Tuesday, May 10th

Fingerboard Shelter (1392.1 mi) to Bear Mountain Inn (1406.6 mi)

Hiking Miles: 14.5

Total Ascent: 2,691.3 ft

Total Descent: 3,849.7 ft

Total Grade: 450.2 ft/mi

Steps: 41,810

We woke up early and started our day off right with some hot coffee and peanut butter on Oreos! I have to say I had one of the best night’s sleep on trail (outside) since we started. After the Whippoorwill went to sleep, it was windy and peaceful. My trekking poles had been shortening on me for the past few weeks (clamps weren’t holding the force) so rather than constantly adjusting them, I applied duct tape around the clamping area so the inside poles would not retract into its sleeve.

While packing up, a hiker named “Re-Run” kept talking to us. He camped the night before in his tent behind the shelter. He came back twice actually to talk, so I suppose that is how he adopted his trail name (haha). The real reason was it was his second attempt to hike the AT. He was hiking with a lady that he helped who had hurt herself (she had stitches on her forehead from a fall). Her trail name was “Happy Dance”.

Today we hiked a total of 14.5 miles to the Bear Mountain Inn trailhead. The inn was situated on a beautifully landscaped ground which included a lake. During our hike, we climbed our way “on” and “up” over many large boulders that were sometimes not easy to blaze follow. A few times I had to back track to locate the actual trail. We labeled the NY trails as either being “Make Your Own Path”or “Figure It Out”.

Late in the day, we stopped at a little rest area that had vending machines stocked with ice cream and drinks. There were not many options (a number of items were sold out) however we were able to each have an M&M Ice cream sandwich which tasted amazing. Frankly, anything cold and refreshing would have tasted amazing. Some hikers left their empties (rude!) in the vending machine chute to show that the machines had not been replenished in quite a while.

We also stopped at the Bear Mountain Monument and spent a little time climbing, exploring its history, and taking in the views.

In the homestretch just before reaching the Bear Mountain Inn, we descended down an extremely well-built and eye pleasing set of rock steps – there must have been 300 of them leading to the grounds. We thought if each state had an allocated spending budget to restore or beautify the AT, New York spent all of it on these steps.

We checked out the Inn and determined that they lacked the amenities we needed (dining, laundry, shuttle into town, etc.), so we opted to call a guy named Grandpa who owned a motel in town. He offered to pick us up and drop us back off the next morning as part of the cost of a night’s stay. Also, food was within walking distance and he did laundry.

Grandpa’s wife checked us into Room #5 facing the back of the motel building.

We walked about a half mile to a Mexican diner and we each bought large burritos, soda and Gatorades. Then on our walk back, we picked up a few slices fo Sicilian pizza to eat at the motel. Unfortunately, our pizza got cold as we were hijacked by a couple named Doppler & Que (husband and wife) and we had a long conversation (he did 90% of the talking) as they sat on the motel porch. They had been section hiking the AT over the past few years, which was interrupted by major surgery he had on his knee. They were nice folks from Virginia, and they were heading north like we were.

We briefly heard about a couple named Bubbles and Onion who were staying in Cabin 1.  The woman (Bubbles) had been locked in the bathroom while taking a shower and Grandpa had to somehow dismantle the door from its hinges to set her free.