Date: 2009-08-09
From: Vernon

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I¢d a choice today: a choice between a short ¢one shelter¢ day or a longish ¢two shelter¢ day. I know you don¢t have to stop at shelters but water can sometimes be an issue and today the shelters were the only places where my guide indicated I could find water. In the end I plumped for the long day as a result I was up and out early.Initial drizzle gave way to dry, if murky, conditions which suited me fine as much of the say was spent up on a ridge of large exposed granite outcroppings (well they looked like granite to me). It was another great day¢s walk and following on from yesterday shaping up nicely. It was hard on the feet though. So far mine had been holding up really well. I can¢t believe how I have gone 1,300 plus miles relatively pain free. I wonder how long it can last. Just recently there have been very minor and very slight signs of discomfort. They were a bit tender jumping off the top bunk in Delaware Water Gap and since Pennsylvania my toes sometimes hint at a little of the numbness I remember from 2003. I¢m keeping my fingers crossed but there¢s no doubt at all that these rocks don¢t exactly help.I crossed into New York State heading along Prospect Rock where, walking up to a view point bear the end of the main ridge, I came as close as I have so far to my ¢nearly stood on a rattlesnake moment¢. Reading the registers it often seems that everybody comes within inches of their lives as they ¢nearly¢ slipped, tumbled, fell or just stood on a rattler. However, given the complete lack of people who had ¢actually¢ slipped, tumbled, fell or just stood on a rattler I¢m guessing ¢nearly£ is a significantly longer distance that I might originally have imagined. For me ¢nearly¢ turned out to be about six feet. When I wandered up to the rocks I was about that distance away from it when I first noticed it sitting vaguely between me and my chosen destination. I detoured around it, never getting remotely close but I suppose if I hadn¢t seen it, if it hadn¢t warned me, if I had chosen a path that would have also contained the snake, if I had scared it or heaven forbid actually stood on it and if a cat is born in an oven ¢¦.. Yes, you get the picture, ¢nearly¢ is good for a story but not very scientific or indeed in most cases, I think, very accurate.It was a cool snake though, the first I¢d seen in the classic coiled pose. It never moved and its eyes didn¢t appear to be open. Could it be asleep?Later in I had the opportunity to continue my frog identification field trip by spotting a pickerel near a small waterfall of rather dark looking water before stopping at the Eastern Pinnacles for dinner and Cat Rocks just for fun. It was wearing on though, the drizzle was starting again and as there is no fun getting wet, especially first day out of town I hurried on to the shelter where I quickly pitched my tent. I sat in the shelter watching the rain, not quite ready for bad and wandered if I¢d be alone but then Henry, a south bound section hiker out for two weeks before college resumed, turned up and so we had the opportunity to chat and wile away some tome as we are wont to do out here.