"Holla!" from Catawba Shelter, VA. Tag and I just had an epic game of frisbee. We were casually tossing the lid back and forth, prepared to call it quits fairly soon and begin our day's hike, when Coach discovered that his package wouldn't arrive in the nearby town of Newport until at least tomorrow. This, in addition to his full-fledged blister situation, immediately convinced Tag and me that a zero was in order. The free time really helped us focus on, and invest in, our frisbee skills; we've been banking shots around the trees for at least two hours now.
Now where were we...?
We thanked the Cobbs one last time and moved onward, excited for the upcoming detour to NYC, where we would stay at my brother's new pad with his super-cool/accommodating girlfriend, Lisa, and roommates, Matt and Kat. From Salisbury, CN, we hiked to Kent, where I downed half a gallon of Chocolate soy milk before accompanying the gang, plus Moose n' Easy, to a pizza joint. The waitress, like most ladies these days, was remarkably distracting for myself and my fellows.
We hitched out of Kent just before sunset and walked a short ways to the nearest shelter. Little did I know that the most horrific night of my entire life awaited me there. Besides a few mosquitoes, which probably spawned from the stagnant puddles of a nearby creek, a fleet of invisible something's (I presume bugs) tormented me all night long, attacking any exposed skin they could find. I hid myself under the sleeping bag and, ignoring the heat of the night, fell asleep.
But no. The temperature managed to wake me up and, emerging from my sarcophagus, I discovered that I had thoroughly soaked the bag in sweat. Besides Moose's campfire, which had escalated into a strobing blaze during my unconsciousness, I thought the invisible bugs might have infested the shelter, so I bailed out of there, leaving a body-length wet mark behind, and set up on the ground behind it. Enclosed in my hammock's bug net (not strung up), I alternated among countless positions, constantly shifting attention from one stress factor (balance, bug net tension, warmth?) to another (muscle fatigue, claustrophobia, clothing distribution?).
Miraculously, I awoke with my sanity.
Originally, We intended to do an 18-mile day to the Appalachian Trail Railroad Station, a tiny platform along the trail, so we could board the 7:30 ride to Grand Central Station. However, I couldn't reach Jesse to inform him of our arrival (turns out I had the wrong number), so we decided to do a shorter day, bypass the the station the next day (it only runs on weekends), and take the train out of Pawling, NY.
We lolly-gagged all day, taking generous peak chills, a relaxed river-side lunch, and some fierce, highly-stylized noodle battles (a few kayakers witnessed the action). It was a sluggish day- overcast, humid- "poopy"- if you will- so we were eager for distractions.
Around 4:45, we rolled into what might have been that night's shelter. We snacked, then I tried reaching my brother some more, before calling my mom to catch up. She told me that Jesse expected us sometime that night! We could still make the 7:30 train, 6 miles away, if we moved fast. The prospect of being whisked into the city before the day ended revitalized our momentum. At 5:20, we headed off. Power walking the uphills and jogging the downhills, we managed to totally overcompensate and arrive around 7:00. It felt like some heinous military drill.
We found T-Mellow, Moose n' Easy chatting with a couple day hikers. We bid Moose n' Easy farewell, knowing that they would be well ahead before we returned to the trail. In the heat of the moment, T-Mellow hopped aboard and joined us on our New York escapade.
The train ride was a victory cruise to our long-awaited destination.
The glared windows only revealed the tops of trees and the outlines of buildings against the night sky. The train ducked underground before New York was visible. Exiting the train, it was more like we had teleported, and not gradually transitioned from the familiar outdoors to this seemingly impossible subterranean railroad platform. Climbing the stairs and stepping into the monumental, arched lobby of Grand Central Station, buzzing with hundreds of people, all types and styles, completed the effect. I had a moment of vertigo distinct from that of much larger mountains and valleys, but comparably powerful due to the scope of human reach, represented in the architecture, and the promise of the city, its home.
We were all giddy and started to laugh. We were ready to get stimulated.
Of course, the whole city's abuzz with human activity- industry and culture and rhetoric and coordination and social posturing- blown up to a scale that the modest woods and its critters can't match. My dad would've said, "Oh, the humanity!"
Outside (are you ever "outside" there?), we were struck by the cry of a bagpipe-player, and down the sidewalk, listened to a jazzy saxophonist. Each musician had their own bubble of spectators and, although their music was so loud, they could play within half a sidewalk's distance from each other, isolated by the muting effect of ambient traffic and babel. A bit frazzled, we tried to follow my iPhone's GPS to a cafe, but it was all glitchy, probably because of all the signals and obstructions in the area, so we wandered into a deli/grocery store. I simply couldn't decide what I wanted most, so I settled on a banana.
("WHAT YOU WANT!?")
("that banana.")
("OK, DOLLA FIFTY.")
("here ya' go, thanks.")
("NEXT!")
Tag got some cereal and milk- for ten bucks! This kind of thing would prove to be typical of the city, and even the whole state to a degree.
We chilled on the sidewalk and watched the crazy people in their ridiculous clothes. They seemed convinced of something important, or desirable, that dictated not only their destinations, but the manners they'd adopt for the commute. Some darted to appointments, some ambled too-cool-for-school with their phones or dates, and others bobbed along like Macy's Day balloons for all to see, parodies of fashion, full of cultural static and color and hot air (I'm going to go ahead and keep that sentence in there). They seemed to inhabit worlds of their own. They moved- and communicated- with and around each other, shooting their vectors in all different directions. (The AT's no more "real" than fashion or pop culture or whatever. It's less visual, that's all.)
Soon enough, Jesse materialized from the crowd. I was happy to reunite with someone from "the beforetime," especially my near-n'-dear bro. I was proud to show off his cool demeanor and witty antics to the crew.
We followed our groovy guide all the way home, where we were warmly received into a perfectly stationary living space. Our hosts couldn't have been cooler. We chit-chatted over drinks, bathed, and eventually passed out on the air mattress, excited for the days ahead.
The next morning we drew up an itinerary over coffee, donned some of Jesse's duds, and set off on a two-day urban safari ride.
At the Museum of Natural History, we gawked at dinosaur bones and extravagant, taxidermic displays. Tag and I were especially fascinated by Native American survival techniques, weapons, and smoking implements. The Hall of Biodiversity blew me away for the second time in my life.
Afterward, we got some 'za (pizza) and made our way to Central Park. Everyone was getting fit and/or looking picturesque with their kids (except, as is always the case in NYC, for the visibly crazy and the homeless).
I separated to meet up with Carina, my good friend, currently studying at NYU. I was struck by how we had met in the fifth grade (I was her dad, a mad scientist, in the Cosmos Program's annual play) and then found ourselves leading drastically different lives, sharing information on our old friends, something that, largely, has been scattered and exists in the beforetime (December will be glorious).
That night, the Bastards (with T-Mellow, an honorary member) and Jesse & Co. hit the town! We bar-hopped, saw the hipsters, bar scenes, and some bands. Tag and I enjoyed the view of Manhattan from Brooklyn (probably my favorite attraction of the whole trip).
As intended, we passed out too late and awoke too early. While the others went to Chinatown, I headed for Columbia University to visit Blake, my friend from preschool. I relied too heavily on my faulty GPS and got lost within the subway system, but after consulting a map (the trail's taught me a lot, but not that much), I finally surfaced at Columbia, only two hours (or so) late! The Columbia campus is by far my favorite. I liked checking it out in the rain.
Some more confused subway navigation, a game of phone tag, and wandering in the rain, and I met up with Carina to get food and hang with her college buds. Mamoun's Mediterranean restaurant was just the cheap New York joint I'd been pining for (awesome tamarind smoothie).
I wound up in Times Square on my adventure home. It was practically empty and entirely quiet. It was magical to have it to myself, with all the volume turned down, and the rhythms of the cycling ads, the colors diffused into the drizzle, playing in all directions.
New York was phenomenal, but we were all satisfied by the second day. We rode the commuter train to Pawling, NY, somehow more exhausted than when we arrived.
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