Date: 2016-05-23
From: NY 52 (Stormville)

To: NY 22 (Wingdale)
Miles today: 14.8

We drove into NYC and had 2 terrific zero days visiting Chelsea & Jason, and grandkids, Logan & Avery. Logan is about 3 1/2 and Avery is sneaking up on her first b¢day. Logan is a continuous motion machine and Avery is testing out her legs getting ready for that first big step. It¢s the first time we¢ve seen them since we started hiking and they¢ve changed a lot. We hope to stop by again in early August when we¢ve finished the northern end of the AT and before we head west for the JMT.When we drove back from NYC on Sunday, we relocated to the Quality Inn in Fishkill, NY and we plan to be here for 3 days. It¢s clean and has about everything we need except laundry and a tub. There¢s a laundromat about a half mile away and just beyond that, a Starbucks. Last night we tried out the I-84 Diner that¢s adjacent to the Inn and were pleasantly surprised. The menu is very ambitious and it has a bar with decent IPA, our dinners were very good - it¢s not a fine dining experience, but after all, it¢s a 24-hr diner. I¢m comfortable with rating it the best diner I¢ve seen and I plan to go back. There¢s also an ice cream stand at the end of the Quality driveway and the parking lot has been full, so it¢s on my bucket list also. What about the hiking today? We messed with the sequence again today. We skipped one day ahead and did the segment from NY 52 (Stormville) to NY 22 (Wingdale). We¢ll do the segment that we skipped tomorrow, there¢s a good chance that we¢ll get some rain and it¢s shorter and might be a little easier (or not). So tomorrow will be NY 301 (Canopus Lake) to NY 52. We did manage to miss the rain today, there was a brief shower after we were back at the Quality Inn (I left my boots out to dry and they ended up more wet). We did a double key swap (separated the day¢s section into 2 approx equal sections and did a key swap on each). It takes a little longer to do a double or triple key swap, but we like it for several reasons. We get to see each other more often and we get a little more time for rest & water. There¢s not too much to report on the hike itself, mostly a walk in the woods with a couple of hills and many short ups and downs. There is a long boardwalk over a marshy area just before reaching the railroad tracks at the north end (NY 22). Midway along the boardwalk, it widens a bit and there are 2 Adirondack chairs. The chair facing north has ¢Georgia¢ written on the back, and the other chair facing south has ¢Maine¢. There is a train stop at the AT crossing point just short of NY 22. I¢ve never used it, and I don¢t know what the schedule is, but it¢s the Metro line into NYC. There is also plenty of parking on NY 22 at the north end. There are about 4 spaces close to the train stop platform, and there are parking areas just a short distance to the west of the NY 22 - AT crossing on both sides of the road. Several hikers are staying at the Duchess Motor Inn that is much further west and a very long walk from the AT. If the manager is available, he will pick up and drop hikers at the AT crossing. We¢ve stayed at the Duchess the last 2 years, but now that we have a car we can get to more full-service motels. We passed Nuclear Lake today, a quiet lake in a peaceful setting in the woods. There were ¢No Camping¢ signs prominently displayed around the lake. I saw a couple who had pitched their tent across the lake from the trail. As I was climbing away from the lake I passed a lady who was on her way to suggest that they need to leave. I¢m not sure why camping is restricted, I should have asked her. There seemed to be ample camp sites. When Princess passed me on the second segment she said she heard a rattlesnake alongside the trail as she passed. It was warm today, mid-60¢s into the 70¢s, so it was no surprise that they were moving around. She told me where, but I heard nothing when I passed through the area over an hour later. Tomorrow is expected to be about the same temps as today, however the remainder of the week is predicted to be in the mid-80¢s, about 10 deg warmer than today. A final note, we passed the Dover Oak today, the largest oak tree on the AT with a 20ft 4in girth and over 300 years old.