Date: 2013-07-16
From: Arden Mountain

To: West Mountain shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: light rain

I always try to get going early when I'm cowboy camping. I started out over lots of rocks, including a tight space called the "Lemon Squeezer" & another tight spot a little later. . . also a lot of ups & downs as I got into Harriman State Park. I began hearing booming noises in the distance ¢ Yesterday I'd heard a few & thought of thunder, but there wasn't any rain or serious clouds. Now it was fairly consistent, & I eventually figured out it was some kind of military exercise at West Point, just up the Hudson River. At first, it sounded like artillery, then mortars, then small arms fire.Fingerboard shelter was my favorite shelter in my section hikes of the AT. It's an old stone shelter, which means there may be lots of cracks & crevices for rodents & insects [but I never saw any]. It's a beautiful setting, on an open Mtn-top with lots of exposed rock [which means no water source]. In front of the shelter, there is a kind of swale going down to the woods, where I could see deer feeding. I thought maybe it was a CCC-built shelter, but it is even older than that, built in 1928! From there to Bear Mtn. is the very oldest section of the AT, completed in 1923.After pausing briefly to take some pictures, I went on to get some water at Tiorati Circle, 0.3 down the hill. I loafed around there a bit, not going into the lake for a swim, but charging my phone & using the vending machines to get a couple of cans of pop. I visited a bit with 3 thru-hikers. I'm having trouble remembering their names, so I'm embarrassed to ask, which means I don't get the names reinforced in my memory ¢ that's getting to be a problem! I saw these same hikers several times today, as we leap-frogged along the Trail [I think 2 of them were Subaru & Roadrunner, tho one might have been Occupy].Going back up the hill from Tiorati Lake to the AT, I had several miles of rolling hills to reach William Brien Memorial shelter, where I stopped to eat. Very hot & not much shade. The shelter itself was not very pleasant ¢ it's another very old one [1928], in poor repair ¢ in fact, I'd nominate it for "worst shelter on the AT". If they don't do some work on it soon, it will be lost.In mid-afternoon, the trail crossed Black Mtn., from which there are sometimes views of the NY City skyline. When I was here at the end of August, 2001, I could see the World Trade towers ¢ 2 weeks later, they were gone! Eerie, in retrospect. This time it was too hazy to see that far. The next stop was West Mtn. shelter, another old stone shelter [this one CCC-built in 1933] where I spent the night. It's a bit off the AT, but it also has a view down the Hudson River, but not as far as NYC tonight [slightly better in the morning]. No mosquitos here; there were lots of dragonflies! This is the 3d shelter in a row with no water nearby. Hikers have to depend on what they can get from trail magic & state park facilities. I'm glad I don't use as much water as many people, even in such hot weather. I shared the shelter with a couple from Montreal and a father & son who came in very late. Other thru-hikers camped nearer to the Trail.I HOPE THE NY-NJ TRAIL CLUB WILL SEE FIT TO DO SOME WORK ON THESE OLD STONE SHELTERS BEFORE THEY DETERIORATE TOO MUCH.