Day 100 High Point State Park

Friday 20th July

The tinkling of pots woke me , pace and Freight train were up and it was early .they left at 5 ish bloody he’ll that was early.
I dozed until 5.30 then lept out of bed . I was packing up.when rebound appeared she was camping behind me..

NEW York was lit up by the sun again my camera doesn’t do it justice . as I packed up and walked down the trail there was an amazing view of the Hudson. I took a few more photos then pushed on. the trail was in and out of the wood for most of the morning.

My next view was more amazing views of the Hudson and in front on the hill was the fire tower. I guess that’s where I am going Bear Mountain . It took me several more hours then I was walking up.an asphalt road that snaked up the mountain . on the left side was a huge rock buttress build god knows with huge stone pillars reaching up.to rock I was enjoying the road but hey this is the Appalachian Trail and they don’t make things seat so I took a sharp left turn and began to climb up very steep steps that didn’t seem to stop.
I met several day hikers going brother way as I hadn’t seen many people today .

at last the steps finished nd I was on top of a plateux with amazing views and in the Middle was a rustic wooden bench dedicated to a past Ranger. I moved on still heading up . Civilisation began to appear. trash cans and wow. a vending machine . I dropped my pack and grabbed a lemonade then followed that with a powerade. I quickly used the bathroom then continued on. I wasn’t too sure where the trail was so grabbed my Map.i we look g when s friendly voice said . It’s this way he was a member of staff and very informative. He said they were doing trail maintenance. so it was closed but follow the white signs.

I thanked him and walked on ..took a few photos of the fire tower and then carried on. I could of climbed the tower but choose not too.

as I walked down the road flowing the white signs I could see the trail guys st work. nd they had tracked vehicles moving huge slabs of rock amazing !!.

I flowed the road for about a mile before it joined with the open trail.
again it was steps huge granite steps . I continued down and down passing many day hikers and tourists out for the day. it took about an hour to get down from.Bear mountain
I emerged into huge park that was teaming with people I followed the trail. But I was looking for the Inn. for lunch.
The Inn was a large hard to miss building. I went inside and found the. Hiker cafe.
Sat at the back was Pace and freightrain and 2 others who i hadn’t met
Hi guys . I grabbed a table and plugged all my gear into an outlet to charge. before ordering 2 hot dogs, an ice cream and beer.
Whilst waiting I topped up my water bottles fro a neat water dispenser before returning to my table then sat and ate my hotdogs that were so tasty I decided to have one more beer before walking on, the trail takes you through the park then past a large swimming pool that was filled with kids having fun .

I grabbed a Snapple as I now have the taste. after the pool the trail heads through the zoo. This zoo cares for sick or Injured animals.
I enjoyed walking through the zoo/park after the zoo you exit on to Bear mountain Bridge a large suspension bridge that spans the Hudson.
I walked across watching the boats far below and the trains.

Once across the trail of course climbs up the other side of the mountain. I followed several day hikers up as about a dozen were heading down .

At the crossroads I paused as I turned to continue Sunshine appeared.we walked together for a while, but she’s too fast for me.
“Catch you later. I plodded on after her as she disappeared into the distance. I was miles away when Granite Gear caught me. I walked with him for a while until I needed break
I only took 5 minutes then hiking on .soon I began to hear traffic and I emerged onto a busy road junction.. and in the middle was the store. I crossed over and headed towards it. Sat outside were Sunshine, Granite Gear, Sundance and several other hikers .
Mousetrap and noproblama were somewhere behind, Mousetraps dad was picking them all up and they were spending the day in New York. I was envious
I dropped my pack and went shopping, I ordered a beef sandwich, When it arrived it was huge but bloody tasty .
whilst here I sorted out my rubbish, decanted my new purchases before finishing off my roll and soda.
I hadn’t planned on doing much more tonight, maybe 2 more hours .
I set off several hikers came zooming past me .
Hey Snailtrainer where are you heading
Not much further is my standard answer and it was about another hour when I spied the perfect spot for me.

Tent up bear line hung. I was only going to make tea as I had eaten earlier