FLT Day 40: McCarthy Hill Tower, 21 miles

After the past couple of days of weather today was relatively nice. I woke up to more snow on the ground, but at least it was sunny out. It never really warmed up, but there was very little wind today, which was a welcomed change.



Towards the end of the day I made my last real town stop, in Ellicottville, to resupply. It was only a half mile off of the trail, so not too bad. The town was a very nice little ski town, but still with enough people in it in the off season. There were all sorts of little shops along the main road, with people walking around town.

I stopped off at the library, which was closed. The wifi was still active, and there was an electrical outlet outside, so I was still able to take care of everything. The only real issue there was that it was in a little alcove, very well shaded, so I got pretty cold sitting there and not moving.


After town I got back to the trail and proceeded to get lost. It wasn't really getting lost. I knew where I was, and I knew where the trail went, but I didn't know where the trail was. This was in the Holiday Valley Ski Area, where there was still more than a foot of snow. The trail circled through several ski slopes, where I lost the track, but I knew that I just had to get to the top of the slope, and then follow the access roads.

I was originally planning on taking a short side trip to an old leanto, but decided to just set up my tent where the trail branched off. The weather was supposed to be nice, so that wasn't an issue. There was even a small rock fire ring at the branch, so it was obvious other people had done the same thing before.