Training update Jul 24, and a new Hiking plan

A good week of biking, I biked into work all 5 days for a total of 112 miles, I’ve worn out my rear brakes and replaced them Friday.

For hiking this weekend I plan to do two 10 mile hikes on Sat and Sun, trying to train for the 6 day hike in Tanzania. With one big exception, the daily hikes while climbing Kilimanjaro will mostly be around 10 miles: 13, 6, 9, 8, 19 (summit day, large descent), 9.
After 4 hikes over the past weeks on the Appalachian Trail (AT) near the Delaware Water Gap at the NJ/PA state line, this weekend will I will be hiking in different locations. Saturday I hiked through the Watchung Reservation, took the 10 mile white blazed Sierra trail from the Lake Surprise parking lot South, made a few side hikes along the way, and over 4 hrs 15 min, I took 23000 steps. Since I take about 2000 steps per mile while hiking, the day was probably about 11 miles. The most interesting part was along Green Brook, the trail passed through the ruins of old mills that once employed about 400 people, hard to believe the small stream could provide enough water power to employ that many folks. Unlike the AT, the trail was mostly on hard packed dirt instead of rocks, so a bit easier hiking. On the other hand it was over 90F and humid, making the hike challenging nonetheless. (It was so humid I was able to wring sweat out of my shirt).

At the end I was surprisingly tired (after all I did 20 miles last week), had a few pain points on my feet, and my calf muscles were pretty sore. I wonder if today's pain will affect tomorrow's planned hike.

A few more “naked eye” birds while hiking: Eastern Wood Pewee (2), Flicker (7), Swainson’s Thrush, Red-tailed Hawk, and Carolina Wren.

Sunday I will do a 10 mile hike in Bear Mountain State Park NY. I will be starting near where the AT crosses the Hudson River (it slowest point) then climb up Bear Mountain (1200 ft ascent), then travel southwest to West Mountain (600 ft ascent). My AT guide indicates there will be some nice views from the tops of the mountains.