We started out the day in a drizzle, but by the time we got about 2 miles in the rain stopped and the skies started to clear. We started this hike on private property and walked back into NYC land. We hit an old road bed and really started making good time before the stinging nettles got high and we had to start bushwhacking through them for a short stretch. We both got pretty cut up, but by the time we reached Loomis Brook the sky had turned blue and we crossed the slick and swift stream to the road.
Stinging nettle bushwhacking time!
We had a beautiful view of the Cannonsville Reservoir again. Jim and Monica told us last night that five towns were flooded to create this one in the 1960s. It's a really sad subject for a lot of the locals here and the city buys up every single piece of property they can to make more reservoir.
The Cannonsville Reservoir
From here, we went back uphill to our first lean to in several days... To our surprise we saw walkable trails and a very nice place! This is where our hike is changing again. The trail from here all the way to Cold Spring Lean to was beautiful - big bridges over the mud, bridges over the streams, paths cut into the high grass, switchbacks... This is the first time since we started a week ago we have seen maintenance like this since we were on Slide Mountain in the Catskills. We had walkable trail and made it to our stopping point very early in the afternoon. After yesterday's 21 miles an easy day sounded great. We will have a few easy days coming up now if the terrain stays great like this.
I even had time to do yoga tonight in the shelter before dinner!!
Warrior 2 takes root in Cold Spring Shelter