New York, New York...it's a wonderful town...but the trail is better!

This past week has been busy with work for me and hiking for our fearless heroes Pace and Porter. On Thursday Dreamer went to the "big city" for a board meeting and then a great fundraiser for the Preservation League of New York State. I did a little "hiking" on the High Line in New York City. It is a great elevated park that was an old rail line. If you get to NYC it' worth a visit.

The best part of my trip to the city was that I knew I was going to see the guys the next day. The original plan was to meet them at a specific trail head and then I would hike into the shelter and stay over night with them. Best laid plans don't always work out the way you expect. There was a large storm system over the area with heavy rains and lots of lightning. Porter called me to say that they would stay a bit longer in the shelter Friday morning and I should meet them around 11AM to pick them up. With coordinates entered into my car's GPS unit, I was spot-on finding the trail head.

To kill time, I put on some purple nail polish, whacked a deer fly that had the nerve to bite me, and talked to a couple of day hikers. Finally, across the field they came - Porter in the lead with a big smile and a welcoming hug for me. I met Deva and got a big hug from my old pal Pace. It was so great to see them looking so good. I shared some home made chocolate-chocolate chip cookies that disappeared fast. (Except for the batch I accidentally made with Southwestern style Eggbeaters - woops, was that a red pepper in that cookie? Deva liked them though.)

View of the turnstile, our hikers in the distance.

Here they come!

We found a hotel in Chester, NY about 15 minutes away and stayed the night. As the designated trail angel that weekend, Porter and I picked up three other thru-hikers that he had wanted to reconnect with. Upstate, Caboose, and Loop Hole had gotten stuck in the big rain storm earlier that afternoon and were thrilled when Porter asked if they would like to come and stay at the hotel with us.

Loop Hole, Caboose, & Upstate (Caboose and Upstate are married.)

On Friday night Porter, Pace, Deva, and I went to the Lobster Pier where we celebrated my birthday. Porter then resupplied at the grocery store across the road and Deva went to a local fair that was also across the street in the parking lot.

Deva and her friend on a ride at the fair.

On Saturday, I dropped Porter, Pace, and Deva back at the same location I had picked them up at the day before. The timing was perfect because in came "AT Royalty", 501. If you remember, the guys met 501 back toward the start of their hike. He is the man that wrote the AT guide Porter and Pace are using.

Since I was going to meet them all at another trail head, Deva and 501 emptied pretty much everything out of their backpacks except water and food and "slack packed" 15 miles. It was a treat for them to have a light pack.

Deva, Pace, 501 and Porter as they start their 15 mile hike.

Meanwhile, it was back to the hotel to pick up Upstate and friends to bring them back to their trail head to start their day of hiking. It was great meeting these hikers. Keep up the great work everyone!

Loop Hole, Caboose, and Upstate   (Caboose and Upstate are married.)

With time to kill before I met Porter, Pace, Deva, & 501 at another trail head, I went shopping for a deluxe trail dinner of cold cuts, cheeses, and bread with S'mores for dessert. I hiked in 2.1 miles with Porter and crew to Wildcat Shelter. We had our feast and then I played my Irish tin whistle for them. They applauded, but I think they were just being nice. ;-)

Porter, Dreamer, and Pace sampling the spread for dinner.

Dreamer, Pajamas, Deva, and 501 at Wildcat Shelter in NYS.

The weather was mild Saturday night and the bugs were fine until around 4:00 a.m. when the mosquitoes decided to dive bomb all of us. Pace gave up and put up his tent outside the shelter. Strangely enough, when he left, they all followed him and stopped bugging us. Thanks Pace for taking one for the team.

Saturday morning we all packed up. Unfortunately Dreamer could only dream about hiking with the guys as we split at the trail head and went in opposite directions. Pace and Porter heading north and Dreamer heading south and back to her car.

I have more to write about but since this is already long, I'll finish it later this week.

Next up: Trail Angel Alex!

Diva, Alex, Pace & Porter. We will hear more about Alex this week.

Happy trails,

Ground Control a/k/a Dreamer

Don't forget you can click on the title at the top for a larger map.

Porter and Pace Appalachian Trail 6/21/11

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