7/28/12 – 1461 miles
Last night was not very restful. I was camped between Rt.22 and the train into NYC. The traffic all night was bad enough, but when the train went by, it sounded and felt like it was coming right through my tent. We were camped only 20 yards from the tracks and the ground literally shook when train shot by at high speed. To make matters even worse, his headlight lit up my tent like daylight and he hit the horn at least three times while thundering by. Needless to say, I woke many times throughout the night.
We encountered many downed trees today. The storm two days ago must have softened the ground, allowing the trees roots to loose their grip, toppling many in the strong winds and blocking several sections of the trail. In most places we could detour around the branches or climb over the fallen trunk, but one huge oak left us no choice but to scramble through it’s branches like a kid on the monkey bars – not an easy feat with a backpack on.
I was leading Kleenex and a couple of section hikers up a long hill, when off in the distance we heard the sound of thunder. I stopped for a minute to take a drink of water and Kleenex shot by me saying something about getting over the mountain before the storm hit. We raced higher and higher up the mountain as the lightning grew in intensity, flashing all around us and making us jump when it would hit close. Finally we crested the mountain and started lower over the back side,only to be stopped by an open section of treeless boulders. Out in the open is not where we wanted to be so we decided to hunker down in the trees and wait for the storm to pass. Several other hikers had the same idea as I could see maybe ten people sitting on there packs waiting for the lightning to let up.
After about ten minutes of very uncomfortable cold rain we decided to venture on down the mountain. The lightning was moving away but now the trail was virtually a river. By the time we reached the Mt Algo Shelter our shoes and clothes were completely sopping wet.
As often happens in stormy weather, the shelter was full of day hikers, forcing us to put up our tents in the rain. I’m hoping we are not destined for rainy weather through New England.
We moved out of New York and across the border into Connecticut today. It is our tenth state. Only four more to go.
The text on your post got a bit mixed up. I figured out that the last two and a half sentences at the bottom belong in the middle of the third paragraph. I’m sure it’s hard writing all these entries on your little phone screen and trying to proof and everything. No worries, we can figure it out.
We are glad you are safe from the storm!