Date: 2007-07-20
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: William Brien Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: broken clouds

As I write, I'm perched on the mountain swinging in my hammock, and the wind is blowing like mad. I'm snug as a bug. I love this.New York gave me a proper beating today. I'd heard about the terrain here, but no one fully perpared me for the ups and downs, and the big boulders that require one to get on all fours to scramble on. It was a tough day! But, the weather was amazingly cool and humidity-free, and we got a nice surprise towards the end of the day.I rolled into Fingerboard Shelter around 4:00, and I was debating on whether or not to stay there for the night, because I was feeling pretty beat. Snack Break rolled in shortly after me, and we assessed the situation. She needed to get into Ft. Montgomery to use the post office by noon, it's closing time, and I wanted to get my mileage straight, so that I could have an easy day tomorrow, re-supply in town, and stay at the Greymoor Friary. Splendora showed up and was feeling good, so we all pushed on, one by one.There's not a lot of water up here on the ridgeline (but, we've been lucky to have a slew of trail angels leaving jugs of tap water for us at road crossings). In order to get water for the evening, we had to road walk to Tioroti Circle where there are restrooms, drinking fountains, a beach, and other park facilities. At Tioroti, we ran into Paddy-O, a former thru-hiker and trail angel, and he offered to cook up a few cheeseburgers for Snack Break and I. Paddy-O has made trail magic a bit of a profession, and his truck is full of coolers, propane, a grill, and all the other tools of the trade. He flipped the truck's gate down, opened some coolers, and before we knew it, we were drinking cold drinks and munching on cheeseburgers. Many, many thanks Paddy-O!Snack Break left and ended up hanging out and talking to Paddy-O until twilight. I put my headlamp on and my headphones in and night-danced the four miles up the trial to Brien Shelter. I managed to not get lost and had a really beautiul and surreal solo trek through the darkened forest. I found the shelter fairly easily, because a few hikers still had their headlamps on, and I could see their lights bobbing through the trees. As soon as I saw the lights, I made a beeline towards them, losing the trail. I'm slightly paranoid that I pitched my hammock directly on the trail. At least there are no blazes on the trees I tied up to. At least I don't think there are....I started reading Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac" last night. Such a beautiful book. Leopold talks about the importance of knowing where one's food, fuel, and other goods come from. He details the historical timeline of an oak, struck by lightning then harvested to heat his home. At the end of a description of each decade's worth of events the oak lived through, Leopold writes, "Rest! cries the chief Sawyer, and we pause for breath". It's a lyrical command aimed at giving pause to the saw's blade that bites into the harvested tree's rings, the physical evidence of each year it had lived. The essay is written in the context of the tree's history being stripped away, layer by layer, as the sawyers draw a blade through it. It's a good reminder for us to look more closely at the objects in our lives, and to wonder about their past and origins. I'm sure a little contemplation of this sort on the part of consumers would slow down the sales of the plastic trash found at dollar stores.