Date: 2015-05-30
From: Vernon

To: Greenwood Lake
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was an exceptionally hard day. I woke up with a blister on the sole of my right foot, which made every step extremely painful. I had to use a lot of gauze to try and ease it a bit. My mosquito bites had also blistered, one hugely, and I had to drain it. I didn't leave the hostel until 10, and then tried to hitch hike back to the trail. I fell over on the roadside after about 5 minutes. I scraped my knee open. The good thing is that a car pulled over to help me, and gave me a lift. The woman was very concerned because I couldn't stop crying. Once the flood gates open, it is hard to close them. She told me that her parents had passed earlier this year, and gave her condolences. Then she took me up to Heaven Hill Farm, right by the trail.At Heaven Hill, the staff immediately sat me down and gave me first aid supplies for my bleeding knee. I cleaned it up and got a slushy before heading back to the trail with a massive plaster on my leg. The first leg was very difficult. It was a steep climb and called "stairway to heaven". At times it was literally climbing up stone steps. I met Lorax and Archangel about lunchtime, they were resting beside one of the few clear streams here. Most of the water sources are swamps or from swamps, and the water is black. I told them about my day, and they offered me a spot in their room in the town. I was planning on doing a very short day, but I ended up doing a further 10 miles. The last big section was all along the ridgeline, climbing up and down rocks. At one point I had to literally go up a ladder. It made it much harder than it needed to be. But I finally left New Jersey. At one point, I saw Cruize holding a black snake on top of the rocks. He told me that it was fun. I am fairly certain that he was on an incredible amount of painkillers. I ran out of water and had to get water from one of the bad, black water sources. Even with my filter, the water was still tan. I hope it doesn't make me sick, since Stoat and Poppins think that's what has happened to them.At the road crossing before town, there were two boxes of trail magic! I had a cold Mountain Dew, a small bag of chocolate raisins and some biscuits. I think it had just been placed there because it was quite full. Sadly, I then had to walk about 2 miles into town since hitch hiking is very illegal here, and I actually was passed by a police car. In the town, a retired police officer gave me a lift to the Breezy Point Inn, where Archangel and Lorax were waiting for me. The officer said that I had looked so tired that he had to give me a lift. I didn't sleep well last night. I think I'm going to be taking a rest day earlier than I expected. My foot is really, really painful to walk on and I need it to heal asap. Today has been one of the hardest days out here. For the first time, the trail took my blood, sweat, and tears. Archangel and Lorax have really helped to cheer me up, and I can't thank them enough for that. I'm glad I decided to not stop early and mope about in a shelter by myself. On the trail, it is extremely hard to distract yourself, even with endless podcasts