Date: 2016-05-17
From: Wawayanda Sheler

To: Orange Turnpike
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: moderate rain

Wow! I left New Jersey by 8:30 this morning and entered New York. The difficulty of today's hike isn't easily described so I'll use the words of others. At the bottom of today's page (135) in AWOL's Guide - "Despite the unimposing profile, rocks, abrupt ups and downs make this section challenging." Then there was John Henry's comment near the end of today's hike - "They have many signs asking you to help their restoration efforts by staying on the trail, but they appear to not want to show you where the trail is." Today's hike was schizophrenic. One minute there's a peace that comes with hiking by a pond or a lake and then the next minute there's a battle to find the trail as I was looking for any path up the imposing boulders in front of me. Other trailjournal entries by Holcomb and Rocketman and Princess today cover portions of my hike today. I was heartened to read that I wasn't the only one who found these miles challenging, exhausting, and, in some cases, dangerous. I expected the difficult climbs of Eastern Pinnacles and Cat Rocks. Those climbs were challenging but were manageable as I slowly hiked them. I didn't expect the difficulty encountered with Mombasha High Point and Buchanan Mountain. Buchanan Mountain was one of a few places today that I strained to find the trail. At that moment of confusion, I was confronted with very steep options and I didn't want to mistakenly climb only to have to then have to descend such a difficult path if I mistakenly pursued a course that wasn't the AT. In hindsight, I attempted too many miles today for my capabilities. I hoped to hike to NY 17 but shortened today's hike because I only had two hours of daylight left to cover the last couple of miles. I found myself very concerned about the potential difficult terrain of Arden Mountain and wanted no part of that mountain today. I can't recall feeling this way at any prior time. This is not to say that there weren't some sections with white blazes clearly identifying the trail. Because 95% of today's hike was clearly identified or at least had blazes on trees or rocks. There was actually a timeless two late in the hike that I began feeling that the presence of a white blaze meant the trail was around there somewhere versus my past experience that the presence of a blaze meant the trail was within close proximity and directionally aligned with that blaze.So did I enjoy today? Yes! The sense of accomplishment of climbing and descending today's trail wasn't overcome by the trail's blazing challenges. The diversity of today's trail was remarkable with ponds, a pretty waterfall (Fitzgerald Falls), a couple of lakes that were either walked around or bridged by boulder steps, in addition to portions of park-like walking trail, and then multiple boulder scrambles. Today also included climbing to find an anchored American Flag that was flying proudly in a brisk wind and being quiet enough not to spook a doe who was hiding 25 yards off the trail. Doing this while hiking solo but then sharing a few moments near the day's end to discuss this with Candle Maker and John Henry rounded out the day nicely. Tired at the end and a bit disappointed to not reach my goal for today. But grateful to have been here today. And that reminds me of one of the very few other hikers I saw today. He was interested in my hike and wished me well. After we passed each other, he asked me for my trail name and I then asked for his - his was "Grateful".