Tom,Steve and I spent a second day with two friends hiking through our area while thru-hiking the Appalachian trail. Today Cathy and Kate are slackpacking again, this time from Bear mountain through Harriman SP to Island Pond near the NYS thruway. The Hudson Valley is experiencing an Indian summer, complete with high humidity, so the climb up West mountain is a bit of a sweatfest while enjoying the views back to Bear mountain and the memorial tower. Typical AT thru-hikers, only interested in doing AT mileage, they choose to forgo a side trip out to West mountain shelter to get the view down to the Manhattan skyline.