Date: 2014-06-19
From: St. Thomas Episcopal Church Hostel

To: Anton's on the Lake - Greenwood Lake, NY via 17A
Miles today: 15.0

Entered our ninth state today - what an accomplishment! I find it hard to believe that after all the research we have done on the trail very little of it mentions the surprising ruggedness of NY.Woke up to a light drizzle this morning and walked right next door to the hostel to get a great breakfast at the Mixing Bowl - very good food and service, eat here if you can! We ate with Seabiscuit and Michael while the others packed up.The first taxi arrived before eight thirty so we loaded up with Michael and went to the trailhead. Taxi driver was very gruff and not talkative - Vernon is full of happy people it seems! At the trailhead Michael was heading south so we said farewell. We met a thru-hiker female wearing a red shirt who had been hiking since five AM and she was soaked - she had a positive spirit though and was very nice when we talked with her. Apparently it rained hard last night - glad to have been inside!First big climb of the day up Wawayanda was a doozy - wet rocks and steep terrain made it tough going first thing in the AM! Here again we were glad we did not try tackling the climb yesterday in the heat - it would have been brutal. At the top of the climb we rested and Seabsicuit passed us - we did not see him the rest of the day.The light rain continued all morning through the hike. We found some nicer trails after the top of the climb and ran into Sharp Knife ans Hiccup by a fast-flowing stream washing their clothes - they had camped right next to the stream in the storm last night. We caught up with them quickly and kept moving on towards the shelter. Ran into Next Five and Little Bear just before the shelter - she was just leaving since it had been raining hard in the higher elevation until nine. A tough night sleeping for those tenting near the shelter! Said farewell and rested at the shelter.The NY-NJ border was a great sight for us - so nice to cross into another state and see what it has to offer! Our book came with a warning though: "Despite the unimposing profile, rocks, abrupt ups & downs make this section challenging".Boy that description in the guide did not prepare us for the trail in NY - holy cow! Huge sections of rock scrambles that took us up and over ridges - made more treacherous by the slippery rain. Very steep downgrades at times on the trail followed by very steep ups that made you stop and look and wonder how to climb it. The trails of New York so far have made for slow hiking - from the NY-NJ border to about Cascade Brook took us a surprisingly long time with all of the above mentioned things - even a freaking ladder on the trail in one place it was so steep! We made it through all of these things with only one fall by me (no injuries) and by taking our time - you cannot hurry this section.The paragraph above is not a list of complaints but more so a warning to hikers present and future - NY is not a state you can take lightly. Although the terrain is rough in the beginning you get great views from the rocky ridges and changing scenery. It was fun tackling the obstacles of the trail but it was mentally and physically taxing to do so - the body was giving us signals for more rest. Walking down to NY 17A I put into action a plan I though of on the trail. Big Dawg needed more of the physical rest since he was not recovering as quickly as he did in the beginning and his feet were still bothering him. I needed a little mental break from the trail - I got too focused on speeds and mileage and the trail minutiae that the hiking had started to become a little bland - still enjoyed the fellowship at the campsites and the views but the in-between hiking was "meh". So the plan involved starting Big Dawg on a week long "rest" period filled with some slackpacking and easier days to build him back up for the rest of the trail.At the road we took the walk over to Bellvale Creamery for ice cream and a soda and were pleasantly surprised to find it situated overlooking the Warwick Valley below - great views of the valley and we could even see High Point in NJ! The ice cream was great and definitely needed after the long tough day. We decided to stay at Anton's on the Water in Greenwood Lake since he offered free slackpacking with a two night stay and free pickup and return to the trailhead. The owner Matt picked us up and gave us the town tour as we drove to the hotel - very informative and an interesting guy! He also sounds like Carl from Family Guy - look it up! He set us up in our room and as we settled in we ran into Reset. He had come into town after the tough day as well and it was good to see him again.Enjoyed pizza at a local family restaurant - the pizza was huge! Picked up some supplies and spent most of the evening outside talking with Reset and finalizing plans with Mom and Stef - excited to see them tomorrow! Big Dawg is ready for the slackpacking too!