09 HIKE NEW YORK APPALACHIAN TRAIL

October 5 - 8, 2009

Last month Andy Buttles and Dan McQueen had to retreat from the Appalachian Trail (AT) in New England licking our wounds. We had plans to return next spring to plug a 44 mile hole in New York connecting all of New England with the rest of New York down to Tennessee. Upon reflection we decided to return last week traveling light (slack packing) and fast over shorter distances in three easy (no such thing on the AT) day hikes.

The plan worked to perfection. Andy drove his 1983 Camaro and I my 1996 Mazda 626 to Poughkeepsie, NY staying in the same motel strategically located on US-9 a few miles south of the city. The first day we drove to the end point leaving a car and then to the starting point leaving a car overnight and hiking back to the first car in which we returned to the motel. Subsequent days we drove from the motel to the starting point and hiked back to the car we left the previous day.

Last week we hiked Tuesday 14.6 miles, Wednesday 15.8 miles and Thursday 13.8 miles totaling 44.2 miles. We spent 19 hours 48 minutes on the trail averaging 2.23 miles per hour. We took our time maintaining a steady pace but stopping frequently for overlooks, equipment adjustments and talking to the surprising number of south bound hikers we met each day. Although it rained most of the way to the trailhead on Wednesday it stopped and dried out due to a 20-30 mph wind with gusts up to 40 mph. We had very comfortable sunny dry weather all three days. The leaves were turning and with the sun emited a very pleasant glow especially the yellow leaves. The trail was wide and well maintained, it had to be as we didn't even wonder off it once. There were some ups and downs but none severe so we had a pleasant walk in the woods.

We hiked north bound each day then moved south the next day for the next section of trail. Consequently we met 6 south bound backpackers the first day, then 7 the second day including two runners and four from the previous day. The last day we met 4 hikers including Rich from Arizona (hiked AT twice) and Rags 70 (Ragsdale) from Florida needing New Hampshire and Maine to finish the AT. Luckily we brought Rich an Egg McMuffin which was a good thing as he had run out of food for lunch with another day before resupply.

It was a momentous occasion as we reached my car on Dennytown Road at 1:34 Thursday. Andy has completed the AT from Mt Katahdin, Maine to Tennessee. I have completed the entire 2175 mile Appalachian Trail. We couldn't drink the 22 ounce celebratory craft beer Andy bought for the occasion because we had a long drive home. That didn't dampen the occasion.

09 HIKE NEW YORK Daily Data

Day	Oct	Sun				Cum	Elev	Up/Down	Trail	Avg
1	5	Time	Activity	Miles	Location	Miles	Feet	Feet	Hours	Speed	Cost
			Up,pack&eat			44.2	Hiking	3491	19.78	2.23	$394.91
		8:33	Drive	249,140	Columbia	765	Driving	-3241
			Drive	1.5	US-29 north	1.5
			Drive	6.5	I-70 east	8.0
			Drive	5.0	I-695 east	13.0
			Drive	8.0	I-83 north	21.0
			Drive	73.0	I-81 north	94.0
		11:50	Lunch		Subway in Wilkes-Barre, PA						$5.83
		12:10	Gas		Exxon in Wilkes-Barre, PA	6.95	gallons				$16.25
			Drive	116.0	I-84 east	210.0
			Drive	93.0	Exit 12 on US-9 north	303.0
			Drive	9.0	US-9 north	312.0
		2:28	Drive	6.0	Poughkeepsie Super 8	318.0			5.90
				318.0		326.8	Actual
			Motel		Super 8 2349 US-9 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601	845 462-7800					$81.73
			Supper		Hyde Park Brewery						$31.50
					Andy's Cell (410) 562-1832
					Dan's Cell (443) 535-7483
					Hike 44.2 miles NY-9D to NY-22
Day	Oct	Mon				Cum	Elev	Up/Down	Trail	Avg
2	6	Time	Activity	Miles	Location	Miles	Feet	Feet	Hours	Speed	Cost
		6:45	Up
			Breakfast		Super 8 2349 US-9 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
			Drive	1.0	US-9 north	1.0
			Drive	22.0	NY-55 east (right)	23.0
			Drive	2.0	NY-22 north (left) AT parking - leave 96 Mazda	25.0
			Drive		NY-22 south	25.0
			Drive	2.0	NY-55 west (right)	27.0
			Drive	7.0	NY-214 south (left) to Stormville	34.0
			Drive	7.0	NY-52 south (left)	41.0
			Drive	2.2	Pass under I-84 to AT parking - leave 83 Camaro	43.2
		9:57	Hike		NY-52		800
			Hike	1.4	Stormville Mt Road, I-84	1.4	950	150
			Hike	2.4	Mt Egbert	3.8	1329	379
			Hike	0.1	Morgan Stewart Shelter (Sw)	3.9	1285	-44
			Hike	1.1	Depot Hill Road	5.0	1230	-55
			Hike	1.9	Old NY-55	6.9	750	-480
			Hike	0.3	NY-55 (POM3.1W;G3.6W;M1.5W;L2.6W)	7.2	720	-30
			Hike	1.2	Nuclear Lake	8.4	750	30
			Hike	2.8	West Mt	11.2	1200	450
			Hike	0.3	Telephone Pioneers Shelter (Sw)	11.5	910	-290
			Hike	0.7	W Dover Road (POGM2.9E;G3.6W;M1.5W;L2.6W)	12.2	650	-260
		3:54	Hike	2.4	NY-22, RR Station (G.6E;L2.6W)	14.6	480	-170	5.95	2.45
				14.6				-1329
			Drive	2.0	NY-22 south - 96 Mazda	2.0		1009
			Drive	22.0	NY-55 west (right)	24.0
			Drive	1.0	US-9 south	25.0
		4:45	Motel		Super 8 2349 US-9 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601	845 462-7800					$81.73
			Supper		Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park						$23.13
Day	Oct	Tue				Cum	Elev	Up/Down	Trail	Avg
3	7	Time	Activity	Miles	Location	Miles	Feet	Feet	Hours	Speed	Cost
			Up
			Breakfast		Poughkeepsie Super 8
			Drive		US-9 south to McKeel Corners
			Drive	20.0	NY-301 east (left)	20.0
			Drive	6.0	Dennytown Road southwest (right)	26.0
			Drive	1.2	AT parking on left - leave 96 Mazda	27.2
		7:42	Hike		Dennytown Road (Cw)	14.6	860
			Hike	1.6	Sunk Mine Road	16.2	800	-60
			Hike	2.1	NY-301 St Park (Cw1E)	18.3	920	120
			Hike	4.2	Shenandoah Mountain	22.5	1282	362
			Hike	0.4	Long Hill Road	22.9	1100	-182
			Hike	1.1	Shenandoah Camp (Cw)	24.0	900	-200
			Hike	1.3	Road RPH Shelter (Sw)	25.3	360	-540
			Hike	0.3	Taconic Parkway	25.6	650	290
			Hike	3.2	Hosner Mt Road	28.8	500	-150
		3:20	Hike	1.6	NY-52	30.4	800	300	7.63
				15.8				-1132
			Drive		NY-52 west - 83 Camaro			1072
			Drive	8.0	I-84 west	8.0
			Drive	3.0	US-9 north	11.0
			Drive	9.0	Super 8 motel on left	20.0
		4:15	Motel		Super 8 2349 US-9 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601	845 462-7800					$90.81
			Supper		Red Robin						$22.00
Day	Oct	Wed				Cum	Elev	Up/Down	Trail	Avg
4	8	Time	Activity	Miles	Location	Miles	Feet	Feet	Hours	Speed	Cost
			Up,pack
			Breakfast		Super 8 2349 US-9 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
			Drive		US-9 south to McKeel Corners - 83 Camaro
			Drive	18.0	NY-9D south (right)	18.0
			Drive	11.0	AT parking on left	29.0
		7:22	Hike		NY-9D	30.4	230
			Hike	0.5	Camp Smith Trail, Anthony's Nose	30.9	700	470
			Hike	1.0	Hemlock Springs Camp (Cw)	31.9	550	-150
			Hike	0.2	Manitou Road	32.1	460	-90
			Hike	3.4	US-9 (POGLM4.8E;M.7E;G1.9E)	35.5	400	-60
			Hike	0.6	Old West Point Road	36.1	550	150
			Hike		Graymoor Spritual Life Center (wcs)	36.1	550	0
			Hike	1.3	Denning Hill	37.4	900	350
			Hike	1.4	Old Albany Post Road	38.8	607	-293
			Hike	1.7	Canopus Hill Road	40.5	420	-187
			Hike	1.0	S Highland Road	41.5	570	150
		1:34	Hike	2.7	Dennytown Road (Cw)	44.2	860	290	6.20
				13.8				-780
			Drive	1.2	Dennytown Road northeast - 96 Mazda	1.2		1410
			Drive	4.3	NY-301 southwest (right)	5.5
			Drive	11.0	AT parking on left - leave Andy	16.5
			Drive		NY-9D south
			Drive	1.0	Cross Hudson River Bridge west	1.0
			Drive	13.0	Palisades Parkway south	14.0
			Drive	10.0	Exit 13 US-202 west	24.0
			Drive	0.5	NJ-17 west onto I-287 south at exit 66	24.5
			Drive	45.0	I-78 west	69.5
			Snack		Hamburg,PA McDonalds milkshake						$2.43
			Gas		Hamburg,PA Love's	11.8	gallons				$27.75
			Drive	106.0	I-81 south	175.5
			Drive	19.0	I-83 south	194.5
			Dinner		Shrewsbury,PA Cracker Barrel - chicken & dumplings, ice tea						$11.74
			Drive	73.0	I-695 west	267.5
			Drive	12.0	I-70 west	279.5
			Drive	5.0	US-29 south	284.5
		8:21	Drive	8.0	Columbia, MD	292.5	314.9	Actual
				249,905