Date: 2018-07-03
From: NY 17A/ Bellvale Creamery

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: few clouds

Day 90- As you can imagine, it was hard leaving Warwick. It also didn¢t help that I had left the headlights on in the car they let us use. We found it dead when we attempted to leave. Was this a sign that we should stay here? If it was, we didn¢t listen and my cousin Eric came to bring us back to the trail one final time. Unfortunately, we didn¢t get to see my uncle and aunt as they were still in London with the rest of our family.Initially, the terrain was similar to what we¢ve been going through. Even though there was an odd amount of trash strewn about the trail, it was pretty otherwise with rolling hills. The first road crossing is where our struggles began. We discovered that not only was Broken Seal¢s filter broken, now mine was too. A nice thruhiker couple gave us a few iodine pills to help last us until we received new water filters that we ordered online right there on the foot bridge. Still, we called ahead to Rocket and she left us a spare bladder bag of hers so we could carry extra potable water if given the opportunity. Little did we know that was a great decision and helpful kind act from Rocket because throughout the day trail angels Susan and Hiker Man had put water caches at most of the road crossings. It absolutely saved us on what turned out to be a grueling and miserable hiking day in a heat wave.I might have said this in an earlier journal. If I did, today I trumped it. I have never sweat so much in my entire life!! I felt like I was a mountain spring, water pouring down every square inch of my body. Did I have the super human ability to pull water from the air or was it just me sweating like someone in a sauna?The heat and humidity was just a layer on top of what was one of our hardest hiking days in a long time. I can¢t remember the last time I hiked this slow while putting in so much effort! It seemed like the trail was never flat; it was constant steep but short up and downs. We would be faced with the rock wall with tall steps winding up the face of it only to get to the top and find another staircase-like trail to descend. It was so constant that I was genuinely amazed and impressed by how burly the state of New York was.It was really challenging mentally too though. Broken Seal and I had discussions questioning our hiking abilities and our strength. Where did our ability to fly uphill go? Then it became, ¢Are we really going to make it to Maine on time if the rest of the mid-Atlantic is like this?¢. We texted Willie who was somewhere far ahead and let him know that we may not reach our intended camp spot that night. That¢s not something we had it expected to send after walking over 1300 miles to someone who hadn¢t even gotten their first 100 under their belt yet.The terrain didn¢t change much until we crossed into the Harriman State Park in the afternoon. That helped lift our spirits a little because of how beautiful it was even though the elevation changes were similar. Instead of bushy, dense forest, the trail climbed these lovely, grassed fields while still maintaining a shady tree canopy. It was still humid but it was slightly cooler than mid day and we kept pushing on. We pushed through the lemon squeezer and, even after all of this exertion, chose to go the hard way on one of these rock ledges rather than take a bypass. It was late but we finally did make it to Fingerboard Shelter where Willie was waiting for us. There was only a local couple here and they were cheerful. The shelter was beautiful even without a view, just looking at the grassy terrain below us. Nothing too noteworthy happened once at the shelter; it was a regular evening routine of eating and brushing our teeth but the unspoken sense of accomplishment to reach there even after being pushed so hard today was palpable. For a legitimate attempt at a full hiking day for us, we only did 15.4 miles in over 10 hours just to give you a glimpse at how much our butts were truly kicked.