Date: 2013-07-30
From: Wawayanda Shelter

To: NY 17A
Miles today: 10.0

Last night when I went to bed so early I assumed that I would also wake up early, like 5:30. Instead, I woke up at 8:00 and fell back asleep til 9:15! I must have been really tired. It took me quite a while to pull myself out of the tent. But finally I got up, motivated by the cinnamon muffin I had waiting for me for breakfast.It was such a gorgeous morning--cool, sunny and peaceful. The woods looked so beautiful. I spent some time catching up on journaling and talked a bit with the German woman who came to the shelter at 10:45. Finally at 11:30, I left camp. Oh well. Somedays are just like that. It was just a lovely day of hiking and I had a great time. New Jersey is really proving to be much better than her reputation! But I had to say goodbye, as I crossed into New York (state #9 of 14). The trail in NY seemed to get harder almost instantly...lots of short, steep rock scrambles and slabs of rock to walk across which can be kinda hard on the legs. I ate blueberries along the way and enjoyed the smell of pine trees...It smelled the way woods are supposed to smell! :-)When I got to the road between Bellvale and Greenwood Lake, NY 17A, I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted food and a library and needed to hitch but knew that that was illegal so I didn't know what to do. I decided to walk .3 to the Bellvale Creamery. I got coffee ice cream and talked with a hiker named Canada whom I had seen off and on all day. I had hoped maybe a customer at the creamery would strike up a conversation with me whereby I could mention my need for a ride, but that didn't happen. So I walked out to the road and tried to look as pitiful and despondent as I could, hoping that someone would get the picture that I needed help (since I was told to do that rather than sticking out my thumb). As I was standing there a car came down an adjacent road and the lady who was driving asked me if I needed help. I told her my story and although she was turning to go towards Bellvale, she said she'd take me to Greenwood Lake because there's a bus there that can take me back up to the trail in the evening. Awesome! She said her brother hiked the trail in 1979. She took me to the library and I got some work done...and I got to look up the instructions for setting up SIS's TarpTent since I had a hard time getting it up the night before.At 8pm I left the library and was on my way to get a burrito when I ran into Coach and Navigator, a young couple that I had met on the trail. They were going to stay with some other hikers that I knew and were waiting to get picked and they said I could get a ride with them back to the trail. Great! I got my burrito (tasted just like Chipotle which I have been craving the last 4 months!) and we hung out and caught up while I ate. At 9 we got picked up and I got dropped back off at the trail and was surprised to find out that Krispin--a hiker I hadn't seen since Damascus--was camped there by the road! Sweet! It was great to see him again. I decided to just camp in the grassy clearing there near Krispin instead of night hiking 2 miles to the shelter. So I didn't hike very far today but I had a good day still. God totally provides for my needs!