Smoke on The Water

July 28 Mile 1445-
Yesterday was such a mellow day. Our shelter last night sat on what once was a large homestead. You could see where stone walls were built to hold livestock and a well was dug. The old iron water pump is left which is were we got our ice cold water. Today the temperature was a little warmer and the terrain about the same. This was our last full day in New York. The hiking has been tough, but we need the work before the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The people of NY have been very supportive with trail magic. Everyday we have had the joy of a cold soda or clean water. Before lunch we walked along the shore of Nuclear Lake. Until 1972, it was the site of a nuclear fuel-processing research facility. The deer and turtles we saw along it's banks look healthy, although the fish may glow at night. After our peasant lunch consisting of a tortilla filled with one jelly packet and 2oz of almond butter, we crossed a road with a guy in a 1979 Chevy camper with a sign "Tim's Hot Dogs". It was as if someone just handed me $100 bucks. I walked up to his fine establishment, with stuffed animal hot dogs as decorations, and said "I love you". We sat in the shade under his roll-out awning/walk-up window and had a hot dog with the works, chips, soda, and a candy bar. His wife had sent him with homemade potato salad and banana nut bread that he gave us for free. We rolled out into the sun and up our next hill regretting eating so much.
Some days are worst than others when it comes to bugs. Today was one of the worst. We used Skin so Soft, 25% DEET, and100% DEET, but didn't matter. The gnats and mosquitos hovered about 2 inches from our whole body all day. About every half mile one of us would have a suicide bomber gnat that would dive into you eyeball. I swear at one point I saw a gnat lick the DEET off my arm for a mosquito to shoot in and bite. By the end of the day we were so layered in bug repellent, they had no choice but to bite through our clothes...AND THEY DID!
We arrived at Wiley Shelter this evening for camp. Wiley also had a water pump, but was broken. To get water we had to use a shovel to pry the iron manhole cover off the cistern. After not smashing any fingers, we looked inside to find the water about 3 feet down. Shadow was able to stick his whole torso inside the cistern to fill our water containers up one at a time.


Country Mouse and Shadow still NOBO (North Bound)