Who? Tom Jones. [Backpacking All 9 of Harriman's Stone Lean-tos]

Today I am sitting here writing this with a smile on my face. D and I crossed another one of Harriman's Stone Lean-Tos off our list. We had made a challenge earlier in the year to camp at all 9 before the year was over. Unfortunately life got in the way and we took a 4 month break from hiking/camping. With a break that long, it was nice to put the pack on and get our miles in. Originally we had a friend who was supposed to come with us, but he was unable to last minute, which meant a late start for us and not many hours of sunlight. I was grateful as a shorter trek was a perfect way to ease back into backpacking. Earlier in the year, hiking almost every weekend with a 30 lb bag had made my legs stronger. Taking 4 months off seems to have been enough time for them to revert back to what they were. On some of the ascents I found myself wondering why I enjoy these things. By the time we approached the shelter, I mentally cursed my quivering quads as we descended and ascended again.

What had lead us to deciding to stay at all 9 shelters in one year, you might wonder. The first shelter we hiked to and stayed at I wrote about in a previous entry - West Mountain. It caused a stir in us that led to us obsessing over gear, trails, and when we would be able trek through Harriman next. It had us planning longer, more ambitious trips. But if we were ever going to be able to do a longer trip, we were going to really work on our fitness and dial in our gear. The perfect way was this challenge. We started to build up our miles. We stayed at Bald Rocks next, followed by Big Hill, Dutch Doctor, Stone Memorial (maybe??), and finally William Brien. Each trip gave us new experiences. I'll have to go through them one by one at a later date but they include laying in our hammocks listening to a pack of coyotes sing while the horizon near Manhattan blazed an orange hue in the otherwise dark night. Stopping to check a map when a momma black bear and her cubs crossed our path. Hiking 10 miles in the ice cold rain, only to come to a packed camping area that also happened to be filled with really annoying no-see-ums (Dutch Doctor, I'm looking at you). Making a transition from hammocking to tenting. Some amazing sunsets. Walking through green, pink, and white tunnels of mountain laurel and rhododendrons in bloom. All in all, it has been great and coming back to this time was no different. 

Our hike up to Tom Jones from where we parked on Kanawauke Road was relatively uneventful. There were some beautiful lookout points. One interesting thing was that having such a rainy summer meant that there were TONS of interesting mushrooms all over. It's pretty incredible that they grow in such an amazing array of colors - reds, yellows, oranges, purple, ivory, etc. It really made me wish I knew more than a handful of common mushrooms. More than once I found myself thinking back to Michael Pollan's book that I recently finished, "How to Change Your Mind," and his other popular book "The Omnivore's Dilemma", where he goes mushroom hunting.

Mushroom friend...or foe?

The other advantage of all the rain as of late was an abundance of clear, running streams to get water from. Times in the past had us filtering tea-brown or murky water. Not this time!

View from our campsite. You can barely make out the silhouette of the shelter. 

Our late start meant a late arrival and no time for a fire unfortunately. Despite this, I desperately played the part of the forager and tried to scrounge up enough dead branches well past when the sun had set. Meanwhile D fastidiously made camp. Eventually was I too cold and realized the surrounding area was too clear wood. It makes sense that it would be so clear after a long season of many people camping. I dropped my brush pile next to the fire pit and asked D if he thought we'd be able to make a tiny fire - something to at least warm up by. He shook his head sadly and we accepted it for what it was.

After setting up and warming up in the tent for a bit (plus putting Tyger in his brand new puffy jacket), we climbed back out into the cold and started on dinner. It was a glorious one, though I doubt anyone who wasn't cold and tired from hiking would think as highly of it as we did. We brought frozen pastrami sausages (shout out to Walden Local Meat), frozen broccoli, and potato flakes. For a variety of reasons, the sausages and broccoli had not had time to thaw. We were planning on combining anyway so we started off by boiling the sausages, and then the broccoli. Into the water, now turned into a strange sort of broth we dumped potato flakes and pepper. The result was a something like a broccoli-potato soup with sausage. It was incredible.

Once the food had warmed us and our bellies were full, we cleaned up, hung our bear bag and crept into the tent. It was definitely a cold night and I woke up more than once wishing I had more layers. A bit after sunrise, we lazed in the tent. Personally, I didn't relish the idea of climbing out of my warm sleeping bag into the frigid morning, but eventually we did. We packed up camp and sipped steaming coffee out of our mugs, while looking out. It was a beautiful day. 

Our camp kitchen

It wasn't too long after that we hiked back to the car. My one regret was that I was unable to take a look around the shelter. There was a couple who spent the night (and morning) in it and I got the feeling that they didn't want to be disturbed.

Now we've only got 2 or 3 more to go - Fingerboard and Stockbridge. Possibly Stone Memorial.