Too Darn Hot

Day: 103 (July 6)
Starting location: Wildcat Shelter
Ending location: Antons on the Lake
State: NY
Miles today: 9.9
Miles total: 1,374.7

We knew that this week was going to be hot. But we had no idea just how difficult it was going to make hiking. We were on the trail by 8:15 and by 8:25 we were dripping with sweat. At one point during the day, I could litterally wring out my shirt with sweat. The heat was just oppressive, with a high temperature over 100 degrees. Jason and I recently traded our iPods for radios and almost every radio station was talking about the heat. It just so happens that during record heat in NY, there is also hardly any water sources on the trail that haven't dried up. Luckily for us there are lots of trail angels in the area that have dropped off jugs of water at most of the road crossings.

We hiked 8 hours and only made it 10 miles. Normally in that time frame we would have gone 16-18 miles. I just felt like we weren't making any progress. I am sure I was a real treat for Jason to be around because of my cheery attitude. To be honest, we were both pretty miserable. It was the first time on the trail that we were concerned about our situation considering the extreme heat and lack of water.

Finally, we hit a road crossing and we decided to call up the nearest hotel and have them pick us up. 30 minutes later we were in a cool hotel room with a king size bed. We had a nice night catching up on our blogs (sorry for the delay) and eating real NY pizza. We went from having a really bad day, to a really great night!

I hate to say it but the AT really got the best of us today!!




Our cute hotel on Greenwood Lake.


Conan + Backwards