The Northville Placid Trail, 2002

8/30/02

7:00 pm Plumley's lean-to: Woke up a bit late this morning, had nothing to do with the pints of Guinness last night I am sure. Started this morning's hike in good spirits and stopped at a group of lean-to's along the lake and had a great lunch and a very refreshing swim. Large rocks on the shore of the lake provided a nice little spot to eat and catch some sun. I then pushed on to the end of Long lake. It is very pretty here, although it does see a lot of activity from boats and the like. Campers never seem too far away. For a part of today's hike I actually picked up two companions. A golden and a black lab. They followed me for about a half mile then turned back and went to wherever it was they called home. I also met an ecologist from St. Lawrence University and his son. Very interesting duo, had some good conversation before a boat came to pick them up. Shortly after they left, a plane touched down by the lean-to and a family of 3 jumped out to begin their hike into the Cold River area. I am about 4.9 miles behind pace now but should make it up.

* Trail Tip: Some of the lean-to's have journals that the hiker can read through and write in. It is really interesting to read what other campers have to say and sometimes you can get funny stories, or drawings or even some poetry. At times however, these journals can also prove to be a valuable source of information about wildlife and forest conditions (ie: bear sightings). I suggest reading them when provided.

A few of the journals were about a year old, and when reading back through the months I came upon some 9/11 entries. Whew, that day and world events were just about the last thing on my mind, and I imagine it was for these hikers on that day as well. What must it have been like for them to hear about the terrorist attacks from other people they happened to pass on the trail? - the fear, the questions, the sorrow. These folk didn't have CNN giving them up to the minute reports, they didn't see the tragedy unfold before them, and yet, from reading their entries, I could tell they felt the same way we all did. A bit lost, confused and hurt. I truly hope they were able to continue their hike, but I am not sure I would have been able to.