Date: 2008-05-23
From: wawayanda shelter

To: fingerboard shelter
Miles today: 26.3
Weather: overcast clouds

A couple of the sectioners were big snorers so we didn't get as much sleep as we'd like. Up and out quick and early to see how far we could get.Just after we left the shelter we were nearing a road. We saw a fox in the distance on the trail, and it was moving very slowly and was obviously hurt. It was trying desperately to get off the trail before we got there and made it a little ways. It looked like one of its rear legs or hip was broken, probably hit by a car and left for dead. It only made it a little off the trail and collapsed in some grass. It then looked at us with a pathetically sad look on its face, almost saying "I'm done, just do it." I briefly considered it, but didn't really have anything. A shame.Four miles in we crossed the NJ/NY border. 8 states down, 6 to go.NY welcomed us with some rock slab ridge runs. The thing was we had to constantly go up them and down off them. A bit of a pain. Didn't rain today. Made it a little easier.We crossed a road where there was a creamery a tenth off that had homemade ice cream, but when we investigated they were closed for another hour. First disappointment of the day.Back to the trail to climb over some more rock ridges. We took a short break one time and I found some wintergreen with full berries. We had been told these were edible so I tried some. They were small and didn't have much taste. Mostly plain with a slight taste like wintergreen smells. Hopefully I don't die.The rest of the day was ridiculous. It consisted of a steep climb up a rock pinnacle and going straight back down it. Really annoying after a while, and it killed our feet. Some of the climbing was ridiculous and had us scaling rock walls or descending 45 degree rock slabs. I fell 3 times and TB twice. If it was raining or icy, we would have died. Simple as that.One time we climbed right next to a waterfall. The trail went straight up right next to the falls. Steep and wet. A great combo.Towards the end of the day the AT passed through a cave of sorts. At the end of the cave was a slot canyon. It was narrow. More narrow than my pack. I found this out after I was in it. Threw my poles out and managed to wiggle my way straight up the wet walls and out the top of it. Really awkward and hard on my pack. A few steps later the trail went over a sheer wall. There was a bypass sign, and at this point I'd had enough so I took that instead. TB took the hard was and said it was ridiculous and stupid.A bunch of weekenders at the shelter. They were all tenting though so we had the shelter to ourselves.The worst thing was there was no good water and the blazing sucked. We often had to stop and search for the trail, and left it very often. The blazes sort of guided you where the AT wanted you to go, and it was up to us to figure out how to get there. I have many thoughts about this section, but that would involve too much self censoring.On top of one of the pinnacles, we saw a new kind of snake. It was brown on top and had two black spots on the back of its head. We got close to it and it flattened its head but stayed on the ground. Pretty big around. Can anyone identify it?The terrain got me down today. Really frustrating. We were going really slow, we were torturing our bodies, and not having a good time. We were thinking of going farther today, but we had both had enough by the time we rolled into this shelter.