July 15, 2004 - My 1st full day in NY was a great one. Was able to take lots of pictures. Nice blue skies and not too hot. The only bad thing about NY is not many water sources. The morning started off easy then I made it to the Lemon Squeezer. That was such a hard climb. You start off going in between these two boulders, just barely enough room to fit in. Then you come to these 2 huge rocks that you have to pull yourself up but the rocks get closer and closer together the farther you go in so you are squeezed in between. It was hard to pull myself up with my pack. Then there was this 6.5 foot vertical climb I had to do to get over the rocks; that was the hardest part of the Lemon Squeezer and it took the longest to do. Most of the day was hiking over these huge boulders. So it made for a very hard day. Then I came to Bear Mountain which was the hardest climb I had in NY so far. It was very steep. Then it was an easy climb down to the Bear Mountain Inn and the zoo. The zoo is the lowest point on the AT at 124 feet above sea level. Ate lunch at the lake and called Ben to set up our meet time for tomorrow. Left the park around 8:30 and had another 3 miles to go before camping for the night. Made it to the zoo and the gate was locked. You only have to go 1/10 of a mile in the zoo before crossing Hudson River, so I had to go around the zoo to get back on the trail. I also had to pay $1 to go into the zoo. Got back on the trail and crossed the Bear Mt bridge across the Hudson. Had to hike a little in the dark but not too bad. No one was at the campsite, so I had it to myself. 30.7 miles on the day.
