Date: 2018-07-22
From: Wawayanda Shelter 

To: Wildcat Shelter 
Miles today: 12.1

It basically rained all night from 9 o¢clock on. My fly got soaked, but luckily I stayed dry. I got up at 6 and it was still sprinkling/wind blowing drops off trees, so I tried to eat and get ready in my tent. A couple of guys had come by and brought coffee and donuts which was awesome.I got out around 8 but stopped right away at the bathroom/spigot at the park office so got an even later start.Even though the trees blocked most of the rain, the rocks were smooth and slippery. Anytime they were covered with lichen and pointed downward I fell. No matter how slow I took it, probably 6 or 8 times. I think body parts hurt I didn¢t even know I had! The worst was I tweaked my knee, so hopefully that doesn¢t become an issue. And I bent one of my trekking poles. Leki has good customer service, but I have to get to an outfitter which there are none for a while.I officially crossed the line into New York. The trail had been skirting the border, but I am totally out of New Jersey. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, lots of lakes and views! Hopefully NY is as good, not a great start though...The skies finally cleared and there were some good views of Greenwood Lake and the mountains around it. I decided to take a short trail to a viewpoint, but didn¢t feel like coming back on it so tried to bushwhack to the AT. As you can imagine, this didn¢t go so well and I fell a few more times.I finally reached Route 17A, which is notable because there is a hot dog stand and creamery right down the road. I thought it was like 0.2 miles and was feeling lazy, so asked a guy that just got to his car to take me. He accepted, but asked ¢You can¢t walk?¢ I don¢t think he meant in a mean way, but was funny. I was like ¢I try to avoid any non trail miles if I can!¢The ice cream place was hopping and there werea couple other hikers already there. I got to eat lunch at a picnic table with decent views. Almost everyone from the shelter shortly showed up and we had a big group (us hiker trash kept away from the real people of course). Everyone was either going to a close town or only doing a few more miles. I had originally planned to do 22 or 26 miles, but the terrain threw that plan out the window. I decided to hang around and just go to the shelter a couple miles away- basically a nearo!I talked a lot with a guy from Austria named Halfway. We joked he was my other half! A guy stopped by with oranges and Gatorade, which was nice. The rain kind of came and went so we decided to get a move on.It was a short easy walk to the shelter, but my knee started hurting so I¢m glad I didn¢t go any further. When I arrived, Bill and Blue Moon were there, plus a southbounder (started in Maine going south to Georgia. He is the first I have met and apparently one of the first this year - started May 27th or something. Guess I¢m going to see more.It was nice not having to set up a tent, especially since the rain started again. We all sat around making dinner and talking about parts of the trail we have already done/what the other direction can expect. I went to use the privy, and when I came back another person arrived. There was definitely space, but kind of annoying because it was perfect with three people and now it would be crammed. Wouldn¢t make him sleep out in the rain though!I think this is actually the first shelter I¢ve slept in since Shenandoah. Got my earplugs ready but I think the storm drowned out other noises!