Well today was not like yesterday. High winds woke me up this morning. It was the kind of morning that makes you want to stay in the warm bag. It was chilly and the tent was thrashing about like crazy in the gusts. But I got up. I have a lot of walking to do these days. The cold air made for a good crust to snowshoe on.

As soon as I left the cover of the pines, i really felt the full force of the wind. Today’s 12 miles were mostly either through or next to open fields. I spent most of the time leaning side ways into the wind. By late afternoon the sun started to poke out and the wind cut down by half.

At the end of the day I walked in to hornell, ny. The trail cuts through the northern end of the town. I walked by “country kitchen” and couldn’t resist going in for a burger. After that I walked on across town and over the river to where the trail starts up again on a old railroad bed. I had just walked maybe a 100 yards off the pavement and heard a car horn. I turned around and there was Pat Monahan (President of the FLT). The timing was perfect. He was just driving by after work and looked down the trail and happened to see me! So we chatted a bit and laughed about the randomness of the meeting place. We made plans to meet up tomorrow afternoon so I can stay at his home again. I’m looking forward to that! It was brisk out and getting dark so we parted ways. I headed down the tracks and up a hill to find a flat spot for the tent.

Ended up setting up after dark but it wasn’t bad. By this point i have the camping part dialed in pretty well. I have developed a system that works for me. I can be in my bag, cooking dinner outside the tent door within 7 minutes easily. Right now i can see the town lights below. A train came tooting through a while ago.

I’ll try to add photos but it’s been a real struggle lately. The phone app has been crashing when uploading the images. Sorry about that.

It took me a while to fall asleep last night. Must have been after 2am. I had a lot on my mine. It was a pretty stressful weekend all in all, what with hospital and the news from back home. Being alone with so much time to think adds to the difficulty. However I’m getting better at foreseeing negative thoughts and have been make efforts to think positively. A positive mental attitude makes all the difference in the world.

Woke to a beautiful morning. One of the best yet. Crisp 20 Degs with clear blue skies. It was perfect weather. Cold enough that the the snow firmed up for good walking and sweating was minimal. The crust on the snow was crunchy and didn’t stick to the shoes at all. It was a nice change from yesterday.

Walked through farm country all day. Went over several big ridges that provided scenic views. I was able to look back and see where I was yesterday. It was fun to have the reward of the view after the climb up. I took a moment on top of each to enjoy it.

I saw the Burt hill leanto near the end of the day but continued on up out of the valley. Camped on top of the next ridge in the pines. Worked out well. I ended up setting the tent up while the sky turned orange with the sunset. It was a good one tonight.

Walked 11 miles today. The inflammation has decreased in my hip. Still tender but much better. The baseball pressure point massage technique is helping to workout the knots in my muscles. The ball even glows in the dark. Bonus. Haha.

Well I feel slightly better and spring is just around the corner. I just have to continue being patient/stubborn and then it will all work out swell. So here is to 60 days of a snowy journey in New York. It’s been tough but good.

Walking through Hornell, NY tomorrow.

My Monday started with a big rain storm. Lasted all night and into the morning. I waited. Hoped it would stop. It eventually did and then I broke down camp quick and hit the trail. The snow is mushy and heavy from the rain. Creeks and rivers are running very high and brown.

I hiked the five miles down the trail into bath. Picked up some new garbage bags to use as a rain-cover for my pack and a baseball to do some pressure-point therapy on hip.

It’s a decent road walk south of town from hwy 86. Walked another 6 miles or so then snowshoed up a ridge a couple miles to find a good campsite above a creek. Walked through big farm land all day. It was scenic even though it was sort of a gloomy day.

I’m wishing I was able to be at bens funeral tonight. Just ain’t possible though. All day I thought about how lucky I am just to have walked today even if it was rainy and gloomy. Darn lucky. I have no complaints.

Today I didn’t move camp. I rested like my doctor ordered me to. Staying in a sleeping bag all day is more difficult then it sounds. After a while, sleep and reading get sort of dull believe it or not. So I’m looking forward to walking a full day tomorrow. Laying in the bag all day allows for to much time to think. Thought about all the fun and dumb times with Ben during college. Lots of good memories but still bummed out.
He used to get so excited talking about this trek. It just ain’t right. Couldn’t have been more wrong on Friday when I posted that my luck was turning around. I’d like to take that back now.

Well tomorrow is another day. This big walk-about must continue on.

This morning started with cocoa, eggs and a pile of bacon prepared by Pat himself. Some how he knew how I like to start a day. Awesome. Good man.

We took off for the trail head after breakfast but in route Pat invited me to go to a scouting conference that he was presenting at today. It was on the way to the trail and sounded like fun so I was game. After all, it was a conference about backpacking and the scouting program gave me a lot of opportunities when I was younger. It felt nice to give a back even if it was only a few minutes. It was fun to share the adventure and discuss my equipment. We met with two classes before noon then we headed back out onto the road towards the trail. Ate a bigmac and a chocolate shake on the way… I am partial to chocolate shakes.

At the road side we shook hands and parted ways. Back on the trail. Fair amount of a snow. I think we got almost 20 inches in the past week. Sure glad I have new snowshoes.

The walk started with a decent hill climb. I took it slow. I have been ordered by doctors, friends, strangers and my mom to take this weekend off so I only did 4 miles. The hip is still sore but is not nearly what it was two days ago. So the shot helped! We’ll find out in the next fee days just what exactly has changed. I passed a trail sign that said 186 miles to PA. Getting closer one step at a time.

Late last night I was notified that a friend died in a car crash back home last weekend. News travels slow on the trail. Still shocked and find it hard to believe. It has certainly filled my thoughts. I don’t want to go into detail but I also try hard to share my entire experience both physically and mentally so here it is.

It just isnt fair that he is gone for no good reason at all while I’m out adventuring. That will never make sense to me. why? It ain’t right. I doubt I’ll ever understand. I’m sorry man. I won’t forget the good times.

Im going to spend my night reading a borrowed book from Maryellen (Pats wife). It’s called “zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance”. It looks interesting. It’s also a good thickness and a decent weight. I take all three of these factors into account when choosing reading material these days. It can’t be to heavy but then it can’t be to thin. Wouldn’t want to risk running out of pages.

I want to thank the Monahans again for kindness. I do believe this will be a turning point in my health for the better. So thank you very much.

Good night.

Last night I got a voice mail from Pat Monahan offering to pick me up and take me to doctor in Corning. I then made the decision to take him up on it and called him right back. We made plans to meet in the morning on county road 13 at 9am.

So this morning we met on the side of the road in yet another blizzard. The weatherman called for 12inches of more snow and we got it. Turns out Pat had already set me up with an doctors appointment for today (I do believe his “trail angel” wings grew an extra ten feet today). He did really did a big favor for me today. Thanks again Pat and MaryEllen!

Just as we were eating lunch, the doctors office called and said the office was closing early due the bad weather but if we came quick, I could be checked out. So off we went! Got there in five minutes and hardly waited but a few minutes in the waiting room. The first doctor sent me off to get an X-ray of my hip. After the xray, I was sent up to the third flow to another doctor. The exam only took 15 minutes. X-rays showed no damage to the joint so it was decided it was inflammation in the tendons. The doctor asked what I wanted. I replied “cortisone shot”. So that’s what I got. I sure hope I made the right choice! Not exactly used to getting what I want from a doctor. It sort of threw me off guard actually. Maybe my luck is changing around.

almost forgot! the crazy part is that I got out of the doctors office 5 minutes before the building was locked up for the weekend! If anything had taken any longer I would of had to wait until Monday. So yep, got lucky today.

The doctor warned me to take the next couple of days easy and that the hip would most likely be sore from the injection. So I plan to listen to the doc and hold back the next couple of days. I want to let the shot do it’s works. It’s worth a shot right? Sorry that was a bad pun but i couldn’t resist.

This evening the Monahan’s took me out to Sorges for great lasagna and green salad. Both were a real treat. After dinner we went over to a book store where i bought a new book called “the river of doubt”. All in all, it was an extremely productive day which was only made possible by the kindness of the Monahans. I certainly wont forget it.

Also, my new MSR snowshoes and Neo-Air sleeping pad from Cascades Designs show up today by UPS. Thanks to Nathan Hamm over at the company headquarters. He sure does get things done quickly! I really do appreciate it. Looking forward to putting it all to use tomorrow.

Today was a good day. Lots of stuff that required attention got it. I have hope that this will be a turning point in my health. It’s about time things turn around so I’m excited to walk on tomorrow and find out.

Woke up to a sore hip without even getting out of the bag this morning. Decided to rest today instead of making it worse. Gotta get the inflammation to calm down somehow.

I spent the morning using my phone trying to set up a appointment with the hospital that’s only 5 miles away in bath, ny. But they were the most unhelpful people I ever talked to. Seems like out of state patients that are walking cross country don’t count. They just ran me in circles connecting me to the next person or with different answers. And that was just to set up an appointment! So the heck with them. If scheduling is that difficult then I don’t want them making important decisions on my personal health.

I’m better off resting in my tent in the woods doing stretches and icing. So thats what I’m gonna do.

Well where do I start today…. Right now I’m in my tent temporally repairing my snowshoes for the next few days. The binding hinge snapped two miles into the day while i was walking through powdery snow on top of a ridge. So I made up a new hinge out of zipties and shock cord. Should get me through the next couple of days until a brand new set gets here from MSR.

I called up MSR today after it happened and their response was awesome. They hooked me up with a new set of shoes and put them in the mail this afternoon. Should be here tomorrow or the day after. Seriously cannot ask for better customer service than that. MSR is an american based company that truly backs up their products. I have a lot of respect for a company like that. That’s hard to find these days.

So I’m not worried about the gear failure. Its a bummer but stuff happens. The walk goes on.

I want to thank Nathan over at MSR for all of his help. Darn good fellow.

Now I should rewind to the start of the day. This morning after i checked out of the village tavern, i met Pat Monahan. He is the president of the Finger Lakes Trail Club and a super nice guy. He offered to pick me up this morning and take me out to the trail head on his way to work. Saved me a couple miles of walking back to the trail from town. It was a great way to start the day. Thanks Pat! I appreciate it.

He also offered to pick me up this next Sunday night. Itll be a good chance to visit and to resupply. So I’m looking forward to that.

Today I started walking where I left off on Monday at the windingstair road trail head. The trail climbed a big ridge and followed it for several miles before dropping back into the valley. The view of the lake and surrounding wineries was purdy in the bright sunlight. Crossed the valley to the west and climbed the next ridge to the top. On the way up the trail followed the rim of a big gorge with a river at the bottom. The scenery was worth the effort of trudging through the snow without snowshoes.

A lot happened today so I only made it 7 miles. Hopefully tomorrow is full of good simple walking. But you know my luck. Anything could happen!

It a strange feeling be able to relax for a bit. I held ice on my hip quite a bit throughout the day. Also did a lot of stretching and using my water bottle as a massage roller.

Picked up my package at the post office. Got a few external battery packs for the phone. Should be able to stay better connected and post more photos now.

Everything is dried out and clean so tomorrow I’ll check out and head back out on the trail. We’ll just have to see how it goes once I’m on the trail.

I’ll let you know tomorrow night.

Hey everyone! Sorry about missing a post yesterday! My battery ran out. I’ll try to fill in the blank best I can.

Yesterday I woke up in the fantastic camp site in the hemlocks near Monterey road. The air was crisp and the sun was shining. The day started with a good climb over ridge then down to moss hill leanto. This area was full large ravines and small creeks which made for lots of things to look at while walking. I enjoyed it.

The trail did a curve to the north through farm land and more rolling hills. Passed many old foundations and one 1820′s cemetery. I have no idea who this people were but I can only imagine how tough they must of been. Early settlers, native Americans and explorers, all make my adventure look like a simple walk around the block. I have a lot of respect for the character they must of had to live the lives they did.

Hiked on past the cemetery to the north and set up camp on an old two track road with more foundations. Walked about 13 miles all in all. Hip was sore as heck but progress is progress.

Late last night it started snowing. Woke up several times and knocked the snow off the tent. There was over 6 inches of new snow by sunrise.

I packed up quick and continued on towards hammondsport. The last long hill before the town was tough only because of my hip. it needs some r&r. On the way down the west side of the ridge I found a trail closure sign with instructions for a detour. all i could think about was coffee, eggs and bacon so i hustled best I could. Ended up being about a 10 mile day. And the omellete was totally worth it.

After i ate, I went the library to plug in my phone. I was then able to google search a motels. Turns out half the town is shut down for the winter season but I found a room above the village tavern at a discount price. I gladly took the room. The grocery store and post office are both within a 100 feet. Hammondsport is a great hiker town. Everything is within walking distance!

Tonight i washed all my damp and stinky clothes at the laundromat and went grocery shopping. I also put my gear spread out around the room to air out. I am currently still hunting for the air leak in my sleeping pad. Almost to the point where i should just buy a new one so that I can sleep full nights again.

My plan is to have a zero day tomorrow. Haven’t had a zero day in several weeks I think. Going to try to give the inflammation in my hip a chance to calm down. If it doesn’t calmed down by the weekend im going to find a physician to investigate it. If only my body could heal, I could start walking long days. I can hardly wait for that day! But for now I have to be patient. Although the fact is that patience has never been a character trait of mine but I’m learning.

Alright, more tomorrow. Good night.