[Journal Entry for Sept 24, 2009] The Appalachian Trail (AT) near the Lemon Squeezer. I park at the trailhead off of Arden Valley Road, just east of Route 17 in Southfield NY in the early morning. The sun is just coming over the hills of Harriman State Park, and the meadow is still pretty much in shadows, though the treetops are lit. Most of the foliage is still green, but some trees and most vines have turned red, and the grasses of the meadow are mostly tan. I head east on the AT, up the steep western flank of Green Pond Mountain. The land below the canopy is in deep shadows. After a long uphill grade, I reach Island Pond, and find a grassy spot on its shore to sit and admire the view. The bushes along its shore and on the little are red now and aflame in the morning sun. I cross a stone sluiceway via a wooden footbridge. I suppose this to be part of a mill; a big, rusting steel assembly alongside the trail may be part of it. I then start to ascend Island Pond Mountain, entering the famous Lemon Squeezer. This is a segment of trail trough a giant boulder field, one of the many on south-facing hills created by glacial plucking during the Ice Age. The trail enters a cave in the boulder pile and takes a narrow passage formed where the rocks cracked and separated by a couple of feet. The path leads to the top of Island Pond Mountain. The view to the west is very nice here. I can see Island Pond, a now-red maple swamp, and, in the distance, the hill call Agony Grind. The trail then descends to a swampy area north of the mountain. The ground in places is covered with broad patches of bright green sphagnum moss, brightly lit by the sun. I come to the intersection with the Long Path. It is marked by a signpost sporting a long list of trail mileages. I cross a small stream, another hill and then come to the Greenwood Mine, one of the many iron mines in the area that were active in the late eighteenth century. The tailing piles are the most noticeable part of the mine. They are ten feet high in places. The mine itself is flooded, a pit whose depth is I can only imagine. Surebridge Creek flows amid the tailings. I don’t imagine that they do the water quality any good, yet I see many frogs along its banks. The creek flows into a marshy area full of phragmites grass and fall-red maple trees. The AT then heads back up, ascending the western flank of Fingerboard Mountain. Open glades are decorated by fern, much of it now turning yellow or brown. The summit has many open area with exposed rock ledges and patches of blueberry bushes. Fingerboard Shelter is built on the eastern edge of the summit. It is a three-sided lean-to made with local boulders and a stout wooden roof. The trail follows the crest of Fingerboard Mountain northward, though blueberry glades and woods until crossing Arden Valley Road, just west of Lake Tiorati Circle. It has taken me about three hours of hiking to reach this spot and I expect to take a similar amount of time on the return trip.