Date: 2018-06-08
From: NY 17A / Greenwood Lake

To: Arden Valley Rd / Elk Park
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I am behind on posting and will start here, backfilling with journals I have dictated on my phone as I have time.I returned to the trail this morning with Buddha via Uber. We had stayed at a hotel last night, with Buddha¢s brother leaving the trail and going home today. I had done 15.1 miles yesterday, and 18.9 the day before. Buddha took off, as he wanted to get some bigger miles in today. My feet were very sore and I only made it two miles before stopping at Fitzgerald Falls to soak them in icy cold water. They were still feeling the pain of the Pennsylvania rocks, with nary a minute to recover. I called the hotel where Puddles was staying tonight to make a reservation, but they were booked. I asked to get on a cancellation list and the owner took my number. He mentioned he was waiting for Christy (Puddles) to come in and I told him I knew her. He also said something about another hiker, who I didn¢t know. He said Christy had the ¢large¢ room with three beds, and maybe I could stay with her. I contacted her later and we agreed to share the room.After spending quite a bit of time at the falls, I reluctantly put my boots back on my swollen, sore feet. I had an ascent facing me and slowly started my climb for over a mile to Mombasha High Point in Sterling State Forest. As the day went on, I realized New York was turning out to be much tougher than expected. Puddles had sent me a text yesterday about how ¢Badass¢ New York was, as she was at least a day ahead of me. It was a rough day with my mileage dropping from the two previous days. There was some trail magic from Susan and The Hikerman, who were leaving several gallon size bottles of COLD spring water near every roadway. With all the climbs in the heat today, the water was greatly appreciated for refills. I did have a chance to meet them at one of the roadsides, and they were wonderful. Thank you for trail magic! I arrived at Elk Park (also called Elk Penn) and walked to a shady spot in the parking lot, where I dropped my pack. There were three cars in the lot. An occupied car was parked in the shade, then pulled ahead to my location. It was Chongo, who I had met on the trail near High Point, NJ and his uncle Rob. Chongo was getting picked up for a couple zero days. They offered me a piece of pizza and a beer, which I gladly accepted. We chatted for a while, then they took off while I waited for my Uber. As the Uber driver headed to the motel, Puddles texted me that she was at Palisades Parkway, and could not summon an Uber, due to her weak to non-existent phone signal. She had hiked more miles than she wanted, because she didn¢t have cell service at an earlier exit point from the trail. Currently, she could only text. I asked my Uber driver, if he was going past her location, and he advised he was. I asked if he could pick her up on the way back, and he said he couldn¢t, he didn¢t want to get fired. I then tried to bribe him with cash, an offer which he also refused. Between texts with Puddles, the conversation with my driver was not very interesting. I was trying to explain a nearly 2200 mile backpacking trip, to someone who didn¢t know what a tent or camping was. I spent most of my time explaining where I sleep at night. I¢m quite certain he did not have a full understanding of what a tent was before the ride was over. By the time I got to the motel, Puddles said there was a pay phone where she was, and asked for a taxi number, or for me to call one. I went into the motel, where the owner greeted me, thinking I was Puddles. I explained her plight, and he decided to pick her up. I asked if I could put my pack in the room and opened the door to one double bed, in a cute, but tiny room. It wasn¢t the large room with three beds. This isn¢t going to work¢ I thought to myself, and told ¢Grandpa¢ as he referred to himself, that I would have to stay someplace else. There was miscommunication earlier, and he thought I knew the person staying in the large room. We found Puddles and returned to the motel. I walked across the street, checked in to the Holiday Inn Express and contacted Sugar Foot, who was back after taking a week off, returning to the trail tomorrow. He joined Puddles and I for dinner. It was nice to catch up with him, as we hadn¢t seen each other since leaving Harpers Ferry. I returned to the hotel with Puddle¢s laundry and gave my best to Sugar Foot. I got our laundry done and into the dryer, then fell asleep.