Date: 2017-04-23
From:  Camping Near Wawayanda Shelter

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke about 5:30 and was packed and ready to hit the trail by 6:15. After 2 days of being rained on and put away wet, my tarp was the heaviest thing in my backpack. And that's saying something, because my food bag is full and it weighs over 5 lbs! Happy it got a chance to dry out last night. None of the Boy Scout Troop 66 folks were awake yet, so I didn't get to say goodbye or wish them a good day. I stopped briefly at the Wawayanda park office (.25 mile up the trail) to use the restroom, get water, and charge my phone some.It didn't take too long and it was sort of like a nature walk finishing up the hike out of New Jersey's Wawayanda Swamp. I was at the New York/ New Jersey border by 10 am.The trail north of the NJ/NY border in southern NY became much wilder than I had seen in Pennsylvania or New Jersey. In many places it was difficult to see where the trail was, and at times there was no discernible path. The traditional AT markers, white blazes, were present on the trees, but it took a concerted effort to find and identify them. The terrain became rougher as well, and I had to stow my poles in order to use both hands and both feet to negotiate a rock climb within the first half mile of the trail in southern NY. Immediately above that rock climb there was a ladder built into a wall of rock that I had to go up to get to the top of the first peak. From there I was able to gain a nice view of the surrounding countryside (see photo). I took some pictures of what must be Greenwood Lake, NJ off to the southeast from this rocky outcrop.I made a contribution to each of two rock cairns on successive peaks within a mile north of that rocky outcrop, and although steep, the climbing here was relatively safe and easy because the sun was bright and had dried what would have yesterday been a slippery surface.[Note from Base Operations (Teresa): I heard from GI Joe just before 3 this afternoon when he was about 1.5 miles from the Wildcat shelter. He was turning off his phone to save power in case of emergency. I've bought a new Goal Zero Flip3 rechargeable battery for him. It is lighter than the brick he has and is supposed to charge a phone 3 times. We'll have to see how that works. He's thinking the cold last night made the energy drain faster than usual. He's prepared with paper maps and compass, but the AT app he's using has been very useful. And of course I appreciate the daily texts that he's alive and well on his journey! The plan for tomorrow is for him to hike 14.3 miles to the Fingerboard Shelter. I'm looking forward to seeing him for a zero mile day at The United States Military Academy at West Point, NY in a couple of days.] Paragraph. Ok, here is what I could not finish recording yesterday. There were some great nice views from high places, Ann's some challenging climbs like "cat rock" right before the wildcat shelter. When I arrived, I h9ad the shelter to myself. I did the basic stuff, like normal, but I decided to practice boiling water for my dinner meal with a small "cook fire". This took a lot more work than I anticipated. After three days of rain, the small sticks I was using weren't dry enough to ligbt easily with just whittled wood shavings for kindling. I had to use a cotton ball with some Vaseline as a starter, and I dripped some candle wax onto my wood shavings. That got it going. I fashioned a "sacred cooking tripod" from three four for sticks that I lashed together with 550 cord. From that, I suspended my cook pot with another piece of 550 cord, using a "taught line hitch" so I could adjust its height above the fire. I had to continuously tend this little fire to keep it going, and I had to oxegenate it's embers a couple times, to get it to ignite newly added sticks. But the bottom line ous it worked. I had a full putt okc boiled water with which I made potatos with olives, olive oil, beef broth, and a dash of tomato powder and one packet of Texas Pete hot sauce. I ate amd went to sleep after putting the fire out completely and storing my bear bag in the bear box located about 50 yards from the shelter. Paragraph. At about 730pm, I was awakened by the arrival of two other hikers. Trailnames Dory and Turmeric. They are 17 and 18 yrs old, the younger already a highschool grad taking a gap year to finish the hike she started last year. The older is a home-schooled student, and he is not looking to go to college right away. They met at summer camp a few years ago.