Date: 2012-06-25
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: heavy intensity rain

New York seems to have it's own version of Bob and Tom. We'll call them Jim and Fred shall we, and boy do they love cliffs. As i climbed up and down mountains (CLIFFS) i wrote my own little script of how these two decided to route the trail.J: Hey! look at that. it;s a darn near vertical cliff. oh wow and look over there at the other side of this gorge, it's another steep cliff.F: hey, what if we send them down this cliff, then they'll get to climb that one?J: Yeah that would be cool, but look these cliffs are connected by a wooded area that doesn't have those cliffs, seems like we could just take them safely around that way. F: But then they wouldn't get to climb cliffs.J:You're right, they would hate that.Later that day:J:Wow that was hard!F: I know right. i think the best part was when we had to grab the tree roots and haul ourselves up.J: oh yeah, you mean in that section where there were no foot holds, hand hold or steps? you just had to balance you weight just right, trusting to the soles of your feet, and just scurry on up as fast as you could.F: or maybe the best part was that crevice with all that loose rock and you just had to scoot up it braced on either side. what a drop too! awesome.J: Hey Fred, what happens if it's wet though? Seemed to me it requires a lot of faith in the traction of the hikers shoes.F: Well maybe, but come on, I'm sure their gear isn't worn out at all and can handle it. Rocks are only slippery when they're wet. Plus when does it ever rain on the AT?J: Yeah, you're right. hey look more cliffs!I did wake up to find water falling from the sky this morning, but, it only started toward the later part of the night. It wasn't raining very hard, but I also didn't much feel like getting up and heading into it. so many people have smartphones out here and get weather radar that we all pretty much knew it was suppose to blow by and clear up by 1ish. we all packed up with very little enthusiasm and sat around chatting with the basic idea of giving it time to move on. but by 10am, I was too antsy and headed out anyway. good choice, as it was no longer raining, just some drips from the trees. At the road we had some great trail magic from Dos and her friend. This was followed by some really wonderful scenic parts of trail. I always imagined I wold enjoy NY and so far it's a go. there was this beautiful waterfall with stairs built right up it's side. the way the light was coming throughout the trees, the moss growth, and the noise of the falls, all mad ethos place seem magical and i half expected a fairy to flutter about as I walked through. this was followed by an easy woods walk through lots and lots of old stone walls, reminding me that all of this area was once heavily farmed. I got lucky and the rainstorm that blew in just missed me as I walked along a very pretty pond full of lilies. With more vertical climbs being thrown at us, I'm feeling the new demands on my body, which is a little sore from the higher leg lifts and plus up and down steep slopes.we did have a lot of cliffs that took us by surpass since no one ever really mentions them when talking about NY. in retrospect, i guess they were funnish but i spent most of the trail cursing them. probably because of al the wet rocks, these climbs were particularly difficult and scary. I had a very scary fall down a particularly dangerous descent known as Agony Grind. I slipped on a rock and it was only the fact that my shin caught on a rick and slid a foot and a half down, cutting and scraping me from ankle to knee, that saved me from a much further skull cracking fall. whatever, I didn't need that layer of skin anyway. yes, I had a little cry mostly with the shock of how much worse it could have been, sat down and started doing first aid just as runner showed up. Good guy that made sure i was absolutely okay and offered to hike with me some. he's much faster so i sent him on his way and slowly achingly made my way down the rest of the hill. unfortunately falls tend to do a lot of damage and with a now weaker leg, i ended up falling and slipping a few more times. This pretty much guaranteed that I would be limping the next few miles. luckily most of the rest of the day, while including some big hills, mostly went through some idyllic meadow like sections full of grasses and big towering trees. we also had the fun lemon squeezer rock formation which basically was a tonight path through some massive rock formations. at one point you came to a vertical rock twice as tall as a man with a white blaze right at the top. to the left was a blue blaze trail and sign that read, "the easy way". well of course if you're going to do that to us, we're going to be climbing up this damn rock. darn, can I ever resist a challenge? Te shelter tonight is one of the most beautiful locations on the trail with meadows, big trees, and rock slabs everywhere. Dorthy we're not in Kansas anymore. the change from southern to northern climate has brought a completely new landscape that certainly helps us all feel we're making good progress. I'm in a good mental place tonight and am once again enjoying almost every minute of this. more firework noises tonight as I rock myself to sleep.