Date: 2018-06-21
From: Wildcat Shelter

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

Now I¢m sure that I have your attention! And if you went straight to the photos after reading the title, welcome back and no spoilers please. The rain started around 10PM last night and continued until around 6:30 this morning. This resulted in a late start. I packed up everything but my tent and walked up to the shelter to cook breakfast. By the time I finished up and packed up my wet tent it was a little after 8AM. I hit the trail a few minutes behind Steamboat and walked out of camp with a young couple named Splash (him) and Sunshine (her). The couple started a flip flop hike at Harpers Ferry. After reaching Mt Katahdin they will get a ride back to Harpers Ferry and hike south to Springer Mtn. Lately, about half of the hikers I see are flip floppers or hikers picking up where they left off in a previous year. About a mile into the hike we came to Fitzgerald Falls, where Sunshine & Flash stopped for a break. I would leap frog with them and Steamboat and a few other hikers the rest of the day. Shortly after leaving Sunshine and Flash I came across another couple who had camped next to the trail. The man reminded me that today was the summer solstice and that I should beware of naked hikers. National Hike Naked Day falls on the first day of summer. The answer is no, I did not hike naked. I just couldn¢t justify using up all that deet on previously covered flesh. You see, among the mosquitos, the first day of summer is referred to ¢Feast on a Naked Hiker Day.¢ The skies had cleared and it was warming up by 0900. About four miles into the hike I stopped at a clearing and laid my tent out to dry on the rocks. By the time I finished my morning stretches the ripstop nylon material was dry. I heard some folks talking and laughing in the woods just to my south. A few minutes later the couple told me to beware of naked hikers emerging. They were fully clothed, but told me they had stopped just before reaching me to get dressed after hiking a mile in the buff. I was glad I missed that.Evidently New York has its own version of the roller coaster. This version involves continuous short and steep rises and falls. Many of the climbs involve a rock scramble at the top. The total ascents and descents today were over 4,000¢ each and I had to work for every mile hiked. The hot sun made it an even bigger challenge. The trail crossed over Mombasa High Point, Buchcanan Mtn, Arden Mtn, and other unnamed boulder-filled summits and ledges. Good water sources are also scarce in this section. Thankfully, some trail angels had dropped dozens of one gallon water jugs at several road crossings. I would top off my water bladder and down about a liter at each stop. Even so, it was hard staying hydrated on a hot day over tough terrain. In the afternoon I crossed over I-87. The trail entered Harriman State Park just north of the interstate. After an initial steep climb, the path descend to Island Pond, which looked more like a lake to me. The scenery in the park is beautiful, with wide open old growth forests, lush ferns and wispy tufts of green grass, and giant granite boulders strewn across the landscape. However, the hiking was still hard work. A little after the pond I came to a rock obstacle called The Lemon Squeezer. I think it may have been the single hardest 100 yards I have hiked to this point on the AT. After passing through a rock tunnel, the trail continues through a narrowing rock crevice. As the ledges above got lower, the walls closed in. To make matters worse, the rocks were on about a 10 degree tilt. At one point I thought my backpack was going to get stuck, but I managed my way through. To exit the Lemon Squeezer I had to climb up and over a nearly vertical ledge. I actually had to remove my pack and hoist it with my poles over the top before finding a way to shimmy myself up. My phone was dead, so I screenshotted some pictures from the Guthook App.A few miles later the trail crossed a road that led to Lake Tiorati Beach, where there were showers, vending machines, and an outlet to charge my phone. I joined Sunshine and Splash at a picnic table next to the vending machines. Steamboat would arrive about 15 minutes later. After plugging in my phone I headed to the shower, which also served as a washing machine for my funky clothes. I then cooked my dinner, which I washed down with a soda from the vending machine. It was 5 pm when I arrived at the lake and 7 pm when I departed to knock out the final few miles of the hike. Other hikers were still trickling in when I left. It was dusk when I arrived at the William Peace & Blessings - NSElevation Data:Ascent - 4,670Descent - 4,480Grade - 8.7Weather:Day - 81 / SunnyNight - 56 / Partly CloudyOver The Horizon: Bear Mountain, NY