Hal the Coyote

Returning the Spirit of Hal to the Wilderness
Monuments (1-6) (7-12) (12-17) (18-23)

Monument #7 Poem
location: Tibbets Brook Park, Yonkers

The note was left for Hal on an Old Croton Aqueduct building. The OCR used to supply all the water for NYC, truly an engineering marvel. I liked the idea of hiking towards our water source. This was near the end of my first day and I was beginning to worry about where to sleep. I walked on to Sarah Lawrence College, hoping they could put me up. They were very kind, but didn't have a place. They did however offer me a ride back to a motel I had planned as a back up (very close to this monument). I had rules to move under my own power, but I accepted this one car ride, because I had already walked the distance, and would walk it again the next day.

This was one of the little friends that was given to me. I put the mummified animals where I slept. They are bound up by love and warmth. This wasn't a great motel, but it was exactly on the route I was taking. Incidentally, if you are interested in doing a walk like this out of New York City, I would not recommend taking the route I took. It was specifically designed for LAH, there are safer and probably more scenic variations. I can tell you about them if you email me.

This is one of a few monuments about being a foreigner in a foreign land, or maybe just a tourist.

One of the books I read in preparation for LAH is called "The Wild Within" by Paul Rezendes, a master animal tracker and x-motorcycle gang member. He compares animal scat and urination markings to the most basic types of graffiti- those commonly found in bathrooms, i.e. "Joe was here" as a primal method of voicing individual existence. Animals, like humans even go through the same efforts of "crossing out" other markings (by marking over them) to assert their dominance.

Meerkat friend! My feet were hurting so bad at this point. I found an old sole of someone's boot on the trail and put it in my right shoe. It helped a bit. I spent much of my lunch at Kensico Dam Plaza popping blisters. The shoe thing remained a problem throughout the rest of the trip.


	click here to hear the poem read