At the New Luntz exit in NY, I made a new cardboard sign, a middle school principal Dan stopped immediately to offer me a ride. He was very excited about my traveling, and shared his own plans to convert a van into a living space and drive around the country working for Habitat For Humanity when he retires in a few years. I mentioned I was on my way to the mountains for a couple nights, and he highly recommended the Indian Head wilderness, and offered to lend me his map, drive me to the trailhead, and pick me up again in a few days. I absolutely took him up on this

Will I climb this mountain?

// TODO: add picture of Plateau Mountain from viewpoint

Yes! What a view.

// TODO: add picture from top of mountain, with view completely obscured by fog.

The first night I got turned around on the way up to the lean-to, and set up my tent in the rain in the dark, and was unhappy. The next night I shared the lean-to with an extremely friendly group: Marty, his 11-year-old daughter Kyla, and their friends Danny and Dylan. Kyla showed me the small quartz rocks she’d been collecting on her way up Plateau Mountain. On my way up later, I found a chunk of pumice with some rounded pebbles stuck into it, completely out of place surrounded by slate- when I mentioned it to Kyla afterwards, she ran to her backpack and pulled out a notebook to show me where she’d jotted down “Volcanic Rock.”

Lessons from this: I need to find a way to dry myself off when it rains for consecutive days. My backpack is still too heavy. My aluminum can stove is not very efficient.

This morning I got a ride up to Albany, where I’m taking a slow day, hanging out at the library. Tomorrow: Boston.