Saturday April 17, 2004

Peekskill to Route 6 and 17 (about 20 shy of Middletown over the
x'.^%$% Ramapo Mountains.)

It was a wonderful, but difficult day. Sort of like those science fiction characters that change from a gorgeous person to a monster.

We left Bear Mountain with regret and backtracked to Peekskill (by car). Met some interesting people in the city, although if you're from New York or Philly (as they were) Peekskill is a town, not a city. The walk up to the Bear Mountain Bridge is steep and long, but the views make it worth while. I was trying out the camera for the first time and took a zillion pictures. (It's a great spot to photo trains travelling snaking along the Hudson. The bridge itself is a wonderful old structure.

But on the other side, I had to cross two sets of Ramapo mountainetts, although they felt like the Alps by the time I finished. It was all highway-style walking with no real landmarks to break up the walk and with cars wizzing by. My feet and legs were aching by days end. So was my face. I forgot the sun screen again and to compound the stupidity, I refused to go to any drug store that required more than a 20-second detour. I figured I'd find something with it's front door right on route 6 instead of way back in a shopping center. I was wrong. (See George, that's not so hard to say.)