Date: 2012-07-03
From: Greenwood Lake, NY

To: William Brien Memorial Shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: broken clouds

This morning we could not get dropped off at the trail till 9:30am so did not get to beat the heat today. Once again first thing off the bat we had to climb back up to the top of Arden Mountain which did not just go straight up it went up a lot then down a little then up a lot then down a little all the way up. We got to the top then the trail went back down the other side, it went down these steep rocky ledges and soon we were down to NY 17. Right before the road there was a dozen full gallon jugs filled with water. Water for the last week or so has been a little hard to come by. The water sources are far and in between and recently they have all been either dried up, just little pools of murky water or smelly ponds. But thanks to all the local trail angels at most road crossings and at some shelter there are jugs of water so we can fill up our water bottles. We each cameled up...drank as much as we could...then refilled our water bottles then continued on. We had to do a half mile road walk over NY State Thruway 87 then we took a brake at the base of our next climb. We had to climb up Island Pond Mountain which went up 800 feet then back down 200 feet to a huge pond with an island in the middle of it. We stopped at the pond and took a break there because we were not done with the climb yet. The pond was down in a big bowl on the side of the mountain and we had to go around the pond then climb the rest of the way to the top of the mountain. On the other side of the lake was a difficult rocky spot called the Lemon Squeeze. There was a bunch of boulders the size of cars piled on top of each other then there was two the size of houses that sat beside each other with just enough room between them to slide sideways through them and it got tighter as you went through it. We had to take our packs off and slide them out ahead of us as we went, we both made it through ok but we were not done yet. Right after the lemon squeeze there was an even harder spot; there was a rock wall that went straight up. I had to basically hug a tree and shimmy around it on the ledge to get up and over the wall, Big Shy opted out and went around it on the side trail that went around the hard spot but even the easy way was hard. The trail continued up from there and soon we were on top of Island Pond Mountain. The trail went down the other side and went through a rocky pine forest for a while. We took a break after climbing up and over a little rocky climb and while we were stopped Wall-e caught up to us and we talked for a while then continued on to the next shelter. The shelter was on the other side of Fingerboard Mountain so we had yet another mountain to climb up. The trail did not go down the other side this time, it stayed on the ridgeline which was really open and grassy. We got to the shelter and found that Longhaul and Wall-e were there taking a break so we stayed awhile then all agreed to go down a side trail to Lake Tiorati which had water, a swimming area and vending machines. We got there at around 3:00pm and Wall-e went for a swim but the rest of us were happy enough to be sitting in the shade drinking cold drinks and ice cream. We stayed there for about an hour then continued on to the shelter we are staying at for the night. It was only 4 miles to the shelter and we got there around 5:30pm and there was only one hiker tenting down over the hill from the shelter. Soon after we got there Longhaul and Wall-e showed up and Longhaul decided to stay but Wall-e moved on. Tomorrow morning we are getting up early so we can get a view of New York City from the top of Black Mountain so it¢s time for bed...night all..