Date: 2005-07-27
From: Vernon, NJ

To: NY 17A
Miles today: 15.2

What a day, Again!Before I start talking about today, I just want to mention that trying to sleep last night was horrible. It did end up raining and I had to get up and put the rain fly on in the middle of the night. At least I was not cowboy camping like the rest of the crew so I was able to stay dry. Dry from the rain anyway. It was so hot and I was just sweating like crazy. I am still using my 15° winter sleeping bag, which is not helping at all.Anyway, hiking was not fun today. I went back to the hostel in the morning and took a shower and messed around on the computer for a little. It was 11:30 AM before I knew it and I was planning on a 17-mile day. The heat index was up at 110° again today. People die sitting in their non air-conditioned house in this weather. I am hiking the freaking A.T. with 40 lbs on my back. I¢m a real MAN! So anyway, the shower was all for not, by the first 1.3 miles, 900 ft climb up out of Vernon, I was completely covered in sweat from head to toe. My shorts and t-shirt drenched, my hair wet and my eyes stinging from the sweat. These past two days have been the worst but this description is common.So I left with 2 liters of H2O that was basically simmering after 30 minutes. I was going to get more water at the first shelter about 5 miles in but I was told that I could get it elsewhere down the trail. There was more water down the way but they failed to mention it was bam and nasty. I had to get it because that is all there was. Shortly after that a crazy storm blew through. I was just about to climb these rocks that are above tree line when I took cover. I am glad I was not up there because it was a strong storm. I have not been stuck out hiking many times when a violent storm has come through but I rode it out like a champ and waited for it to blow over. It was about 5:30 PM and I still had about 7 miles to the shelter. I ended up doing a hard 5 miles to a road crossing where myself and two other hikers (Building and History) saw a sign for an ice cream parlor .1 miles away. They also had a spigot to get H2O! We decided that with fresh water we could set up our tents by the road and get ice cream. This is where the day got good. So, we cautiously walked over to the ice cream parlor. I say cautiously because 1        The road was a dangerous turn with cars flying by and2        An apparent hiker wrote on the sign at the trail crossing warning that the ice cream place was not hiker friendly. I decided to fill my water right away in case there were any problems. By the time I finished, Building and History had made a friend with a customer. She offered to give us a ride down into Warwick so we can get dinner. We happily took her up on her offer. We got in the car and she began to drive down off the mountain. After going nearly 10 miles she took a turn and went about another mile to our destination. We thanked her for the ride and made our way out of the car. In unison we all kind of looked at each other and asked what we got ourselves into. The lady was really nice but she dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. We were already realizing that finding a hitch was going to be tough for several reasons. First Warwick is not a trail town. It is not in any of the handbooks so locals probably think we are just a bunch of smelly bums. Secondly, we had left our packs up on the mountain. We were just going for an ice cream and now we are 10 miles away in Warwick without our packs people are probably going to be less likely to pick us up thinking we are axe murders or something. Lastly, by the time we finish eating it is going to be dusk if not dark. Again, who is going to pick up three guys when they can¢t even see them? These are all new scenarios that I would soon have to deal with. We walked up to the entrance of the restaurant and realized it looked like a pretty nice place. We did not know what to do. We realized we looked and smelled pretty bad so we did not want to go in and smell up the place. Instead we just sat outside at a table. After a couple minutes a lady came out to tell us they were not serving outside because of the storm that blew through earlier. We explained to her that we are hiking and smelled pretty bad and that maybe they should have us sit out here so we don¢t disgust the other customers. She agreed and brought us menus. As we waited we started to guess how expensive the menu would be and how rude the workers were going to be towards us. The menu came first and it was priced very reasonably and the service was outstanding. Our server was really nice and the bus girl was even cooler. She was so excited to hear we were hiking and brought us extra bread. Her Dad was leaving the restaurant as we were talking and he offered us a place to stay. Unfortunately, we left our packs up on the mountain!Our food came a very short time later and it was outstanding! Great meal! After we finished eating we got directions to a gas station so we could get some supplies. As we were walking back past the restaurant after hitting up the gas station we saw the bus girl in her car and another server running out to greet us. I had left my credit card and they were out searching for us to return it.... how nice of them! We were so amazed with how nice they treated us. We, often times get treated like this when we get to trail towns, but again, this was not a trail town and they were still awesome. It still amazes me at how nice people are. So, that is all good and great but it was now getting dark and we needed to get back up to the mountain. We walked back to the main road and put out our thumb. Again, it is almost dark, we¢re not in a trail town and we don¢t have our packs. We look like three dirty punks looking to car jack someone. After walking about 12 mile we realized that we are not going to walk all the way up the mountain so we might as well just stand in one place and try to get a ride. History kept saying we should walk back to town and try to find a taxi. I was not down with that. I am on the A.T. I don¢t take taxis! Besides, Warwick is so small I do not think they have a taxi. Minutes pass by as fast as the cars but a few cars slowed down then decided that maybe they should just keep driving. It is dark by now and I am getting a little nervous when a bus comes hauling around the bend. It appeared to be slowing down, as it got closer to us. Could it be stopping for us? Why yes, it was! I ran up to the door that was already open and explained to the driver that we needed to get back to the Appalachian Trail. He had no idea what I was talking about but I had a good idea that he would be passing the trail since he was going that direction because there was not much else in-between. I was also having a hard time understanding him because his English was broken and he had a thick accent from who knows where. After some convincing, he let us on but said we had to pay $1.75 each. No problem and we were on our way. We took a seat behind the driver and next to a passenger. We got to talking and found out the bus runs to the Port Authority in NYC. It is a commuter bus and the guy pulled over to pick us up...UNBELIEVEABLE!!   He ended up getting us back to the ice cream parlor where we were initially planning on going. I slurped down a chocolate malt and headed into the woods to pitch my tent and go to bed. Not a bad day after all!