Date: 2012-07-02
From: Greenwood Lake, NY

To: Greenwood Lake, NY
Miles today: 10.3

This morning we were up at 5:30am and were dropped off on Orange Turnpike Road at 6:30am. Right off the trail went up hill from the road and was once again rocky. Once at the top it went back down a little then back up very steeply, this continued for the next two miles it just went up and down. Luckily because we started so early it was only in the 60s so we did not get tired so fast. The trail then got really difficult, it went straight down over a cliff and we had to sit and slide down the rocks ledge to ledge. It would then go straight back up a cliff so we were basically rock climbing for a mile.The trail then leveled off and went around a lake which was nice but then the deer fly¢s really got bad and they were swarming around us the entire time we were beside the lake. The trail then left the lake then went up into the mountains again. We got to the top of Buchanan Mountain then went down to a road and we took a break beside a pond for a while. It was really swampy around and after the pond for a while but there was a lot of board walks so we stayed out of the mud. We headed back up to the ridge line on Mombasha Mountain and we started to run into some thru hikers that stayed at the shelter south of us. We talked to a few of them and they said that the shelter was full last night and that the water source was not a very good one, we ended up passing 10 hikers that stayed at the shelter.The trail went down off of Mombasha Mountain on an old rocky road and soon we were at the bottom...so we thought. There was to be a waterfall at the bottom and all we could see was a dried up stream bed so we figured that that was it and continued on. Not long after the trail went out to a cliff edge then it went down right beside the water fall which was flowing...i am not sure where the water was coming from but it was flowing. We carefully went down the drop off down to the bottom of the falls and continued on. The trail passed a road in the valley then went up the other side back up to the ridgeline. We got to the side trail to the shelter and decided to move on because we only had two miles to go till we got to the road that went into town. We passed a few hikers near there that also stayed at the same motel last night and we talked to them for a while. The trail went up and over Cat Rocks which required us once again to use our hands to climb up and over them. Then we went up and over the Eastern Pinnacles in the same manor. On the other side we stopped to talk to two day hikers and they offered to take us into town so we finished out the last mile and got to the road at 11:30am and found them waiting by their car. They had a convertible car and after hiking in the heat all morning the wind from sitting in the back seat felt amazing...thanks guys for taking us to town.We got back to the motel and showered then i took a long much needed nap, after hiking in this heat for the last week i was just wore out and i slept for about four hours and it felt great. Tomorrow morning we are going to be dropped off once again at Orange Turnpike road and continue going north so it¢s time for bed...night all!!