Date: 2016-05-18
From: Arden Valley Road

To: Seven Lakes Drive
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: clear sky

We planned a key swap today and we decided to split it into 2 sections. Our start point was the trail crossing at Arden Valley Road where we finished hiking yesterday. There¢s not much space here for parking, so we planned to leave the car at an intermediate point, the parking area near the trail crossing at Seven Lakes Drive (Seven Lakes Dr crosses the AT twice and we used the Seven Lakes Dr parking area near the AT mile 1398.0). The AWOL AT Guide doesn¢t identify a parking area at that road crossing, but we had a map that did and when we checked it out we found off-road space for maybe a half dozen cars. The parking area is identified as 1777 Trail Parking and that trail passes through the parking area, then joins the AT in about 0.1 mile. The spur trail is marked as the 1777 Trail, not a blue blaze.Everything went peachy, I dropped Princess at the Arden Valley Road and she started NoBo from there. I drove on to the Seven Lakes Drive parking area and headed up the 1777 trail. I took a photo of the point where the spur trail joined the AT for Princess since she hadn¢t actually walked up the trail. Then I started down the trail going SoBo. All was fine for a few hundred yards, then the AT split from the 1777 trail and I didn¢t realize it. The AT blazes are white and the 1777 blazes are white with an ¢F¢ in the blaze. It was rocky and I was watching where I stepped, and I didn¢t realize my mistake until I had gone about a half mile (pretty far). So I stopped and hauled out Guthook¢s Hiking Guide and sure enough I was nowhere near the AT. So I backtracked and found my mistake, but it cost me a mile of extra hiking and I was badly behind schedule. We know each other¢s hiking pace and we can figure out about where we should meet when we¢re doing the swap. Princess was worried when I was late. Eventually we met and decided to end the day when we finished the first 9 mile section. Both of us were tired from yesterday¢s hiking and the second portion of our swap was a 4 1/2 mile section up and over Bear Mountain. It seemed a shame to waste a perfectly good hiking weather, but we needed the rest and we have to move on to a new motel tomorrow. So when I met Princess in the car back at Arden Valley Road, we quit hiking and drove back to Greenwood Lakes. So she hiked 9.2 (AT) miles and I hiked about 10.2. Needless to say, I¢m watching the blazes much more closely now.The trail highlights today were Black Mountain, crossing Palisades Parkway and West Mountain. The mountains provided some great views of the Hudson River valley, the trees are leafed out now and everything looks lush and green. And for the first time in 3 years, I could see the New York City skyline from Black Mountain. It was hazy in the distance, but I could clearly see individual skyscrapers. Palisades Parkway was a different kind of experience. The traffic into NYC was fierce and I stood in the median a long time before I finally got a comfortable opening. I¢m always surprised that the ATC was able to get authorization for an unaided pedestrian crossing at grade. This was also the first year that we haven¢t seen a rattlesnake in this area. In 2014 a snake was under a bush alongside the trail just a few yards off the parkway, and last year we saw one out in the open just a little distance up West Mountain. Today started off too cold for them to be out and moving, but the temp climbed above 60 by mid-day and that¢s in their comfort zone. I certainly don¢t miss finding one this year and I hope it stays that way.