Date: 2008-09-12
From: Fingerboard Shelter

To: West Manbasa Road
Miles today: 9.5

We had two goals for the morning when we got up, getting water and getting to the Arden PO. Soaring's Steripen had broken and she was having a new one mailed to Arden. She picked Arden because the PO was less than a mile from the trail. She didn't realize that the PO in Arden was only open between 10:30 and 11:30 each day. Bummer. So we started out without any water thinking we have at least three miles to go before the water source and Soaring needs to make it to the five mile mark by 10:30.Added to that we have weather concerns. When we left Highland Falls the Weather Channel was calling for rain on Saturday and Sunday. We were dreading it, but had no plan for avoiding it. When I stuck my head out of the tent it appeared the rain was coming today instead. Still no plan. It was a little depressing. We had such high hopes of moving quickly through New York and New Jersey but rain would slow down our plans.By seven we began hiking. About a mile and a half out we came across a brook not listed in my Thru Hikers companion that had beautiful clear water. We stopped to gather and filter. As soon as we finished Soaring took off headed for Rt 17 and Arden PO. Owl, Roo and I took off at our usual slower pace.The trail through this section was nice, very pretty with rocky hilltops and grassy areas, easy rolling hills. We came to a section known as the Lemon Squeezer. It was basically some bouldering through a small rock canyon. Roo seemed to be spooked by it so I walked her around the blue blaze. Usually she scurries right over the rock scrambles but for some reason this one bothered her. Owl decided she wanted to do the whole route. She did call for some help for me to catch her pack so she could climb down without it. She ended up carrying her pack around the rocks then going back and doing the whole Lemon Squeezer without her pack. Without a pack it was fun. Roo didn't want to have anything to do with it. Strange.On from there we met Soaring at Rt 17. Her package was not at the PO. We stopped and talked over the plan for the rest of the day and weekend. We didn't want to lose the miles because of the coming rain. We decided to fall back on the slackpack. I called my friend Katie (thank you, Katie!!) and asked her to check online and see if Enterprise rented in the nearby down of Harriman. Yes!Within the hour we had a car rented for the weekend. We realized a little late that we still had the problem of getting back on the trail when we returned the car. I wasn't too worried, it always seems for work out. We got lunch and drove to the trailhead parking lot to eat and think through a plan.I decided I would drop Owl and Soaring to hike the next eight miles and I would go in search of a map of the area and any information that would help work out a plan. Just as I dropped them back at Rt 17 it began to sprinkle.I drove to Walmart and picked up maps of New York and New Jersey and started working through a plan for the weekend. I was to meet Owl and Soaring at Lakes Road at 5:00 but by 3:00 it was raining so hard and the temps were dropping I decided I should meet them at West Mombasa Road, three mile short and see if they needed to stop early for the day.It took me awhile but I finally found the road crossing at West Mombasa by 3:10. I wasn't sure if I had missed them but I decided to wait until 3:30. About 3:25 they came out of the woods. I rolled the window down and asked if they would like an early out. They couldn't get in the car fast enough. They were soaked and cold and had had enough.The plan from there was to drive south. Well, south on the AT, I think it was actually west. We'll hike the next two slackpack days from Delaware Water Gap (at the PA/NJ boarder) back north through New Jersey. On Monday we will return the rental car and get back on the trail at West Mombasa road and go south. We think we can easily connect the two sections by Friday morning when Greg is planning to join us to hike for a couple of days. He'll pick us up wherever we finish and we'll start south at DWG. It may be confusing, but I think in the end it will make sense.So for tonight it's once more pouring outside but we are warm and dry inside. Some time ago someone had said we should call ourselves The Divining Women. We could hire out... if you have a draught just give us a call and we'll come hike through your town. :o)Owl's comments...There was not much interesting on the parts of the trail Rabbit missed. It started drizzling, and then started raining really hard. A few spots were steep enough we had to climb down, but they would have been nothing if it hadn¢t been soaked. Mom showed up a few miles before we had planned. As we were wet and very cold, we decided we¢d done enough hiking in the rain for the day.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9