Fingerboard Shelter a Hot Spot on a Cold Day
("Hot" as in popular.)
On Nov. 25-26, I hiked from the Lake Tiorati parking lot to Fingerboard Shelter, a distance of about 1.5 miles, part of it an ascent to the ridge. One car was in the parking lot when I arrived. The ridge overlooks the lake from the west,
and the trail is traversed by both the Appalachian Trail and the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail. Morning rain had let up by then. The sun came out for a while, then clouds, a passing shower, clouds, strong wind, temps dropping to 37 overnite.
I had the
shelter to myself from arriving at 11:30 a.m. to about 1:00 p.m. In that time I ate my lunch (sardines on
crackers, canteen water). I was more than chagrined that I’d forgotten my
utensils; I used a chopstick that I’d brought along as part of my kindling wood
to maneuver the fish onto the crackers.
Then I worked hard to gather and cut firewood. The Sven saw adds almost a pound to my pack,
but it’s worth it!
A single chap came, set up his tent, then came up to socialize. His name was Richard, and he was kind enuf to offer me a spare plastic spoon he had. He was waiting for other backpackers, who came an hour later, having hiked in from Rte 17, where they’d all come up by train from NYC. They were a very fine bunch of young and middle-aged adults. The whole group totaled 8, and each had his or her own tent.
Richard was a co-leader of the group (along with Ingrid from Brooklyn). He’s an Army vet who served in Afghanistan. They were all happy to come into the shelter to start their suppers (and get out of the wind), some of them to consume them there, and to enjoy the great fire I had going and conversation among us all. I tried to light tea candles, which added to the atmosphere until the wind blew them out. But Richard had a candle lantern that did stay lit.
A second group of backpackers, a family, camped on the other side of the shelter. They kept to themselves. Late in the afternoon, around 3:30, a slightly crazy trio of teens with a dog came along. They asked to borrow a lighter to cook supper (salmon steaks) on the ridge. They had no map or flashlights except their phones, and weren’t even sure of their trail to Lake Tiorati (they’d come up from the other side on either the AT or the RD). Oy veh!
My supper of Ramen noodles with chicken slices added was definitely easier to consume with a plastic spoon than it would've been with a piece of curved bark.
The sun had set
around 5:00 p.m., and by 6:30 all of my new friends were gone to their
tents. I stayed up reading the Divine Office and America till
9:00, feeding the fire as well. For the
nite I was warm in my sleeping bag with an additional liner (first used on a
sub-freezing campout with Scouts in Illinois); but sleeping on a wooden platform
isn’t easy, and as usual I slept only in fits and starts. I had to get up at 4:48 a.m. for Mother
Nature’s sake, which is when I found out that it was 37ยบ.
The sun woke me up at 6:45.
Gradually we all retrieved our bear bags and had breakfast.
My new friends were planning 2 more days of hiking, eventually totaling perhaps 20 miles over 3 days. Yikes! They headed down the Hurst Trail toward Lake Tiorati at 9:00 a.m., except Richard, who was heading back to Lake Kanawauke and New Jersey.
After Divine Office, I packed up methodically (of course!) and hiked out at 9:30, a little ahead of the family foursome ("Happy hiking" exchanged). I met 13 hikers on my trek back to the car, most of them day hikers. In the Tiorati lot this time were many dozen cars—it was a gorgeous day for hiking. There were also a few bikers out on 7 Lakes Drive.
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