Date: 2019-03-06
From: NY Rte 17A

To: West Mombasha Road
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We took time this morning to stop back by the bus garage. He was there! It¢s always fun to meet my readers! Thanks Rich for following me. About 9:30am Baby Girl and I started out NOBO. It was around 16 degrees with 6 or 7 inches of snow on the ground. Someone else had recently hiked this area. We were able to step in their footprints, and avoid getting snow in our boots. About a mile in we saw some magic. Someone had placed a bowl and package of Ramen neatly along side the trail for any takers. We left it there for the next hiker. The terrain was pretty nice with the exception of a few rocky areas. At one point Baby Girl crawled across on her hands and knees. She has a big fear of sliding down a mountainside. In her defense it was pretty snowy. We had a couple small water crossings. On our way to Cat Rocks. We both made it across with no problem. Baby Girl is ever soooo cautious! It sucks up our time, but I try not to complain. I¢m just so proud of her for doing this!  Approaching Cat Rocks, I could see they were snow covered. Rich had mentioned that possibility and suggested we take the blue blaze around them. After Baby Girl¢s fear on the previous rocks, I decided his suggestion was good as gold! Blue blaze we did.  Looking for a place to lunch, we decided to take the 0.1 mile blue blaze to Wildcat Shelter. The blue blazes are more like bushwhacking this time of year, but we made it. A trail angel had left blankets at the shelter. I sat on one as I ate my lunch. It was genuinely a magical day!  Blankets or not, it wasn¢t very long before both of us were shivering. We threw our cracker crumbs to a couple of Gray-Jays, and headed back to the trail.  Less than a mile later we saw another Jay. This was the fattest bird I¢ve ever seen! Like a midget sized turkey! He got some crumbs too.  Baby Girl had taken the lead. She was following a set of tracks, and I absent mindedly followed her tracks. 0.6 miles off trail later, my mind returned. YIKES!! Since the forest is barren I decided to use my GPS and bushwhack. It was a better option than retracing my steps all the way back. Before long our bushwhacking adventure was over and we were back on trail.  All day we were looking forward to Fitzgerald Falls. At first we thought it was frozen. I wondered how that could be since there was flowing water in the creek. Disappointed, we walked on. Just a few yards up there it was. The real Fitzgerald Falls! It did not disappoint! From there we hiked beside flowing water for a long time. That sound is music to my ears. I really enjoyed it while working my way up to Mombasha View. Mombasha High Point was our biggest climb of the day at 1280ft elevation. We had two great views from that mountain. Baby Girl made me laugh on the way up. She said ¢Nama, I¢m so hungry¢. She had to eat right then! I got a giggle knowing this was her first experience with hiker hunger. It¢s a real thing folks!  We took a 5 minute break for gummy worms...With fully fueled bellies we made our last push to reach the summit. The snow was thick on the way up. We never knew exactly what we were stepping on. Then I stepped on a slab. I was suppose to be going up, but instead Down Went McGinty! I¢m changing the spelling to McGinty because I¢m pretty sure that¢s really what mom was saying. The T is just silent in her version.  Thanking God for no injuries! We enjoyed the view from the top for a brief moment then began the 1 mile trek downhill to Papa Big Swig. We followed a set of deer tracks the whole way down. Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018/2019) Where¢s your faith?