Date: 2022-06-05
From: Stealth campsite 

To: Stealth campsite 
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: clear sky

We woke at 5:30 am feeling much better than last night. The air was cool but with my fleece on I was fine. Breakfast was 2 instant oatmeal and a cup of hot chocolate for me and cereal with powdered milk and hot chocolate for Coffeebean. We also had mini powdered donuts. Our splurge. After breakfast we finished packing up the tent and left at 6:50am. We walked the short distance to Fitzgerald Falls. It was really pretty. We started following a trail to the right but after 5 minutes couldn¢t find any blazes so we circled back to the falls. There, right next to the falls, were steep steps running up along side it. When checking the maps for the day¢s trail, if we saw any elevation we knew it was going to be tough. NY does not like switchbacks. Instead it loves rock scrambles. When we would see a huge mountain of rock we would think ¢I wonder if the trail goes around?¢ Then we would say ¢Oh wait! We are in NY. You only go straight up the rocks and over the top! None of this mamsy-pamsy going around!¢ °We came down to West Mombasha Road to the most wonderful sight! Trail magic! Trail Angel Cindy had a spread like I haven¢t seen in a long time. She had everything from cold drinks to fresh fruit to snacks. AND THEN! She had resupply! Everything a hiker needs on the trail. From food packets to medical supplies to jugs of water! And chairs to sit in! It was amazing! And she knew all the scoop about what was ahead of us. We stayed for a while and enjoyed the food and company. Her husband is going to thru-hike next year. We gave her all our contact info for him to call when he gets close to Waynesboro. We also met a section hiker name Hey You There in the Bushes. He is from Asheville, NC and gave us all his contact info and told us to please stop if we are in the area. We hated to leave but we were hoping to reach the Fingerboard Shelter tonight.  We hiked on and after an agonizing climb down a section called the Agony Grind we hit highway 17 and more trail magic!Trail Angel Fred had Gatorade and brownies and homemade banana bread. And chairs! He also offered us handmade zipper pulls. We each took one, if not to use, than as a momento. We were getting ready to enter Harriman State Park and Fred knew all the dope about it. It seems Harriman Sr had been the governor of NY when Fred was a boy (He had to be in his 70-80¢s now.). Harriman Jr grew up to be a foreign diplomat and went over to England. He met a married woman, had an affair with her and broke up her marriage. Her name was Pamela Churchill. She was married to Winston Churchill¢s son, Randolph! It caused quite a scandal! Eventually she came here and married Averell Harriman. He had a boatload of money and created this state park. Fred told us other interesting things but I¢ve gone on long enough. We waved goodbye to Fred and headed into the park. There is no stealth camping but Cindy said the rangers go home at 5pm so as long as you don¢t go around advertising it, you can stealth camp. We came to a beautiful lake called Island Pond. We watered up. We wanted to get to the Fingerboard Shelter but we were getting tired. We were excited about getting to a rock formation called the Lemon Squeezer. We came to some rocks, kind of like an arch. It had the AT symbol so we knew we were in the right place. Just above the symbol, however, climbing straight up the rock face was a big black snake. We scooted past it quickly! Then we came to the Lemon Squeezer, a very narrow rock canyon! We had to take off our packs. Coffeebean went through first with his poles and water. My pack was so bulky to try and carry but I got it part way through and then was able to throw it up on a ledge. That was fun. Once it hit 5pm we started looking for a place to camp and found one a little after the Lemon Squeezer. We ate lunch for dinner (tuna packs with tortillas and water) and went to bed about 7:30. We hiked 10.6 miles today and had great trail magic so that was a successful day.