Date: 2004-06-23
From: Fingerboard Shelter

To: Graymoor Friary (shelter)
Miles today: 20.5

Started at: Fingerboard ShelterEnded at: Graymoor Friary (shelter)Miles: 20.5So many things happen in a day, it's hard to get them all down in words. Today was our earliest start yet: up at 5:40 am (had to snooze for 10 mintues, ya know). We managed to make it to Bear Mountain by lunchtime, over some really tough terrain. Tough but beautiful. I tell ya, I'd take steep climbs any day over PA's mind numbing rocks and trees and more trees and crappy views of highways. (It wasn't all that bad, I'm just still holding a grudge against those rocks). When we got to the top of Bear Mtn there was a day camp with about a dozen third and fourth graders playing a well organized game of hide and seek. We talked with some of the camp counselors for a while. Most of the kids come from The City (as those crazy New Yorkers like to refer to their town). I can't imagine growing up with so much concrete and so few trees. Listening to the sounds of their laughter and watching them scamper about, it made us think of the Artseed kids and how much we hope some of the money raised by this fundraiser can be used to take the kids camping or hiking in the woods! While at the top of the mountain we met a local hiker named Larry. He was hiking the same section as we were so we walked it together, talking all the way. We asked him where we could find a telephone to park ourselves next to for an hour. He said, "how about the telephone at my house?" "OK, that would be great!" He was a very nice man. He even fed us sunflower butter sandwitches and cookies while we used the telephone. Eventually Larry dropped us off back at the Bear Mtn Inn back by the trail.After being dropped off we realized we were in need of at least a days worth of food, but found out that the inn's restaurant and snack bar were closed. Doh!! We were hosed! Just as we realized our blunder, a man pulled up in a car next to us, hops out and says, "Hey, you guys thru-hikers? Need a ride to the grocery store? Wow, what luck we were having, it was great.So we get back on the trail and try to get some miles done. Towards the end of the day we noticed a hiker up ahead, but he looked a little odd. He bore an unsettling resemblance to the Unibomber because he was wearing a hooded cotton sweatshirt, pulled tight like an eskimo, and sweatpants even though it was very hot out. Every bit of skin on his body was covered except his face. He turned out to be a really nice guy (his trail name is Wooly)...we walked and talked about politics for a while before he split off to get his car. The reason he covers up his entire body when hiking is that 15 years ago he contracted lyme disease from a deer tick and was confined to a wheel chair for two years. He takes no chances now.   Finally we made it to the Graymor Friary. We slept in the pavilion in the monk's ballpark, where we met up with Country, Love Bug, Dead Man Walking, and Tortoise. The pavillion floor was concrete, which seemed too hard, so we pulled two picinic tables together to sleep on top of. I'm glad we did, because once we turned off our headlamps and settled into our bags, a skunk came scuttling in. He just sniffed around and wandered out without any undue incidents occuring. Whew! We were ready for bed.GraymoorCamera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net