Hoofing It

Kathy & I spent a glorious day hiking in the Palisades yesterday—a seven-mile hike that went downhill fast and uphill even more steeply. We got to see some gorgeous views of the Hudson River and the cliffs themselves. There was one overlook by a monument to the women's groups that saved the area from strip-mining that revealed a steep drop and a majestic view of the river.

The view from below.

But further along the hike—almost to the end of it—is a spot called Gray Crag, which is a jagged mass of gray rocks that's separated by a crevasse from the trail, so that you have to cross a bridge to reach it. It's here where the view was the most beautiful. Maybe it's simply the sense that fewer people have seen it. There are no handrails here, giving the impression that the only people to get to this point are the ones with enough sense not to fall over the side.

(We didn't fall over the side, in case you're wondering.)

It wasn't all gorgeous views, though. I hate to say I wasn't in a great mood for much of it. I blame it on my sinuses, which were providing me with a nearly unimpeded flow of what my dear friend Christoph would identify as "nasal mucus," but which you and I refer to as "snot." My lung capacity was fine, but my air intake was almost entirely by mouth, making the hike tougher for me than it should have been. By the end of the hike, not only were we almost out of water, but I was also rationing clean tissues from my left pocket. On the other hand, I had plenty of used tissues left to cure and ferment in my right pocket, and these were often brought back into service.

That was much more than you cared to know, I'm sure.

Anyway, the best part of the hike, even better than the view? The activity points I earned. Four hours of hiking gives you 17 activity points—enough to cover the sandwich and few handfuls of gorp I ate on the hike. And leaving me with lunch and dinner points for dinner. So a few hours later, I was staring at a half-rack of St. Louis-style barbecue ribs, thinking: I earned these.

And then, strangely enough, I went home and passed right out.

Rob