Camping Again at Fingerboard Shelter

Lake Tiorati to Fingerboard Shelter via the A.T.

I took advantage of some fine autumn weather on October 21-22 to take a day off and go camping in Harriman State Park.  I’d invited a confrere to join me, but he wasn’t free.

Given the cool temperatures, I wanted to use a shelter with a fireplace, and given the forecast for rain overnite, I eliminated 2 possible choices (because they’ve had leaks)—Bald Rocks and Tom Jones shelters.  That left Big Hill, Fingerboard, and Stockbridge as options.  I chose Fingerboard because it’s a very good shelter, I’ve used it often, it’s not a long hike, there would be firewood fairly close by, Big Hill is likely to have more visitors, and Stockbridge’s elevation makes getting wood up to it more difficult.

I left New Rochelle at 1:15 p.m. and reached the Tiorati parking lot at 2:20.  There were about a dozen cars there already, and some people were picnicking, some day hikers returning.  A connecting trail of .3 mile, gradually going uphill, brings one up to the Appalachian Trail, which for this stretch runs together with the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail.  The AT-RD ascends more steeply up to a ridge that overlooks the lake. 

Up there I met another group of day hikers heading back to the parking lot and passed a middle-aged gent catching his breath.  He, too, was heading to the Fingerboard shelter—which takes its name from Fingerboard Mountain, the ridge that the trail follows.  So I’d have company.

From the connecting trail to the shelter is just over a mile. 

The shelter is maybe 50' down the eastern slope of the ridge (down in elevation, but a longer hike of several hundred feet where one has to step carefully over rocks that could be slippery and tree roots).  I reached the shelter at 3:20 and found it clean and empty—and with no firewood left behind by previous users.  A new sign posted on a rafter inside records the elevation as 1,312'; the ridge elevation, of course, is higher.  The elevation in the parking lot is 1,122'.

1st task was to email confreres and others of my safe arrival.  Then Daytime Prayer.  My fellow hiker arrived, and we both settled in on opposite sides.  His name is Chris, and he’s from Ewing, N.J.  He’s a veteran hiker, and on this jaunt he was going from the Bear Mt. summit to the N.J. border.  He’d spent the previous nite at the Brien Memorial shelter above Silvermine Lake—6½ miles from his start, 5½ miles to Fingerboard.  His next stop would be the Wildcat shelter west of Rte 17, 14 miles from Fingerboard.  We talked a little bit about hiking and gear.

I trudged up to the ridge about 5 times to hunt up firewood and haul it back to the shelter.  Some of it required cutting, and both Chris and I did some of that with my folding Sven saw (very handy and easy to carry in my pack).  We finished with more than enuf wood for the nite’s fire (and for morning, too, if desired).  I did some spiritual reading and some Smithsonian.

Meanwhile, several more hikers showed up, all doing parts of the AT.  (So much for being concerned about the number of visitors that Big Hill might have.)  A couple of them were smokers, and we didn’t invite them to share the shelter.  One had a friendly dog with him.  These folks pitched tents and made nice campsites in the vicinity. 

One older gent, trail name Sunny Jim, pitched about 20' behind the shelter and popped in to visit with us.  He was doing the entire AT, having hiked from Georgia to Harpers Ferry, then gone up to Maine to hike south—“just 366 miles more” from Fingerboard to Harpers Ferry.  He records his trek on YouTube, briefly mentioning his visit to Fingerboard.  Both hikers talked about water supply, which has been scarce.  Of course I advised them that they’d find plenty of water at Island Pond (2¾ miles).

Sunny Jim and Chris

I prepared supper around 5:00 p.m.—ramen noodles with canned chicken breast, Crystal Lite, and dried apricots.  Then Evening Prayer.  Chris went up to the ridge to look at the sunset (which was about 6:00) and take pictures.  I went up a little later to do the same.  Both of us had hung our food on the bear bag cables near the top of the ridge.  Our neighbors didn’t use the bear bag cables but hung their food the old-fashioned way, slinging a rope over tree limbs.  Then I made nice fire, which some of our neighbors came to admire.  A little fire enhances the camping atmosphere as well as taking some of the chill out of the air.

Not that it got really cold.  The forecast was for a low of about 44º overnite.  I was warm and snug in my sleeping bag, which I got into at 8:45 after reading and tending the fire for awhile.  But I never got comfortable on the hard wood floor, despite having 2 sleeping pads under me.  I tossed and turned all nite.  (Snoring indicated that Chris slept well.)

Rain began around midnite and lasted for a couple of hours—not that I looked at a watch, specifically.  Sure was good to have a roof overhead and not to be concerned about having a wet tent in the morning!  And it was good to know that the rain stopped well before dawn and the forecast was for sunshine.

Chris got up at dawn, having a long hike ahead of him.  Not that he left quickly.  I got up at 6:50, which still was before the sun appeared.  We ate our breakfasts—granola, coffee, mixed nuts, and apricots in my case.  I had dried strawberries to mix with the granola but forgot to use them.  It was a little chilly, but not enuf that I wanted to make a new fire.  (We left a nice stash of wood for the next campers.)  The sun came out brightly, but there was a cold wind blowing.

The view from inside the shelter

Sunny Jim wasn’t in a hurry either, partly because he hoped his tent would dry out a little (he also was heading to Wildcat shelter); he stopped in and was very chatty.  I forewarned both men about Agony Grind.  When “Jim” asked my occupation, I told him I’m a priest, and he asked what I thought of Pope Leo and went on to talk about priests he’s known in some parishes.  He seemed to think it was cool that a priest would go out camping.  He and Chris shared more hiking stories.

Chris got going about 8:30; Sunny Jim lingered till 9:15, still talkative (and not bad company by any means).  The other hikers stayed quite a bit longer. 

I said Mass on the stone table adjacent to the shelter; that was set up, apparently, by the crew who did a major repair of the shelter roof about 8 years ago.  Then Readings and Morning Prayer and a big cup of hot tea.  I read Smithsonian for awhile, then rested atop my 2 pads and sleeping bag.  Around 11:00 I started packing up and ate lunch (PB & J sandwich, trail mix, Crystal Lite).  I had quite a bit of water left over; I packed more than a gallon.  If I’d had to douse fire embers, I guess what was left would’ve been useful.

I headed back up to the AT a little after noon and was back at the car just after 1:00 p.m.  I met only one day hiker along the trail.  At the parking lot there were a few cars, a few picnickers, and a park maintenance truck.  Pretty quiet for a bright, sunny day, a wonderful day for hiking.

Photos: https://link.shutterfly.com/f1DoG3gkIXb

 

A Cold and Hoary Nite

A Cold & Hoary Nite[1]

On the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 29, I set off to Lake Tiorati in Harriman State Park in spite of a forecast of very cold weather.  My confreres in New Rochelle were partly amused, it seemed, and partly concerned that I should have a good experience.  I’d invited various people to come along, but there were no takers.  They say discretion is the better part of valor.

There were perhaps 15 cars already in the Tiorati parking lot (some shown above).  A short trail (.3 mile) takes you from the lot up to the Appalachian Trail.  I set out at 10:30 a.m.  Along this stretch of the AT, the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail runs as well. 

I followed these twin trails southward and uphill to a ridge with fine views of the lake thru the leafless trees.

                                     

A short distance along, I met a couple coming back toward the parking lot; they’d been on a short to the shelter.  A little while after that, I was overtaken by a backpacker who was heading along the AT toward the Elk Pen (just off Rte 17  in Arden), about 5 miles beyond the Fingerboard shelter, which takes its name from Fingerboard Mountain (the ridge I was hiking).

I reached the shelter, just over 1 mile from where I’d joined the AT, around 11:30.  It was unoccupied, but whoever had been there last had left a few pieces of firewood stacked vertically under the lee of the roof, fairly dry after Thursday’s rain.

I set out some of my gear and ate lunch—a ham and cheese sandwich with Crystal Lite, followed by some trail mix and dried pineapple.  Then I began to gather wood.  There was quite a bit scattered around the shelter, mostly a bit damp; I passed over the really wet stuff.  I used some rope to pull a 15' snag out of a tree.  Before long I’d piled up a nice stash. 

This pic shows not only some of the wood I'd dragged in,
but also some of the snowflakes coming in

I took a break for Daytime Prayer.  Then I attacked it with my camp saw and made a fine pile on each side of one fireplace (there are 2 in the shelter)—one pile with twigs and smaller pieces, one pile with heavier stuff.  I used a sturdy knife to scrape off wet bark and other damp spots.

I checked the temperature at 2:00 p.m.; it recorded 44º in Stony Point, but it must have been colder than that up above Tiorati.  There had been some scattered snowflakes even as I hiked.

To my surprise, given how few people I’d met on the trail, around 3:15 two day-hiking couples showed up from opposite sides of the shelter, almost simultaneously.  One couple were almost rookies and wanted to know more about the shelters for future camping.  The other couple were already experienced.  We conversed for 20 minutes or so, and then they trekked down the Hurst Trail toward the lake (a somewhat steep descent of half a mile).

About 4:15 I started a fire.  It didn’t take well, and I had to redo it out of the embers (didn’t need another match); then it took nicely as I fed it cautiously with twigs and then more substantial pieces. 

As I was doing all that, a snow squall blew by for a while.  Later there was a much more furious burst of wind-driven snow that blanketed everything around, but not deep.

After Evening Prayer, I was ready for supper by 5:15.  That consisted of Ramen noodles with a can of chicken and some leftover peas mixed in—tasty and nutritious!  I followed the main course with some trail mix and dried apricots and washed it all down with Crystal Lite.  While tending to that, I had to keep feeding the fire, of course.

By then it was completely dark, between the early sunset and the snow.  And lo and behold, around 5:30 two chaps came in out of the dark, happy to discover a fire going.  They had had no intention of hunting for wood in the dark.  They were Louis, a middle-aged plumber from Danbury, and Sean, a high-schooler (I think) doing some training for an AT thru hike next summer.  They’d come in from the Elk Pen but weren’t familiar with Harriman, tho they’d done lots of hiking in New England.  

They settled happily into the shelter and prepared their suppers, after which they were ready for bed (by 7:00 p.m.).  The nite was full of stars once the snow blitz was done with.

I stayed up to read some of the magazine I’d brought (a back issue of America) and to feed the fire for another hour.  Then I crawled into my sleeping bag liner and tugged at the sleeping bag zipper for a while before I got all settled.  I ought to have put on the extra socks I’d brought and one more warm shirt, but once I got settled I didn’t want to have to unsettle even to get a little warmer.  I dozed intermittently and tossed around a lot, never completely comfortable.  I didn’t do another temperature check.

Louis did check the temp when he got up at 3:00 a.m. to take care of nature; he said (later) that it was 19º.  That probably was a more accurate reading than the 28º that my phone showed at 6:30 a.m.  I got up “at dawn’s early light,” eager to restart the fire and fetch my food from the bear bag cables, then to get something warm inside me.  The fire caught quickly from the embers and made the shelter interior quite a bit warmer than the air outside.  I prayed Readings.

View in front of the shelter, Saturday a.m.

By the time I was finishing my oatmeal and coffee, my 2 companions got themselves up and also indulged in oatmeal.  I didn’t see any coffee.  I topped off my breakfast with some trail mix, mixed nuts, and dried apricots.  Then Morning Prayer.

Louis and Sean had said they’d use the shelter as a base for some more hiking.  In view of the cold, tho, they changed their minds, packed up, and headed back to the Elk Pen.  I modified my plans, as well, and decided to hike out sooner rather than after lunch.  I let the fire die out, but it was warm enuf inside the shelter that I prepared for Mass; I’d have liked to use the nice stone table set up outside the shelter, but it was too cold for that.  About the time I got to preparation of the gifts, I heard voices up on the trail and was afraid I’d be interrupted.  But the only interloper was a furry 4-legged canine; he left quickly.  No 2-legged folks came down from the trail, tho.  So I finished Mass and then finished my packing.

The ridge above the shelter, north side

I departed the shelter at 9:30, leaving behind a nice stack of firewood for its next visitors.  As soon as I got up to the AT, I met a party of about 20 Koreans coming down the AT.  Farther along, I met a middle-aged couple also going south, then a young Latino family who were eager to hear about the shelters and camping possibilities.  I got back to the parking lot at 10:30.  Park crew were setting out orange poles to mark the lot’s boundaries for snowplows (like those around our driveways).  I had an early lunch, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I’d brought along; no Crystal Lite, just water to go with it.

Then homeward bound, reached before noon.

I enjoyed the workout of gathering and sawing firewood, and the solitude of most of the day.  I enjoyed the company of my 2 visitors from Connecticut as well as of briefer visitors.  The cold was less pleasant, to be sure.

Photos: https://link.shutterfly.com/T3aKeNUfZOb

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[1] Title borrowed from a confrere’s oft-repeated words.