Date: 2005-07-14
From: Campsite 1 mile south of NY17A

To:  Island Pond
Miles today: 14.7

Mr. Clean, Jr., true to his word, had us up and on the trail by 5 to 6:00 this morning. At NY17A, we discovered that had we been persistent in our hiking and pushed further last night, we could have had some tasty ice cream just off the road. C© la vie. We kept on rocking and rolling as we climbed up and over numerous rock scrambles, and although I am sure the view from Cat Rocks is stunning all we got was a hazy fog. At Wildcat shelter, we caught up to Bear Fodder and Nomad. We stayed long enough to cook a late breakfast and get water for the morning's hike. Not long after we got back on the trail, we came across Fitzgerald Falls, a beautiful waterfall the drops into a refreshing pool, the perfect place for bathing if you don't have to be somewhere. Unfortunately, we needed to be in Southfields, NY before the PO closed, so we continued to hike after a moments rest.As we were climbing up to Mombasha High Point, I heard this horrendous noise to my left. We were climbing up a pretty tricky rock scramble when I look over and see two adolescent vultures! I used to watch cartoons and they would portray these creatures as huge, ugly and awful sounding! They weren't exaggerating. The way the cartoons show them, is pretty much how they are. The scary thing though, is that they were hissing at us! Bug did his usual thing and climbed closer for a better look and to take pictures with Mr. Clean's camera. We all survived intact, no eyes gouged or animals harmed.Again, beautiful ridge-walking today and a very steep descent down to NY17/Arden Valley Road, also known as "Agony Grind". Very slow going and tough on the knees. On our way down, we ran into Warren (Doyle) headed southbound, who told us we really missed out by not hiking the extra mile last night. He and Terry camped up on a ridge where apparently local kids go to "park". According to him, the donkeys we had to put up with at "secret" shelter were nothing compared to these kids.At NY17, we managed to get a ride into town with a local trail angel, who took us to the diner. We ate a yummy lunch with him, and then he took us to the PO, where Clean was to pick up his maildrop. The only kicker was that it hadn't arrived. That being the case, he took us to the convenience store where we were watched scrutinously as if we were going to steal something. I tried not to let my pride get in the way, even though it angered me, and I bought a pint of ice cream anyways. Our trail angel took us back to the trailhead, and we made our way up the road as the trail followed Arden Valley for about .5 mile. We stopped at the NY Thruway overpass to eat our ice cream before starting up the mountain and as we sat there, "Paddy-O" arrived and insisted on giving us trail magic. We felt bad, considering we had just spent two hours in town and were eating ice cream as he sat talking to us. Bug drank a Dr. Pepper and I took a Root Beer for the road. Mr. Clean, Jr. took a couple of Moon Pies with him. Mateo walked up while we were there. We had not met him before, but had seen his register entries. Soon, we all hiked on together. We had planned to go further tonight, but sometimes you just have to listen to what the trail tells you. As we hiked up and over Green Pond Mountain we were awarded with a beautiful view. Island Pond astounded us....it is another of the glacial ponds we are beginning to see. We decided this place was gorgeous, and we had to stay the night. There was a great place to camp overlooking the pond, and the weather was perfect so we decided to take a dip. The only bad thing about this place is the mosquitoes...there are armies of them just waiting to attack. So with that being said, I am going to leave this beautiful place on this rock to get to the refuge of our tent. More to come tomorrow...