July 26

Taking Cover

Woke up early, around 5:30am, thanks to our alarm clock, a.k.a. Tink.  It was just starting to rain, so I ate my cheese danish under the cover of my hammock tarp.  Slims, Tink, and I got packed up and started to head out, but Apache and Rainbow Eyes wanted to sleep in.  We got back to the AT, and were off hiking by 7am.  Nothing but dark clouds and rain for the next few miles.  It was slow going too.  The trail was still really rocky, typical of what we had experienced so far in NY, but now the rocks were all slick.  The rain had stopped by the time we got to Buchanan Mountain.  The rest of the morning was really nice, with more boulder hopping and doing some small climbing on the rocks.  At one point, coming down from Arden Mountain, Tink said she felt like her knees were "about to crack open".  All these ups and downs over all of these rocks and boulders were starting to take a toll.  With out hesitation, I blurted out the first thought that came into my head.  In all seriousness, I frankly replied, "I hope there's chocolate inside".  We both stopped and had a good laugh for a while at the absurdity of that comment.  I've been in the woods for too long.  I've reached the point where I wished my friend was made of chocolate.  Like she's a giant Easter bunny or something.  Wow.  We stopped for lunch in the early afternoon at Island Pond.  Beautiful, scenic place to take a break.  I dried my wet gear out in the sun, washed my arms and legs off in the water, and took a long lunch break.  The trail winded around the back side of the pond, and soon came to the "Lemon Squeezer".  This section of the trail made it's way through this really tight crack in a cliff face, then you had to hoist yourself up onto the rock, out of the crevasse.  Not too difficult.  Then the real challenge started.  Immediately following the squeeze, the trail hit a sheer rock wall, 10-15 feet high.  There was an 'easy way' trail that bypassed this obstacle, but we didn't do the easy way.  We each took turns, first tossing our poles up and over, then the packs came off and got tossed up to the top as well.  It was so much fun.  Next up, we crossed a trail intersection, where you could take the NY Long Path all the way to New York City, 52 miles away.  Pretty cool.  We're making good time today, in spite of the rocks, and in spite of a long lunch.  The terrain hasn't been easy, but it has been amazingly beautiful.  The woods are open and deep.  Just a maze of tree trunks, ferns, and grasses.  And of course, plenty of boulders to run around on.  We passed Fingerboard shelter, and continued on, walking over more huge slabs of grey rock.  In about 5 more miles, we were approaching the William Brien Memorial shelter, and had started hearing thunder in the distance.  Slims was waiting there for us as we came jogging down the trail.  Ten minutes later, the sky turned black as night.  The wind whipped up, with the strongest gusts I had seen on the trail yet.  Huge oak trees were bending like taffy.  This shelter was very old, but being built right into the side of the mountain, provided excellent cover in a strong storm like this.  It was built entirely of stone, and was almost like being in a cave.  Several other hikers were already there, and all the sleeping space had already been claimed.  Over the next hour or so, we saw two large trees snap and fall in the woods right in front of the shelter.  Scary stuff.  We hoped that Rainbow Eyes and Apache were okay.  Who knows when they started out.  We figured they hadn't started until it had stopped raining this morning.  The worst of the storm died down a bit around dusk, so Tink and I headed out into the rain to start setting up our campsites for the night.  She found a small, flat area for her tent.  I was close by with my hammock strung up between two trees.  The spacing wasn't great though.  My tarp set up was fine, but my hammock wasn't hanging very good since the trees I had selected were so far apart.  So in the rain, I broke everything down, moved all my gear, and tried again on two different trees.  Slightly better this time, but not great.  Oh well.  I stayed dry at least, and slept like a baby, falling asleep to the sound of the rain falling on my tarp.

Beautiful forest in Harriman State Park, NY.