Date: 2005-05-07
From: Wawayanda Shelter

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It realy filled up with people last night. We had a large group pf scouts who all camped out, except for one Assistant Scout Master ¢ Lou ¢ who stayed in the shelter. The scouts range in age from 7 ¢16 years old and all settled in their tents. Lou has a Sierra Stove, which burns ¢anything¢ with the help of a little battery driven fan that forces the air up from below. Worked fine and attracted a lot of attention from his fellow scout masters. Need to collect twigs for it though, and it looks heavy and cumbersome. The Pink Troop camped out, and just before sundown, two ladies arrived and they stayed in the shelter also. One works in a historically renovated gristmill and is also a manual sheep shearer ¢ who said you don¢t meet interesting people on the trail? ¢ the other is a want-to-be schoolteacher, and spent a long time chatting with Lou, who is also a schoolteacher.   Slept well and retrieved my food and garbage from the bear box without wakeing up the entire camp. Left after sunrise, but was still the first to go. The morning was cold and overcast, threatening rain ¢ in fact it never did ¢ and indeed turned into a bright and sunny day.   The first part of the trail after Warwick Turnpike was very muddy, and the puncheons were not end-to-end, so it was a lot of sucky muddy hiking at this time of year. The trail then parallels Greenwood Lake along the rocky crest of Bellvale Mountain ¢ after crossing the New York State border.   This crest walk along Bellvale Mountain was remarkably rocky, with a lot of hard uprock and downrock scrambles ¢ even though there were side trails circumventing the steep and rocky parts ¢ it was ¢Boots To The Blazes¢ over the rocks. There were spectacular views of Greenwood Lake. No boats on the lake however, somewhat surprising on a nice windy Saturday in May. There is an extremely developed section along the edge of the lakeside, with lots of marinas and moored boats, but no water activity today.   The trail finally descends from Mount Peter to Rt17A. A hand made sign at the road crossing promised an ice cream stand 0.1 miles to the left. I succumbed to the temptation and soon was gobbling down strawberry shakes and root beer at the Bellvale Farm Creamery. They allowed me to use their phone and I spoke briefly with KT. Shortly after returning to the trail I met with 7 yo Mike and his mother. They were out on a class project for Mike to try to identify animal tracks. We all had a great time but could only find deer tracks on the hard compressed and compacted trail surface.   Then a series of rocky scrambles up to the Eastern pinnacles and Cat Rocks, where I met two self described ¢Local Yokels¢ who said that the trail is much easier further north. Arrived here at the shelter in mid-afternoon ¢ and soon was joined by Sheep Shearer and Sub Teacher and two more of their female friends. They are currently trying to decide whether to tent or stay in the shelter. No sign of Pink Troop so far.   A harder day than I thought it would be, because of all the up and down rock scrambles. Sheep shearer says that there is water at Fingerboard Shelter. My left big toe nail is black, and the right one is discolored.Thought for today ¢ It is always the novice who exaggerates                              [From letter #24]