John
Wawayanda shelter campsite to Wildcat shelter campsite - 12.1 miles hiked today - 1376.8 total AT miles hiked to date. 816.3 miles to go.
Short miles today as we’ve hit a section of rock scrambles and ledges that are more technically challenging than anything faced thus far. We’re told that it is a foretaste of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. If so, the Whites will likely be the hardest part of the trail, at least for me.
The day started easily enough, with us stopping at the Wawayanda State Park office to fill out water bottles. Water has been sparse in this section, so we take advantage of potable water when it’s available. From there, we hit our first series of technicals, with some interesting climbs and jumps.
After the first series of climbs, we came to the state line and crossed into New York, the ninth state we’ve hiked through. The climbs and scrambles continued as it got hotter out, close to 90 degrees by mid day. As we scaled one ridge, another would come along. We passed Prospect Rock, the highest point on the AT in NY. Someone had placed an American flag there, flying high and proud.
Late afternoon, as we were approaching a road crossing with a close by ice cream stand, we had our first bear encounter. A large black bear was on the trail heading toward us. The four of us hiking together stopped short to see what he’d do. After a minute or two, he got bored and turned into the woods. We continued on. We soon made it to the road and stopped for ice cream. I had a strawberry shake, which was delicious. From there, it was 2 more miles (and two more scrambles) to get to the shelter. We rolled in around 5 pm, exhausted from the day. Tomorrow is supposed to be similar, so we are planning to get an early start and push for 15 miles.
Until next time…
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