The New York Groove (ECT Day 166)

• Hiked Today: 16.4 miles
  • Appalachian Trail (1,397.9 – 1,399.8 & 1,403.2 – 1,415.6)
  • West Mtn Ridge Alt. (2.1 miles)
• Total Hiked: 3,347.8 miles
• Total Paddled: 99.5 miles

Weather: 60 – 75°F, overcast, bit of mist in am, quite pleasant hiking weather.

Elevation: 118 – 1,288 feet

William Brien Memorial Shelter to Graymoor Spiritual Life Center 

The past few days during all my neros and zeros, I’ve been getting more hours of sleep. So today, when I awoke to what used to be my normal alarm time, I felt quite tired and groggy. I must have packed up quickly though since I was hiking already at 6:05 am. The morning stretch was nice offering lush darkly shaded forest views and an occasional smooth bedrock outcrop view point.

I took an alternate because it seemed like a more sensible route to me and a map labeled lots of “views” along that way. As I started to climb up, I met Marley, Jake, and Gracie… three big dogs. They appeared to be having the best time of their lives zig-zagging back-and-forth across the trail and splashing in the muddy puddles. Their human was around too, but the dogs had my full attention.

Once up on the ridge, It was all I had hoped for and more with stellar lookout spots.

 

Once rejoined with the AT, I headed down. And after a bit came to a nice beautiful gravel path.

Looking at FarOut, it seems the AT does a bit of an odd thing here. To get to the top of Bear Mountain, the trail essentially does an out and back disguised as a loop. I could easily have skipped the whole thing, by not turning off here…

On the way up, I’d already decided it was worth it. I liked the trail along the whole Bear Mountain loop. Super views and it led me to a giant observation tower. It was a busy area and I enjoyed talking to some day visitors. Throughout all of this, I started to feel like I was getting back in to it, remembering what it is that I like about this whole long distance hiking thing.

The views, good weather, and nice trail helped of course, but I also have been getting inklings that I’m feeling strong again. Now I know that’ll be tested going forward every day, but I’ll take it when I can get it. A few days ago, I was as weak as a cucumber and everyone knows how weak cucumbers are.

Leaving Bear Mountain, things went down, down, down until flattening out where the Bear Mountain Inn is. I checked out the little cafe, but prices were quite steep, so just moseyed on. It was fun seeing all the people out and about though….

Next up, a trip to the zoo! I’d heard rumors the trail did this, but struggled to imagine how it might come to fruition. There was no fee or anything, just a section of zoo open to the public where the trail winds through. I found it interesting, but more than a little sad seeing them in their small “homes.” Snickers did tell me he thought the animals were rescued with injuries and would not survive in the wild though. So that’d be an upside to the whole thing.

The interesting features just kept coming today. And all of these things were one after the other. Bear Mountain overlook led to the area near the Inn and Hessian Lake, which led to the zoo. Immediately upon leaving the zoo, I crossed the mighty Hudson River via the Bear Mountain Bridge…

 

Pretty neat experience. I really like this unique part of the AT, crossing giant rivers that seem to separate the different parts of the world. The Hudson is pretty iconic, so this one once again felt like a big moment of change. On the other side, a steep trail led up to a ridge top. It was popular for dayhikers going to visit Anthony’s Nose Lookout, a viewpoint. I had lunch at the trail junction, but didn’t end up hiking the side trail to go see it.

About five miles up the trail was the Appalachian Market. It had been talked about in the FarOut comments as a place to get a good sandwich or some hot food and also a small resupply. It turned out to be a gas station convenience store, but with some extra amenities like the grill. I found a few other hikers hanging including Hyena, Hang Man, and Crocodile. I sat and hung out for about two hours and was the last to leave. I got a soda, cheeseburger, and onion rings and eventually some resupply for the next few days. 

I had two different plans of where to end up tonight and ended up with the shorter mileage version. This meant I could hang out at the Appalachian Market until about 5:30 pm or so and then only walk another half mile up the trail. A place called Graymoor. The nice folks here have allowed hikers to tent out on the baseball field for years and years. Nowadays, there’s even a pavilion and a outdoor shower. I googled the place to find out a little more and this is what the article said about the place…

“Graymoor is home to the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement and serves as a peaceful setting for retreats held throughout the year” – https://www.atonementfriars.org/pilgrimage-to-graymoor/

There were three other tents when I arrived, but that night the total would amount to about 12 tents or so. I once again enjoyed having time to hang, although a good chunk of my time was spent going through my odd gas station resupply and organizing.

More posts to come, but I got myself a little behind!

Thanks for joining on the journey! It means a lot that you took the time to read up on these adventures. If you’ve been enjoying the blog and also want to help kids get access to the outdoors, please help me in supporting Outdoors Empowerment Network!

The “Tip Author” button is a direct link to my fundraising page. I hope to raise $2 for every mile I hike on the ECT, so around $12,000. I’m amazed at all the love poured out for this great cause. Y’all are truly amazing. Thank you!

Album of the Day: 

“Barbie – The Album” (2023) – Compilation