Date: 2008-06-10
From: NY 17, Southfields, NY

To: Stealth site by Lake Tiorati, NY
Miles today: 5.5

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN!!!! I can't wait to celebrate it with you IN PERSON in a few days!!Ok, now before I forget..2 bits of biz.1. Last nite I called Napoli's in Greenwood Lake, NY (you know the place I forgot to pay for my grilled chicken salad) and told them what I did. Get this, the manager goes, "Don't worry about it, just write a good review of us." Can you believe that? So everyone in the universe that is going near Greenwood Lake, NY. PLEASE stop in and get some of their awesome food. I didn't have their pizza, but it looked great too. Pasta was great, salads were great, people working there were fantastic. When I get that picture on Katahdin, I'm sending them one with a thank you card for sure.2. Can anyone in the know sign my guestbook or email me (micheleat@pocketmail.com) about what the weather or temperature ranges are between Monson, ME and Mt. Katahdin from say August 15-September 1? We're trying to decide if Karen needs a different sleeping bag or warmer gear, and I have no idea. Obviously I'll have my cold weather gear, but if it's warmer, I'll have the option of leaving some of it (like my wide load sleeping pad) in the car when she drives up to meet me in Monson. Thanks folks.Ok, on to today. Not a typical AT day at all, but still good nonetheless. Today is the hottest and final day of this triple digit heat wave here in NY. I decided to hike out early and only go about 5 miles to Arden Valley Rd., which .3 miles to the east leads to Lake Tiorati, a beach, showers, restrooms, and ice cream! The companion shows it's open from Memorial Day-Labor Day.I got up and left the Tuxedo Motel around 7:15 a.m. I pretty much knew I'd have zero luck hitching, so I just set my mind to hiking the 2 miles back to the trailhead (of course these don't count in my daily mileage...bummer)along NY 17. It wasn't too bad, and I was back @ the trail around 8:00 a.m.It was already scorching believe it or not. I had a road walk for a bit and passed over I-87 before starting an almost 1 mile climb up towards Island Pond Outlet. The climb had me soaked in just minutes. Man, this heat and humidity is something. It just makes you feel so sluggish and lethargic, it's unbelievable.I got to the top and saw a deer running, and then met a morning hiker with his dog who was chasing the deer. Seriously, how do animals do this? I know they're not structured exactly like us, but I wonder if they have a sense of discomfort or suffering.I got to the top and it's quite beautiful, it looked like Island Pond could be swimmable, but I kept going. There really wasn't water there though, not unless you went way down to the lake and dipped it out.I kept going and knew I'd be seeing the Arden-Surebridge trail, so I saw a white blaze (single) and just followed the path. Well, eventually, all I was seeing were the red triangle on white signifying the other trail, and I wondered if the AT literally connected to it or if I'd somehow made a wrong turn. I hiked back and saw (what I thought) was a white blaze for SOBO's, so I turned around again and kept going.Something just didn't feel right though, I was seeing no white blazes, it wasn't matching the topos, and usually if it's 2 trails, then both trail markings are on the trees, so very frustrated, because I am seeing white blazes, but they're turned sideways, I turn back again.Finally, I decided to stop and get my actual maps out of my pack. There are tons of other trails in this area, and they all intertwine and merge all over. I knew I was back near Island Pond, but I really couldn't tell if the AT literally merged with this other trail or not because of the markings. So now, I'm wondering if I've taken a second wrong turn because none of this stuff looks familiar. Well, I tried one more thing, I called the Harriman State Park Office (the # was on my map) and talked to Tim the Ranger and he explained I should have gone through the Lemon Squeezer before junctioning with another trail. I knew I hadn't been through that yet, so I got out my safety whistle that has a compass on it, oriented the map and compass and made an educated guess to my whereabouts based upon my direction from the lake. I headed back and within 3 minutes, I saw my first white blaze! WHAT A FREAKIN RELIEF!! So the issue was that I didn't pay enough attention, but also, ! the trail took a 90 degree left turn and there was only a single blaze, not a double, which is what is supposed to be used to indicate a change in direction. I just followed the worn path, which happen to be this other trail where it intersected with the AT. I'm glad I had my maps, compass, and phone today. These 3 things are typically considered "non-essential" that is until they become essential.So the ranger was right, next up was the Lemon Squeezer, which is this extremely narrow corridor between 2 rock walls that you have to squeeze through. I managed it without taking my pack off, but it was scraping at times.Then came a part that had a sign saying "Easy Way." Basically an alternate route around a HUGE rock that required me to hoist my pack up first then find a way to pull myself up with one leg and grabbing slick rock divets with both hands. Obviously, I didn't take the easy route. The reason is because I know I'll be facing more of this in the Whites, and the sooner I learn how to maneuver it, the better.This was the longest 5.5 miles ever, granted 2 back to the trailhead and probably 1.5 more when I got lost for a total of 9 miles, but I can't count any of that. There was a good portion of today that was over exposed rock and man was it hot. I was so thankful for the times when I was hiking under tree cover. I did go down into these gorgeous pine forests, which I love so much and there was this cave with a pond basically coming out of it. The water was standing water though.Pretty much everywhere the water is a trickle or not moving.I kept going and right before Fingerboard Shelter, I hit my 800 MILES TO MT. KATAHDIN POINT! WOO HOO!I will admit however, it still feels SO far away, and I've not yet reached that point that everyone hits where you KNOW you're going to make it. I still feel like it's a lifetime away.Finaly .1 later I reached the sign for the shelter and I knew I only had 1.1 to the road and .3 to the lake, which was going to be my salvation today.There was a point where I was hiking and absolutely surrounded my beautiful white mountain laurel. It was eye candy.So I passed a huge water tower and building and then saw Arden Valley Road. With a HUGE smile on my face, I started down the road, but I noticed there was also a blue blaze right before taking you down to the lake too. I started seeing picnic tables and grills and a parking area and then this lushes cool lake in front of me. Oh man...heaven here I come.As I was walking across a parking area, I met 2 men who were also headed for the beach. Roman and Anthony are both 8th grade teachers (Roman teaches math and Anthony English) and I said hello to them and we all started talking. Wow, these men were GREAT! They were from NJ, whose schools were closed because it's not air conditioned, and these guys decided to take athe opportunity to commune with nature a bit.I told them what I was doing and they were both excited about it (which is the coolest to me..when other people really groove on the idea of hiking the AT).We got down to a little pavillion and then THE unthinkable happened. There were locked gates closing off the freakin beach! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!There was a man\son, workers of some sort, there and Roman asked about it. The man goes, "It's closed, doesn't open until next week." I asked why, because my book said it opened Memorial Day. Oh gosh, this guy starts yelling, "Well I don't know! It's just closed!!" Whooa partner...chill, it's ok..really. Anthony said thanks and we turned around while the man started yelling @ his son (can you say anger management classes?).So we walked to the office and Roman asked if Lake Welch was open, and the woman said yes, and that this one was closed because they had no lifeguards to cover it yet. I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS! I planned my whole day of hiking in triple digits to be here and swim...ugh. But you know how it goes, can't worry about what you can't control.Then Roman and Anthony offer to take me to Lake Welch, which was about 5 miles away. At first I was hesitant, because how would I get back here (they were just going home, not staying @ Lake Welch), but then I looked around @ the picnic tables and thought, "Screw it..let's see what happens," and I said yes.We hop into Roman's van, and they gave me a bag with the 2 BEST bagels I've ever had, a peach, apple, bag of trail mix and fruit bar!! Roman also cycles so his bike was in the van. Wow, these men were FANTASTIC! It was so great talking with them, they were so generous, and drove me to Lake Welch, which was way bigger than Lake Tiorati. They dropped me off and said they're taking my hike back into their classrooms ad use it to teach their students!! How cool is that? I thanked them profusely and watched them drive away. THANKS AGAIN ANTHONY AND ROMAN!!So here I am, walking to this incredible HUGE beach with tons of people on it when all of a sudden....zoom, my eye catches a SNACKBAR! All I am saying in my mind is, "please have hotdogs...please have hotdogs.." and then I see a full menu with HOT DOGS and much more. I ordered 2 dogs, a bag of chips and a coke (I decided to keep the food Roman and Anthony gave to me as a special camp treat tonight).Oh.sweet sweet hotdogs and ketchup...mmmm. They also had icecream in a little freezer @ the beach shop store, but I opted to wait till after I swam for that.I walked to the office first and asked if cabs came up here (I did want to figure out how to get back), and they told me cabs DIDN'T come up here. Whoops..that sucks, so it was either hitch or walk the 5 miles, but they made me copies of all the taxi listings in the phone book and gave 2 maps of the area, one hiking trails, one road, and said good luck.I stored the papers and then walked to the beach. Now this beach can handle 5,000 people, but they only had 1 small section open.I dropped my pack, took off my orange hiking shirt, emptied my pockets and walked into pure bliss.Ahhhhh.....water..cool water. There were TONS of people here trying to cool off too. I swam for 2 hrs and it rocked. I talked to a guy in the water, Mark, who said I was so lucky, because the state parks in NY don't officially open till next week, and the governor of NY gave the thumbs up to open Lake Welch just for yesterday and today to help with the heat wave! How lucky am I?I watched the people, kids, families, couples in love...interesting. Finally it was 3:00 and I figured I should address the ride issue. I went back to my pack, and got the info out and called AAA Taxi. They said they don't come out this far, but gave me the name of Prestige Taxi, who does. I called Prestige and sure enough, they could do it, so I arranged for a 5:00 p.m. pickup ad now needed ICE CREAM!To my surprise, in those 2 hrs, a guy set up a dip-n-dots stand, and I LOVE dip-n-dots (freeze dried icecream that are tiny balls of your favorite flavor..it's cool stuff.) I go up and say, "Man am I glad you're here. I've been hiking ad can't find this stuff very often." Then I ordered a large Mint Chocolate, and he goes, "Oh, the only flavors I don't have are banana split ad int chocolate," I was like, "Oh man..that's my favorite, but ok." Then he stops and says, "Hang on a second, I think I can find more mint chocolate in the back," ad then he comes back with a new bag of it!! Wow, thanks dip-n-dots guy! I got my large and sat down and called Karen. She was giving me shit because she had been telling her mother how I've been sweating and hiking all day ad now I'm swimming @ a beach and eating hot dogs and ice cream.So I hung out and then went to the cur to wait for my cab around 4:30. He showed up and gave me a very expensive 5 mile ride back to Lake Tiorati. My feelig is that it was either swim all day or stay in a motel again, which would have cost me twice as much.I ran into Chatterbox and Negrodamus (both from VA) again and they took the afternoon off and even though it was 5:30 p.m., they were heading out for another 15 miles! I warned them about the severe storms coming tonight, but they (in that young man I am invincable way) both laughed and said, we've already been hailed on twice. They were nice guys.So now my mission was to find a stealth site with good cover and in low elevation. I hiked back up the blue blaze and found a great depression right over some rocks. I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, so put some deet on and got camp set up. I wasn't "legally camped @ all, and was within site of Arden Valley Rd., but I was well hidden, so I felt safe.There were 3 deer hanging out, and they didn't run, which was cool. I got set up, ate my bagel and fruitand crawled in.It was 85 HOT degrees still and I had sweat pouring off me while just laying there! I could here thunder in the distance and the wind started picking up. At 8:42 p.m., this unbelievable storm hit. I was mostly blocked by a large hill, but the wind was crazy! It's called a gust front, and they warned of 60 mph +, and it was +. The lightening was almost non-stop. Man it was going to be a violent nite. Then the wind picked up even more and trees around me started snapping and falling. It was then that I thought I might be safer down in the park restroom, which was even lower and an actual stone structure. So, just as the storm is hitting, I grabbed my headlamp, threw on my crocs, ad started running down Arden Valley Rd. The rain was coming down in sheets, lightening, loud thunder...and I ran my rear off people. It wasn't but about .2 away (I fell in the woods before I got to the road too! LOL).I made it to the restroom and automatically felt safer till I heard a whip-like snap ad then KAPOOOOOW!! Lightening had hit REALLY closely. There were no lights on in the restroom, so I stood there with my headlamp and peeked out the door occasionally. This was a cool front coming through and the amount of energy being released was unbelievable. The sky was almost lit up constantly.I hung out for about 35 minutes till it sounded like the worst (and wind) was over. I walked back to my hammock in light rain and luckily no tree had fallen on it and everything was totally fine. I crawled back in, just to lay there for several more hours while 4 more waves of lightening\rain\thunder came through. I think it was 11:00 p.m. last I looked @ my watch. Unbelievably, temps had dropped 10 degrees already, and I got my sleeping bag out.I finally fell asleep and didn't move all nite. Whew...glad that was over. All I could do was hope Chatterbox and Negrodamus were ok up on the ridges. It was a wicked nite. But oh, what a wonderful day leading up to it.~Certain