New Paltz New York

Hi Everyone

As I sit and type this it is pouring rain outside, but, Patty and I are staying dry while visiting friend Art Stegen and his wife Susan at their home in New Paltz. We are about 40 miles north of the trail and taking a day off today. We have approximately 780 miles to get to Mt Katadin in Maine.

We left the church hostel in Vernon NJ on Tues July 1 and caught a ride two miles to the trail with a very friendly Water Works forman who was nice enough to stop and pick us up- Thanks. The church hostel was a great place to stay and many churchs along the trail have opened up their fellowship rooms or created special "hiker hostels" for A.T thru hikers. It is a great ministry and a great service to hikers. This church even had items for sale for hikers that would normally only be available from an outfitter. Socks, fuel and other supplies that hikers need were made available when a member of the congregation came down to see if we needed anything. Some of the churh hostels ask for donations and some don't. We are always glad to contribute to these great trail angels so that they continue to offer this service to hikers.

We had a tough hike on tuesday that took us over numerous rocks, but, gave us some good views of Greenwood Lake. After 20 miles we were met by friend Art. Art was my biathlon coaching mentor and we have traveled around the country and around the world together when I was coaching biathlon for the National Guard. Art's wife Susan had a great meal prepared for us and we enjoyed spending the evening catching up.

Art hiked with us yesterday after his wife Susan dropped us off where he had picked us up the night before. We hiked a 14 mile stretch after getting a little later start and Susan picked us up.
Art and Susan gave us a tour of West Point on our way home and then we had a very nice meal at a German Restaraunt owned by a former biathlete who I had not seen in 10 years.

We actually slept in this morning and then Art took us on a tour of New Paltz and then helped us run some errands that we needed to take care of. Susan has a great dinner planned and it is really nice to just live like a normal person for a few days. Art is going to drop Patty and I off tomorrow morning and we will do another 14 mile section and then we will spend one more night with him, before we take off again. The nice thing about hiking the trail with Art and hiking tomorrow is that we have taken most things out of our packs and it is almost like hiking without a pack. They call this "slack packing". You could really get used to that type of hiking and it is a nice break. It was also nice because we hiked over and through some very difficult stretches where you needed both hands and a light pack. We will take off again Saturday morning and leave all of the comforts of Art and Susan's home for life in our tent.

I have posted the following pictures:

1. A very large bear that wanted blueberries more than Patty did.
2. A hen turkey that had a huge brood of chicks. No chicks in photo
3. Patty sitting on the start of a mile long board walk that took us over a very dry cattail swamp.
4. The start of our hike with friend Art Stegen.
5. Patty and I standing at an overlook of the Hudson River at West Point.

I think it has rained almost an inch since I started typing this. Glad to be here. We will have slept 4 nights in the same bed for the first time since we left home. A day off and a couple of slack pack days have been very good for us.

Happy July 4th to everyone.

Red Dog and Lucky Dog