Date: 2007-07-16
From: RPH SHELTER

To: TELEPHONE PIONEERS SHELTER
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: scattered clouds

From: RPH ShelterTo: Telephone Pioneers ShelterToday's Mileage: 16.6Total Mileage: 1430.1Eula, a young thru hiker came in around 8:00 PM last night. We were already in our tents and we left before she was up this morning. It rained a lot in the night so again we were very glad we had stayed at the shelter for the night. We were on the trial by 6:30 AM. It was a beautiful cool morning and it made for good walking. The trail was very nice in the morning as we traveled through a section of trail that was maintained by Ralph and Cathy Ferrus. It was the best maintained section of the trail we had been on since we started in Georgia. With the new, bright paint, the blazes seemed to jump out at you. The couple had also blazed some of the rocks (we were grateful, as most of the time you are looking down not up at the trees), there were switch backs (we haven't seen many of them since Virginia), most of the rocks had been taken off of the trail and were lined along the side, and there was a cut out where you could sit and rest. As a thru hiker it is so pleasant to come across such a well taken care of section of the AT. We had gotten off trail many times because we couldn't figure out where the trail went and lately we were always making sure we could see a blaze before we went on down the trail. The blazes are so important and you panic when you can't find one. So thank you Ralph and Cathy!We stopped for lunch at the Morgan Stewart Shelter and six people from the ATC Conference that was being held in New York came hiking in. We all talked for a long time as they were all people who had done sections but none had thru hiked. This shelter, like RPH, had a hand pump for water, but you still had to treat or filter the water. We saw more water today than we had for awhile, so that was a good sign. We hiked on and stopped for another break. While sitting on a rock a older man walked by wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans with no pack. It was the third man we have seen in New York that has made us feel uneasy. We quickly hiked on and stayed alert and close together for the rest of the day. We walked by Nuclear Lake (It was the site of a nuclear fuel-processing facility until 1972 but has since been given a clean bill of health) and made jokes about two headed geese etc, but they say you can swim in it and drink the water, but I would not do it. We packed our water in from Morgan Stewart as the next shelter has no water again.We arrived at the Telephone Pioneers Shelter (built by the White Plains Council of the Telephone Pioneers of America) around 5:00 PM, and actually felt pretty good for such a long day. LT (Life Traveler) was in the shelter. He was told just yesterday, by an emergency room doctor, that he has Lyme disease so he is resting and taking it easy! I think I would be in a hotel if I had just found that out. Calamity and I need to be careful and constantly monitor each other for the tell tale bulls-eye bite. LT had a classic one on the back of his leg, but I guess he ignored it for awhile. We also read in a journal that Yorky had it too. I would hate to have to stop for that reason.