8/15/10

We woke up at Mud Lake to overcast skies with some sun. Went back to sleep after wandering around for a little bit at 6. Woke up for real again at 9:30. Got moving slowly, soaked up the true joy of coffee. I use a filter that screws on top of a Nalgene bottle. You put the coffee into this fine metal screen, pour in the hot water and then shake for 5 minutes. It's thick, it's strong it does the job. Sold in the cooking section of EMS.

The trail from Mud Lake to the Sacandaga River was seriously perfect for moving. Downhill with few rocks and a wide trail. At the river I pumped water a bit nervously not knowing what amount of human or agricultural activity was going on upstream. At the suspension bridge, there was a fantasy movie being being shot with cheap camcorders by some middle-aged men wearing leather gauntlets. When I came upon I saw a few children with capes and swords. I kind of assumed it was some local nerds out LARPing before I saw the camera. There was an orc (one of the few adult actors), with horns and decent make-up. There were also many children 8-16 in renaissance fair type gear. The younger they were, the less elaborately dressed. It was honestly a pretty weird scene. 

The hike from the river to our eventual second lean-to was not super eventful, some pretty woods with some nice big old growth, a lovely second suspension bridge with a good tent spot just past it.

We arrived at the Hamilton Stream Lean-to and decided to have a snack (Tuna on cracker) and pump some water. As I wandered back to the stream to pump, a light drizzle began to fall. After pumping for over an hour, the rain had not stopped. Bud, who was right behind us for most of the day decided to tent at the suspension bridge site. He had a military style water filter which pumped 2 liters in about 5 minutes. It was taking me almost 30 minutes to fill one Nalgene.

We decided, still exhausted from the start of our adventures to stay the night at the lean-to we were already chilling at. We read, played cards and for the first time in our camping careers, simply relaxed at a campsite for the day (finished hiking around 2 or so). It turned out to be a really nice time, watching the rain fall from our cozy shelter.

day 2: 4.8 miles. 2 day total: 18 miles.

A hummingbird, Jeanette's totem for the hike, visited me while I was pumping water. I t was shiny green, a bit iridescence and tasted an orange flower.

Many toads! a land of toads

found a piece of stoneware, left it at Hamilton Stream Lean-to.