Date: 2003-08-05
From: Vernon, NJ

To: Greenwood Lake, NY / NY 17A
Miles today: 15.2

Burger woke me up around 6:30 am so I could get packed and meet him at the bagel shop for breakfast. Cruiser, Reason, Daisies, Burger and I were all there filling up on bagels. Burger, Daisies, and I then hitched a ride back to the trail and began a long days hike. We hadn¢t been hiking for more than 10 minutes when The Buddy came running back down the trail. We asked him what was wrong and he told us that he¢s done and is getting off the trail. He realized he could do this another time and needed to go see about a girl. Ah! He was almost in tears when he was telling us this yet he seemed to be so happy. Daisies and I both almost started crying as he was telling us this. It was so great to see someone being at peace with their decision to leave the trail. We stopped for a snack break at the Wawaganda Shelter, which was a little more than 5 miles into the day. And of course right after we left the shelter it started raining and has not stopped. Viking ended up catching up to us at one point and remained with us for the rest of the day. At one point the trail literally turned into a river. The water was flowing pretty fast and in many places was calf deep. Crossed the NY ¢ NJ state line, eight down and six more to go. There wasn¢t much of a celebration but I did get a couple of pictures. New York has not given me a very good welcome. There was a lot of rock scrambling (where you actually had to pull yourself up with your arms ¢ it was pretty much rock climbing with a huge pack and boots) that had to be done today which is dangerous enough on a dry day so you can imagine how terrifying it is in the rain. There was one rock they were nice enough to bolt a ladder to. Well, I got to the top of the ladder, took a step off onto a ledge no wider than my foot, then went to take the next step and fell. I was certain I was going over backwards to the bottom but luckily I had a good hold with my hands. So there I was, gripping hold of this rock with my pack hanging off the ledge. My adrenaline kicked in big time and I have no idea how I got myself up and to the top. I am very grateful I wasn¢t alone when that happened. Thanks Daisies! If there had been a road within a mile or two of that rock I would have gone home, but there wasn¢t so I had no choice but to keep going. I fell two more times after that but those were nowhere near as terrifying. Daisies and I had planned to do 17 miles today but after feeling pretty beat up could only manage 15. We took a side trail down into the town of Greenwood Lake, NY where we went right to this little pizza shop. Changed into some dry clothes and pigged out on some pizza. It was about 9:30 when we left the pizza shop and headed over to the Linden Hotel, which was a couple of blocks away. I didn¢t think the day could get any worse but it did for a little while longer. We got over to the Linden to find out it was closed. Walked over to the gas station and called a couple other placed to find them all booked up. We had no idea what we were going to do if we couldn¢t find something. While Daisies and I went next door to a restaurant to see what they could recommend, a park ranger happened to be passing by on his way home. He stopped, got our story, and then went to check on a couple of places for us. He came back to get us and brought us to Anton¢s on the Lake. This place is heaven! The lady that runs it happens to love hikers. All their rooms were taken except for a couple that were being repaired but she opened one up for us so we could get out of the rain. The only thing wrong with this room is that the toilet needs repaired and there is a small leak in the ceiling but that doesn¢t bother us one bit. We got to pick out a couple of movies from their collection and the best part is that they bring your breakfast to your room in the morning.