Date: 2014-06-08
From: Unionville Hospitality

To: Unionville to Greenwood Lake, NY
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

The past two days have been some of the best days on the trail. After receiving the trail magic of a lifetime, I was in such high spirits. I stopped at a nice view right at the top of the first climb and took a snack break. Before long, I really got moving and fell into a nice pace. Then came the Jersey Boardwalk, which is nearly a mile long stretch through a bird sanctuary and includes a very cool suspension bridge. Walking through this section reminded me of a biology field trip I took in high school when our class went down to Skidaway island to explore the marsh lands and barrier islands. It was a wonderful stretch of the trail. I then kept hiking, going up and down some short little climbs before I reached the last little pasture before the road crossing at Vernon. Well, as soon as I hopped over the stile, I saw a dozen or so calfs and their mamas hanging out near the wooden planks that ran the length of the field. I even had to kindly ask some of the cows to move over a tad so that I could reach the stile on the other side. I then found Happy and Moaglee waiting at the road crossing. So we headed on up to the next great view together. And man, was the view stellar. I sat down on the rocks and tried my very best to stop time altogether. I had the thought, "I don't ever want this hike to end." Now, of course I am looking forward to reconnecting with people back home and starting a new venture in life, but in moments like these, I couldn't help but to be so happy to be present and in the moment, enjoying the last little bit of New Jersey. I stayed up by the rocks til about 7:45 PM, so the 3.5 mile walk to the shelter gave need for me to use my headlamp for a half hour or so of night hiking. I got to camp, set up, ate supper, and promptly fell asleep for nearly 10 hours. I remained a lazy hiker in my tent the next morning, not getting up until Happy came to check and make sure I was alright at 9 AM. Of course I was fine, just loving the chance to get some extra sleep. I got it together and left the shelter at quarter to ten, knowing I didn't have more than 13 miles to the next shelter. As I neared the New Jersey/New York state line, the boulders made a return. I had to scramble up a few and given that there was no beaten dirt path, I had to pay extra attention to the white blazes, sometimes even having to retrace my steps back to the most recent white blaze. But as I saw the state line marked with spray paint on the rock, I got very excited. Another state down! And to be in New York with only five more states to go until Maine, I really felt accomplished. I kept moving as the bugs got pretty bad, making breaks more unpleasant than restful. After another hour or two of hiking, I climbed an actual ladder bolted to a rock and found myself atop a gorgeous, breezy view overlooking Greenwood Lake. Since it was starting to reach the hottest part of the day and since I knew the boys were behind me (they had to run into town for a resupply), I plopped myself down and enjoyed a two hour break. Happy finally made his way up the ladder too and seemed relieved to see me. For as great of a day as I was having, he was not having as supreme of a time. We sat and talked, and he told me how a bunch of hikers had gotten hotel rooms down in Warwick. Since we're not on any time crunch, I agreed to go into town with him for the chance to get to know some fellow hikers better. We came down the mountain and found that the town was having a little summer festival complete with live music by some teens enrolled in a School-of-Rock-type program; and wow, did they sound good! Eventually, we made our way to the hotel to meet up with a whole mess of hikers. I walked with Tree and Windscreen into town to grab a beer and really enjoyed being able to get to know them a little better. It's funny, but it doesn't take long to build friendships out here. We made it back to the hotel and hung out for a few more hours before we called it a night. I'm so thankful for all of the positivity that seems to be surrounding me these days. This hike has already been so much greater than I originally imagined and never ceases to bring new opportunities for growing and connecting with others.