Day 115 – zero day
Day 116 (July 15th) – 16.3 miles to Fingerboard Shelter. New York is hard, man! Lots of rocky mountain climbing today – up and down, up and down. Some serious boulder climbing today! Very glad we took yesterday off and did not attempt today’s hike in the rain. We went through the Lemon Squeezer today! Couple of places had gallons of water put out for the hikers, very nice. We also had some great trail magic today – grilled brats and burgers, chips, beer, soda – delish! Tomorrow we get to Bear Mountain, lowest elevation point in New York.

Oh, and this shelter has had a bear come by almost every night, I hear, but he only looks for easy to grab food bags. Sunset’s has hung out bags really good tonight so they should be safe.
Day 117 (July 16th) – 15.5 miles to Bear Mountain, NY. Easier than yesterday, but still another hard day. Surpassed the 1400 mile mark today, and went through the Bear Mountain Zoo (part of the trail), which was super crowded. The zoo (specifically the bear cage) is the lowest elevation point on the AT. In town resupplying, etc., staying at the Bear Mountain Bridge Motel.
Day 118 (July 17th) – 20.2 miles to Clarence Fahnestock State Park. Long day but a much better day. Got a later start and hiked all day. Very hot today and our chill rags worked great. Raining now and couldn’t find campground so we are tenting near beach and picnic tables. Hope we don’t get kicked out tonight!!
Day 119 (July 18th) – 14.0 miles to Morgan Stewart Shelter. Pulled up short today, the HEAT is getting to us! Super hot and humid today + lots of hills to climb = no good. Started taking breaks every hour just to cool down from over heating. On plus side – no rain, pretty good coverage from sun, boulders/rocks have lessened a bit. Awesome deli stop today (what we’re doing is called deli-blazing). There’s water and a privy here at the shelter! Life is still good, we just need to focus more on not over doing it in the heat.
Day 120 (July 19th) – 16.6 miles to Wiley Shelter. Another scorcher today, we went super slow, took lots of breaks, and drank lots of liquids & electrolytes. Trail magic and a food truck right off the trail helped tremendously! Also we got to swim in Nuclear Lake for our morning break. The shelter we’re at has a free library, and now my book is in it!! ?
Day 121 (July 20th) – 19.4 to Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter. OMG today was hotter than hell!

Really hard for us to keep our spirits up today. We’ve never sweated so much. Lots of hills (mountains) combined with the humidity and heat made for a ridiculous day (we even started at 6 and took and hour and a half lunch). Then it rained on us for the last mile. Good news – we ate a fabulous mac & cheese dinner, met a hiker who knew all about me – she had found my Costa Rica Chica blog last year, we are now in Connecticut and more than 2/3’s of the way done with the entire trail!
Day 122 (July 21st) – 8.9 miles to West Cornwall Road, staying at Bearded Woods Hostel. Another hard day, but not as bad as yesterday, and today was shorter miles. Soooooo happy to take a shower!! Bearded Woods is an awesome place.