Date: 2015-07-01
From: Greenwood Lake, NY

To: Fingerboard Mountain, NY
Miles today: 17.0

With plans to be on the trail by 8:00am, I knew that wouldn't work when I woke and it was already 7:30am. I woke again at 8:00am to find that Moosehead was up and put of bed. I began getting ready, but Burnsides looked super comfy in his bed and insisted I nap. An hour later, and after a dream where I beheaded a rattlesnake chasing me on the AT, I woke to find Burnsides, too, had awaken and left the room. I gradually made my way upstairs to where Moosehead had prepared us each a plate of 3 fried eggs, the remaining chicken we had yet to devour, and grapes. It was a nice start to the morning.We hit the road soon after 11:00am and took Burnsides to the bus station. He'll be off the trail for the remainder of the week as he travels to Connecticut to visit friends for the holiday. Hopefully he'll hit the trail fres and be able to catch up again soon enough. We then returned to the trail, thanked Janice for allowing us to be bums for the past 36+ hours, and were on the trail by noon. Moosehead has several friends meeting him to hike a little beginning this weekend so our plans are to cover ~60 miles by Friday in order to meet the first round of friends on Saturday morning. With a late start today, our plan was to simply get as far as we could in half a day. My plan was to do whatever it takes to not destroy my feet again.The 17 miles we covered today consisted of generally easy terrain abbreviated by many abrupt walls of rock that had to be scaled every couple of miles. It'd be the most vertical change we'd have in a single day in some time. We began by climbing up and over the Eastern Pinnacles and Cat Rocks until we reached a scenic, cascading waterfall, Fitzgerald Falls, where we breaked for our first water and snack. Over the next few hours we'd scale Mombasha High Point, Buchanan Mountain, and Arden Mountain before reaching Island Pond. New York has a nice variety of terrain, already so much in the first ~25 miles that we've hiked through, making today a scenic hike even when under the canopy. Passing through sparse forests interrupted by large rock walls and occasional ponds, there was a lot to look at even without many overlooks.The coolest part of the day came when we Moosehead and I reached the Lemon Squeezer, a section of trail passing through a large vertical rock outcropping with barely enough room to squeeze through. The sides of the rock wall closed in on me, scrapingmat my pack, before it became top tight and I was momentarily wedged in. Fortunately the walls on either side drop as you squeeze through until you reach a point where you can climb up and out if unable to fit through.Up and over Island Pond Mountain, we momentarily stopped to watch a deer walk slowly nearby. My feet, though feeling every few steps throughout the day, responded nicely after the zero, allowing me to cover miles without the pain of a couple days ago. During the last ~2 miles, however, some pain did return and Moosehead would move ahead. I meandered along grabbing a few random pictures until we met again at Fingerboard Shelter. Not wanting to hike much off trail to the shelter, we instead continued on down the trail for another mile or so to our current location atop Fingerboard Mountain. We're the only 2 hikers set up along the lightly-wooded summit, covered in a thin, soft grass and occasional small boulders dotting the area. It's definitely one of our more scenic campsites in some time.We both quickly set up our tents to escape the mosquitoes, ate our dinners (pb&j tortillas, cheese sticks, and a Kit-Kat for me), and I'm now wrapping up the day with this journal. It's nearing 9:30pm and a soft wind blows through the trees above. Hopefully Moosehead's snoring doesn't ruin what has the potential to be a good night's rest. Tomorrow brings somewhere between ~20-25 miles as long as my feet hold up. I've made my feet priority #1 after these past few painful days so I will be trying to listen to them more often by scaling back on distance, or at least mph.Here's to a safe and fun escape for Burnsides, noises in the grass outside of my tent that I can't quite pinpoint, and reaching 1,400 miles tomorrow.