- Walk today: 19.1 miles
- APPALACHIAN TRAIL (1,415.6 – 1,429.5 and 1,430.5 – 1,434.5)
- Canopus Lake Beach Alt. (1.2 miles)
- Total walking: 3,366.9 miles
- Total rowing: 99.5 miles
Climate: cloudy, 60-75 ° F?, Afternoon rain in the camp, quite pleasant
Elevation: 332 – 1,274 feet
Graymoor Spiritual Life Center for Refugio RPH
Today, I lost part of the energy I felt in recent days. The landscape was not as great as the state parks of Bear Mountain or Harriman and, instead, it became a rocky forest, covered with ferns, full of ferns, shaded and rolled. Sometimes, it was a slightly covered trail of dense weeds, but other times there was space and only a thin weeds. They attract me more to the latter.
Another feature was the presence of rock walls. They appear in straight lines in the middle of the forest. At some point, some people must have created them for reasons that I am not sure. Maybe they accumulated them along their property limits? The path crossed some and was parallel to others. I couldn’t make sense of them.
There were many currents and, in general, New York has more exposed rock than in the United States to the south of it. Shelves, faces of smooth rock, outcrops, irregular rocks, fractured cliffs … these attract my attention more than the green tunnel. When I approached at noon and the Fahnestock State Park, I began to get more rock characteristics.
Some notes I thought today …
- The mosquitoes are still quite frequent, particularly today they announced their presence, but with the aerosol of insects I can keep them away mostly.
- Ticks seem more and more frequent. Talking to Crocodile yesterday, he told 31 on a day that the body was removed. I haven’t had anything closer to that. For me, maybe it has been one a day, but I’m constantly checking my legs. My new routine is uphill, if I want a break, it is when I stop and check my legs in front and back and sides. And, in general, I check it after a particular path section or grass cover. Today I had one of the little ones in my pimp that crawled very quickly.
- All my feet fingers are cured and well and I hope to be in a decent way now to not have problems in the future.
- I have been seeing some others through the business, some that I met and had passed, but after my rest in New York, they have updated. Others are new faces.
The photo above is from Route 301 in New York and Lake Canopus. I don’t know the exact limits of when I entered Fahnestock State Park, but I was somewhere here. I was tempted to take this path and make an alternative route that advanced along the east side of the lake, but I was quite busy with fast cars and trucks, so I stayed with the AT for the moment. However, at the northern end of the Lake, for late lunch, I got on a side path to see Canapus Lake beach and its small announced concessions are found.
Arriving at the opening there was a good number of people. Two backpackers at a picnic table greeted me, Dorian and Timex, and filled me that the small store/cafeteria/concessions was not open, but there were good baths with showers there. HMM, interesting, I thought. When I got there, I made a fast lunch and then decided to go to the shower!
It is possible that you heard of a shower beer, and maybe even a shower coffee, but a shower soda? What is this? In fact, a good park employee saw me another hiker, Little Debbie, and asked if we wanted something from the store! He opened it temporarily only for us. He really exceeded this unexpected stop and I felt very renewed after cleaning and drinking a sugary soda. A whole group of hikers appeared, but after a quick stop to say, he was ready to move on.
Change on the horizon
Approximately 4 miles beyond the charming Lakesid stop, I stopped in a stream to filter. I intended to go another 3 miles or so, but this seemed the last source and it would be a dry camp. While hung there, I received a call. Normally I have my phone in plane mode and extreme battery savings mode, but I had been waiting for this call. I was a nurse from my doctor’s office to review the results of my laboratory.
When I had my restart/double zero in New York City, my blood attracted me to test me. During the last 9 years, I have more or less treated with iron deficiency anemia and I thought it was better to verify my levels. Well, as I feared, the nurse was calling to let me know that my iron, ferritin and hemoglobin levels were quite low. In fact, my hemoglobin was the lowest in which I have tried, a huge 6.6 g/dl.
Well, that might not mean much to everyone, but the doctor was quite worried and recommended that you visit an emergency room to have a blood transfusion as soon as possible. Iron infusions would also be needed. This was a major problem than simply changing my diet and, in fact, for me it does not seem to import much if as foods rich in iron or not; My body simply does not absorb it. We talked things and began to process what everything meant. I needed to get out of the way to take care of this.
To be honest, despite leaving New York, all excited about a new attitude, a part of me had still been speculating that this could come, I had even been thinking about exit strategies, although my thought was that I would have more time to walk ahead of an easy public transport access point. However, because of the sounds, I did not have much maneuvering room to walk forward.
However, returning it at the moment, I finished my filtering and walked with 0.1 miles ahead to the cabin of the Ralph’s Peak walkers, also known as the RPH shelter. Instead of reaching my camp originally planned to a few miles ahead, this place was a gift from the sky in which I could stop and think about what was happening. It was especially pleasant because it was supposed to rain and it was a clean space with beautiful bunk beds and a set of covered picnic tables. Similar to that of forms, I immediately made the decision to sleep «inside» tonight.
Dorian and Timex, the two hikers I met in the lake today also stayed and some others joined later. I could talk to them about my current kefuffle, but I finally called home to talk to my parents too. It was then that the rain of ideas began about what to do and how to do it. And while cooking and having dinner, I also investigated my options.
Two ideas began to emerge as possibilities in my mind. The first, I retire to New York City and stay with snickers and karen while I get the treatments I needed. They had kindly offered me their place in the event that something like this happened. In the second, go home as quickly as possible and do it there while staying with the family. It didn’t take me for a long time to decide that I was going home. Just thinking about all unknowns with insurance and programming, it felt correct to return to some familiarity. And, as you know, I have missed my family, so this would also give me some time with them!
I even discovered the logistics of how to return to Michigan. Flying was the first obvious option, but last minute flights were expensive and the most difficult airports than expected. There was, however, an Amtrak train that would take off from Poughkeepsie, New York, NY tomorrow and would go near my sister’s house in northern Indiana. That is the first step. I reserved it.
In a matter of only a few hours, I had made my schemes to leave the path of the Apalaches and the route of the East Continental Path. I have been on their way for five and a half months in a row, since January 1. Would this be? Would this be the end of my trip? To tell the truth, I did not know, but at the time, I was at peace with the idea that this was what should be done. After talking to the nurse, I never entertained the idea of walking, not without first putting my health in order anyway. Then, strangely, there was relief and a resolution for the way forward.
I will solve things and questions and reflections on what to do related to my hiking trip will come later! I will keep them informed, but they are probably a few days between this publication and the next. Do not fear! That the force is with us. And that the sun is behind the back, the wind on our faces and the wings of fate lead us to dance with the stars. And for Odin’s beard, that the probabilities are forever in our favor!
Thanks for joining the trip! It means a lot that you took the time to read these adventures. If you have been enjoying the blog and you also want to help children get access to the outdoor, help me support Outdoor empowerment network!
The «Author of advice« The button is a direct link to my fund collection page. I hope to raise $ 2 for each mile that walks in the ECT, so around $ 12,000. I am amazed at all the love shed for this great cause. You are all really incredible. Thank you!
