Date: 2009-08-10
From: Wildcat Shelter

To: Fingerboard Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: broken clouds

Today was book-ended by two crackers of storms.The first woke me at around 1am. Even through my double walled tent the lightening display was impressive and the accompanying soundtrack (a constant barrage of rain and intermittent cracks and roars of thunder) made for quite an experience. Safe and snug inside my tent I lay for a while enjoying the moment. Fifteen minutes later although the tempest was continuing unabated it was the middle of the night, I was tired and I was warm and comfortable so I rolled over and fell back into a deep slumber, content to just await what the dawn might bring.When I woke, well rested and relaxed, the morning sounded wonderfully calm and I emerged to a dry but misty morning. My gear showed little sign of last night¢s fun and games as the breeze had dried my tent and they were only occasional signs of dampness among the rest of my possessions. In other words it has been another most successful night.Today, it was just another walk in the woods, a walk in the dim half-light of the forest. The Trail went passed Fitzgerald Falls with a number of short but sharp ups and downs. Nothing ridiculous but it seemed a notch up from the stuff I¢d experienced recently. The dim light, the quiet of the forest and the hard work proved a good combination and I fell into that sort of semi-meditative contentedness I like to enjoy on the Trail.The day was warming up when I arrived at a road crossing to find a cache of water. I took the opportunity to drink my fill and to top up my water bottle. Water can be a bit of an issue through this section and so although I don¢t think it was strictly necessary it was helpful. However, I do wonder what challenges will be left to overcome if we continue to mitigate every minor inconvenience. In my opinion if you needed the cache then you shouldn¢t be out here but then again if you didn¢t appreciate it then you probably shouldn¢t be out anywhere. I was up on a ridge but with scarce shade the rising sun was beginning to make for uncomfortable temperatures. It was becoming hot and, increasingly, sweaty work. I was glad to descend a little and find some, if not a lot, of shade as the Trail paralleled the bank of Little Dam Lake. It looked a lovely spot but unfortunately a band of trees running between the trail and the lake obscured much of the view, allowing glimpses but, frustratingly, refusing to reveal, what I felt sure must be a glorious view of the lake and the surrounding countryside.By afternoon I was really starting to struggle. It was warm and it didn¢t feel that humid but I was sweating buckets. I mopped my face with my hat which was now soaked through. A thin film of perspiration covered all of my exposed skin. This was a new experience for me and I didn¢t like it much.I entered Harriman State Park where another steep up slowed me down considerably. I felt like a snail ¢ sweat pouring from my forehead and my progress reduced to little more than a crawl. Eventually I reached Island Pond. It was a fantastic place and obviously very popular. It was 4.30pm on a Monday but various small groups of people were still dotted around the shore: sunbathing, swimming or just relaxing. I paused for a few moments, and while the lake was plenty big enough to accommodate everybody, the intimacy was lost, so I carried on. In this case towards and through ¢the lemon squeezer¢ ¢ a small gap between two big boulders. It¢s another one of those things that annoy me ¢ fun to explore on your own but a little irritating to be forced upon you. It doesn¢t quite live up to the billing and is a bit impractical with a big pack on, impractical but manageable so it is endured. By contrast there had been many other scrambles today that had been much more necessary and enjoyable.However, I was getting there and I wasn¢t disappointed to finally call it a day at Fingerboard Shelter. I put up my tent and sat down. I was still perspiring heavily. It crossed my mine that I could actually be ill. The day just didn¢t seem that oppressive. Could I have a fever? Might this be a sign of Lymes disease? Was I just being the Trail¢s hypochondriac? I thought I¢d just sit it out ¢ if it was just the conditions then I¢d settle down soon enough.I pumped water and I sweated. I ate and I thought I sweated. I hung my food bag and ¢¦¢¦, well you get the picture. In the end I wandered across to speak to the only other camper here tonight and although he didn¢t admit to suffering a flood of sweat the likes of which would have Noah shouting for the animals, he did say that it had been very hot. I retired, slightly happier but still with my imagination running a little wild. Then the fun really began! A couple of rumbles of thunder preceded the rain and then Mother Nature started the light show. There seemed to be more light than dark. It was like one of those strip lights that has started to go on the blink. Lightening, rumble, lightening, rumble, all to the thudding drumming of the rain. As ever in these circumstances I was having fun. Then there was a flash of lightening the like of which I have seen before. I wasn¢t looking at my hand but I would fully expect to have been able to see my bones, x-ray style through the skin. I hadn¢t even had time to contemplate any of that though before an almighty crash of thunder rang out. I think in Star Trek they once had a tear in space and time: a nexus. Well it sounded like someone had ripped the universe so creating a new nexus, and they had done it three feet above and slightly to the right of my tent. If I had looked out and seen the mountain cleaved in two I would not have been surprised, but I didn¢t look out, I laughed out loud but nervously.