Date: 2006-07-11
From: Wildcat Shelter

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

This morning the bugs were not much better than last night. The guys that slept in the shelter left out early this morning because they couldn't sleep due to getting bitten. Shasta, H-Bomb, and I left out soon after them for the same reason. Soon after starting we crossed our first waterfall in a long time. Fitzgerald Fall provided a good place to get water since most of the water that we have had to pump from has been really nasty. The water in the streams here has been flowing out of old swampy ponds instead of springs. This leaves really nasty water for us to drink. Just past West Mombasha Road was the rockiest section on the trail today. Although only a few hundred yards long this section followed the top of and old stone fence that was probably a boundary marker at some time and every step was extremely rocky. Just after this was the steepest section of trail today going down to NY17 off of Arden Mtn. Most of it was straight down and slippery. When Shasta and I got down to the road we decided to try and hitch a ride into town for a quick lunch. We gave ourselves 15 minutes to catch a ride and if we didn't catch a ride in those 15 minutes we were to move on down the trail. Well we didn't get a ride but instead one nice fellow gave us the finger for trying to hitch. There are some really nice people up here in New York. We ended up crossing the road and meet H-Bomb on the hill just before Harriman State Park. Since we didn¢t go into town for lunch we decided to stop and eat before starting our climb up into the park. In the middle of lunch it started raining so we packed up and headed out. Inside the park was the best part of today¢s hike. It was a nice hike and since it was raining no one was around. The park also gave us a little challenge as we went through the Lemon Squeezer rock and the little rock climb just after. When I got to Fingerboard Shelter it was still raining so by then most everybody was wet and exhausted due to being reintroduced to the ups and downs. Hot Springs was taking a nap when I got to the shelter so just after eating a snack I joined him for a quick nap. The quick nap turned into a 2-hour deep sleep but was well worth it. When I woke up everybody was gone except for Hot Springs and he was still asleep. It was now about 6:00pm and still raining but we needed to hike. We decided if the rain didn't stop by 6:30pm we were just going to spend the night there and leave out early in an attempt to catch everyone before they head out in the morning. Lucky us it stopped at 6:29pm so sticking to our plan we left trying to make it to the next shelter before dark. On the way it started raining so we just continued on hiking in the rain. When we finally made it to the shelter Bare Bear told us that Shasta, H-Bomb, Silver foot, Jelly Bean, and Donkey stopped at Tiorati Lake on the way and decided to spend the night there in the concession stand. Since it was getting dark when we got to the shelter I ate a quick dinner and went to bed shortly after getting into my tent.Tonight at William Brien Shelter: Hot Springs, Bare Bear, Sleep Walker, andseveral section hikers.