few times to chug water and cool down.
At the top of the hill we stop to grab a bite to eat in a patch of shade when w woman walks up. She is middle-aged like us and we start chatting. Her name is Velma (from Scooby Doo), and she has the red hair to match. We walk together for the mile it takes to get to our vehicle.
The temperature is unbelievably hot; at 3:00 p.m. it's 102° outside, not including the heat index. We drive back to pick up my truck and back to the hotel to chill. This has been the shortest hiking day of the last three weeks.
Today's Stats: 7.4 miles, 1,647 feet
Trail Stats: 1,411 miles, 276K feet gain
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