t necessarily mean you are any closer to anything. It just means that at some point in time, man passed through there and left their mark. As always, I was lagging behind, however this time it was because my knees were starting to ache. The pain always starts off with a twinge when stepping down from a rock, but then little by little, step by step, it gets worse and worse. I will definitely need to get some knee braces to wear for support and pain relief. There’s no way I’ll be able to hike 2,200 miles if my knees are giving me trouble.
Up until now, I have not acquired a trail name. The one constant thing through our segment hikes up to date is the fact that I’m always at the end of the line. I just prefer to be last. I’m somewhat of a competitive person, however when it comes to hiking, leading is not a priority or even a thought. I don’t do it to outshine anyone, I do it because it brings me closer to nature and makes me realize what in life is truly important. Being at the end of the line, gives me the distance I need to feel alone without actually being alone. I can be left alone to my own thoughts and not have to worry about going too fast for the group or holding anyone up. There’s often been times that I’ve lagged so far behind that I think that I somehow veered off the trail. I’m a slow, steady hiker. It will be interesting to see how long it will actually take me to complete the A.T. in it’s entirety. With all this being said, I came up with a trail name that I think will stick. ‘Caboose’ is my name. This applies in so many aspects of my life, not just trail life. I often will sit back and observe others, to analyze, to learn from their mistakes, to discern what will work best for me. I do this when I participate in Spartan Races. I see how others tackle the obstacles so that I can make a decision on the best way to approach it. I learn not only from my own mistakes, but from others as well. If I can learn from someone else and not make the same mistakes that they did, then I can avoid the same setbacks (hopefully). Isn’t that what life is about? Experiencing things, learning, and advancing? I also enjoy observing people. It’s interesting to see how different people react in different situations. I was once told by a philosophy professor, in regards to a paper I wrote, that I think like Descartes (René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician and writer. 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650). He’s the guy best known for the philosophical statement “I think, therefore I am” (French: Je pense, donc je suis; “Cogito ergo sum”). I suppose he was somewhat a skeptic and drew his conclusions based on his own ‘experiments’; an out-of-the-box thinker. I guess you can say I’m like that. I digress.
Rewind to earlier in the day when we were doing our head/end parking routine. We had seen that there was a man with a hot dog truck on 17A and there was also an ice cream shop down the road (Bellvale Farms Creamery, http://bellvalefarms.com). With this in mind, we thought about hot dogs for a lot of the hike, especially now that we were feeling weary. We could taste them, smell them and even the mention of the name of them made us salivate. We reached 17A and met up with some gentlemen who were just getting started on a multi-day segment hike. They informed us that they just ate some awesome ice cream, which had us green-eyed. We asked about the hot dog truck and they said that it was already closed! Oh, how cruel! We were crushed and left unfulfilled. However, we made up our minds to forego the ice cream and trod on so that we could call it a day. After all, the Rangers were facing off with the Montreal Canadiens in the Playoffs and we needed to get home.
The remainder of the hike was pretty uneventful, except for the Eastern Pinnacle (N41 15.530 W74 16.425) and the Cat Rocks (41.263566, -74.270185).
The climb up the Eastern Pinnacle was a little tricky. We looked up the steep ascent and I believe a “What the F*&!” might have escaped someone’s mouth. There was a blue blaze to bypass this climb, but as is my stubborn spirit, I refused to go around. So, we climbed. The view was breathtaking (as is all of the views when you’re on the trail). As was customary, we took a picture of the vista as well as our gratuitous selfie (which I didn’t capture very well).
Next came the Cat Rocks. I’m not sure why they are called ‘Cat Rocks’ and couldn’t find any information about them other than random blog entries by other hikers referring to them. These are not to be mistaken with the Cats Rock in Pawling, NY. We made our way to the top of the rocks easily enough and were surprised by how how they were and the eagles next that was nestled cozily into the rock face. There was no way to get a good shot of the nest and I wasn’t feeling especially ambitious, so I just settled with the far-away picture that I took (below).
As usual I trailed behind, but I caught up just as Russ was making his way down Cat Rocks. The descent was steep. I guess steep is an understatement, it was vertical. Russ hates when we have to descend down these types of rocks. He did it successfully as did Terri and I, injury free. That’s always a bonus.
We whizzed by Wildcat Shelter. Usually, we stop to check these things out, but like I said before, we just wanted to put this one down to bed. Eventually, we reached Lakes Road where we had the car parked. I finally checked my phone as I recalled hearing some texts come through, but don’t like to check while I’m hiking. I received a text message from Sunrise! I felt bad for not checking, because it had been an hour already since she sent the message.
I got a kick out of this for a couple of reasons. One being that this has not been the first occasion where trail hikers assumed I was the daughter of Terri and Russ. This really pisses them both off, but they can laugh about it too. The other reason is that I was going to experience the NHL in the Tricoli household. This, from what I was told, is the stuff of legends. I was so excited to be able to share this experience with two total strangers we just met a few hours earlier. The one fact that could make this night a terrible awful disaster is that Simon is a Canadian and a die-hard Montreal Canadiens fan. Russ is a die-hard NY Rangers fan. I was just hoping for the best and kept my fingers crossed that the NY Rangers won the evening’s game, because I cringed to think what would happen if that did not occur. Not to mention the family discord that could ensue, because Russ invited a Canadian to his home. As you know, generally, die-hard sports fans are superstitious and this breaks the golden rule. However, this makes the gesture that much more genuine and worthy of a Trail Magic award for Russ and Terri.
What is ‘Trail Magic’?
I texted Sunrise back and she said they were at the Bellvale ice cream place. We were off to pick them up. When we reached the creamery, there they were, smiling. We packed up the car with their packs and we made our way back to pick up my car as we had come straight off the trail to pick the two up. The ride was filled with questions and trail stories and when I reached my car, Terri rode with me back to her house.
The first item on the agenda was for all of us to shower. The warm water felt so good after that long hike and eased some of the aches and pains that I had. Russ and Terri had prepared the downstairs for the ‘kids’ to stay for the night by the time I finished with my shower. Terri was already preparing part of our dinner which consisted of the fresh garden veggies that she had just received from a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, http://www.localharvest.org/csa/), which I took over doing so that she could take her own shower. Russ had gone and gotten us some ice cold beer to enjoy with our dinner as well as put in an order for two large pies (for those of you who are non NY-ers, that’s two pizza pies). Apparently, Russ had placed an order with the wrong pizza place and had to place another order with Mahwah Pizza, however I guess he neglected to cancel the order with the first pizza place, because they had called and asked when we were coming to pick up our order. Oh well, I guess they’ll be blacklisted from ordering from there ever again.
After the pizza had arrived, we had all headed downstairs to watch the game on Russ’ monstrous television. This TV was so large, that I don’t think it would have even fit in my little apartment! It was quite an experience to be sitting there, all of us together,