A Turn for the Sunny

Marching Northward

Over the past two days, we've hiked almost 20 miles. And treat of all treats, we've had exceptionally good weather. The sun has been shining, there hasn't been a cloud in the sky, and it's been about 65 degrees. Perfect Trail weather. The terrain has been more of the same. Lots of forests with short but steep New York mountains to climb. Yesterday, we started at the monastery (one of many in the area, I've learned...apparently New Yorkers have a thing for monasteries) and hiked along some ridge lines and rivers. One nice thing about all the wonderful spring weather is that the critters of the forest are starting to come alive again.

Standing in front of a beaver dam

Today, the terrain was fairly forgiving, with only a few significant climbs. However, the climbs we did have to make were well worth it.

AT Art

Even the "mountaintop" vistas don't get you very far above the forest here in New York. But there's almost always a river or lake or budding forest to look at, so the views are still nice. We hiked a little over 10 miles today. Today was once of the first days that we saw someone else out on the trail. Now that the weather is getting nice, I'm sure the Trail will get more and more crowded. Both today and yesterday, we went for sandwiches at the market that's right next to the Trail. I'm on a first name basis with the owner now, apparently. Three days of sandwiches in a row will do that. While we were enjoying our roast beef and chicken melts, a family of lost hikers wandered into the deli. They'd hiked 6 miles of the AT ( a one-way trail) thinking they were on a local 2-mile loop trail in a state park. Needless to say, they were lost as Easter eggs. I was pretty proud of myself, because between my trail map and my handy dandy GPS, we were able to find where they had started and give them a ride back to their car. Our good deed for the day, I suppose. If the Trail keeps showing me her best side, what with the sunny days and trees that get greener by the day, I could get used to this again.

Pretty AT Days