Went on my first Appalachian Mountain Club hike today.  It was a lot of fun.  I drove up to Cold Spring and two groups, a slow group and a fast group, met at the rail station.  I signed up for the fast group (level 4) first, but then changed my mind when I saw that the fast group people looked like marathon runners.  So I switched to the slow group (level 2).  There was no level 3, which is probably where I am at.  From the rail station, we drove to the trailhead and started hiking right away.  There were 19 of us, including the group leader, Al, and the "sweep", Jacque.   The group leader was a character, cracking jokes all the time, but also very clear about rules - "no whining", "drink lots of water", etc.  The sweep stays at the back of the group and the leader at the front.  It's a pretty efficient system for keeping everyone together.  Most people in the group seemed to be in their 40's, 50's and 60's, so I was probably the youngest one.  Even the fast group seemed to be in their 40's.  We hiked the same peak twice from 2 different sides, for a total of just over 6 miles and about 2000 ft of total elevation, in just over 3 hours, not including 1 hour of breaks and waiting for the group to catch up.  The scenery was amazing at some points, with nice views of the river valley and breakneck ridge.  We had lunch at an abandoned mansion.   I spoke with a Taiwanese woman during lunch, who is a novelist.  After the hike, I was the only person who was driving back to NYC so I gave 3 people a ride, two older women and Jacque.  I dropped them off at midtown.  Overall, it was a good introduction to the AMC and I think I am likely to go on another hike.  There is actually a young members section for people in their 20's and 30's and I already signed up for their mailing list.  They are actually hiking breakneck ridge tomorrow, at level 3, but I may be too tired to go. 

This Wednesday, I'm supposed to have dinner with a girl from match.com.  She is 24, really pretty and intelligent.  Will keep you updated.

Right now, I'm reading "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson, which is a travelogue of backpacking the Appalachian Trail.