Date: 2013-07-24
From: Stealth camp at base of hill

To: Breezy Point Inn, Greenwood Lake, NY
Miles today: 12.5

It was so hot last night. When I woke up everything was damp with humidity. I got up on the first try. I packed up and at breakfast in my tent, though all the signs tell you not to. The food smells could attract bears. I'd rather deal with the bears than the mosquitoes. My campmates headed out of our tent city just a few minutes ahead of me. I watched them head back into the boulder field and pick through the rocks. I shook my head. This trail really is ridiculous sometimes. I thought about following the dirt path, but the purist in my triumphed. I walked to the beginning and worked through the boulder field myself. The climb was really steep and really rocky, but I was ready to have it behind me. I've noticed a pattern. I'll fixate on something that I don't want to do and exert a tremendous amount of energy dreading it, and then I get to a point that I look forward to it just so that I'll have it behind me. This climb was one of those occasions. There was a great view from the top. It looked back over the pastures and farm lands and the little store I was at the evening before. I could easily make out the AT as it passed through the field, a herd of cows grazing at the side. It would have been a awesome place to camp. In my next life...I was feeling tired and blah. I tried to call the Breezy Point Inn to reserve a room for the night. It had only been one night since I'd slept in a bed, but I had several packages waiting for me there. And it was bit of a walk to get into town, so once I'd made that sort of a commitment, I wanted a bed as a reward. There were plenty of rocks to climb over, scramble up the side of, pick my over to get to the Wawayanda Shelter. I decided to stop there for a snack break and because the name reminded me of the Flintstones. Keystone was there filling up on water, and there was a hiker sleeping in the shelter, wrapped up in their sleeping bag, but still wearing their boots. I came down to a road crossing and I heard guitar music. About 20 yards away was a young guy with long dark hair leaning up against his car, strumming his guitar. It was beautiful and poetic. He stopped and looked towards me. Not sure what else to do, we waved to each other. He said he had a doctor's appointment in town and was early, so he decided to come out to the trail crossing to play his guitar. Trail magic takes on many forms. I passed several more ponds covered in duckweed and/or lily pads. None of them looked like anything I'd want to take a swim in. Finally, after a bit more rock scrambling, I got to a rock with NJ/NY painted on it. This was the official border crossing. I straddled the marking and took a picture of my feet. I was in the Empire State. I immediately started singing the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys song "Empire State of Mind". Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York.... I decided it was as good of a place to have lunch as any. The hike after lunch involved a ladder. A ladder. It wasn't a tall ladder, but it was a ladder nonetheless. By the end of all the rock scrambles, I was so tired. I felt like I'd had an 8 hour full-body work out. There was a .9 mile side trail, a steep side trail of course (is there any other sort?), down to Greenwood Lake. I really, really wasn't looking forward to having to reverse the trek in the morning, but that's tomorrow, so I'll worry about it then, I guess. The trail drops you at the baseball fields at the edge of town. I walked to little deli and got a lemonade and bag of chips. I know I should do a resupply, but I'm too tire to think about it now, so hopefully I can get something decent tomorrow. The deli doesn't open until 10 a.m. though. :/Once in town, I still had a .6 mile walk to the hotel down a narrow busy lakeside road. Hitch-hiking is illegal in New York, and though I'm pretty brazen about stealth-camping wherever I please, I'm pretty much a stickler when it come to actual laws. My feet ached but the time I got to the hotel. It was set right on the edge of the lake, and it had a pretty sign out front. I had to go into the sports bar area to check-in and pick up my maildrops. A couple of the bar patrons asked me about my pack (no word on the urine smell), and I was directed through the restaurant to my room. There were four or five rooms with big picture windows that looked directly out onto the dining patio. I guess I'll be keeping the curtains pulled to tonight. I drew up a tub of hot water and crawled in. My body is so tired, and it just hurts. I feel tired. I'm not sure if I'm not getting enough calories or if I'm just exhausted. Either way, even after the recent zero, I'm feeling pretty depleted. I went to the restaurant and got bowl of jalapeno corn chowder, seafood linguine and a nice glass of white wine. Then I made the phone call rounds. I got to talk to my parents, Tom's parents, our property manager, the electric company and Tom. I found out that Tom will be home sooner than expected. It's great news, but that means I need to start putting in bigger miles if I want it make it home in time to welcome him back. By the time it was all done, it was after midnight.