Had a wonderful day yesterday at the hostel, but sleeping was a bit rough. The room we were in wasn't air conditioned and the night was very hot. Doors were left open to try to get some air, but that also meant Mosquito's. Their biting & buzzing made for a somewhat uncomfortable night.
We were up early and had a nice breakfast at a nearby restaurant.
We then needed to try to get a hitch back to the trailhead which was 3 1/2 miles away and well over an hours walk.
We had heard folks in town would pick up hikers (hitchhiking is illegal in NJ) and Guardian said the best plan was to stay put and not begin to walk because whoever would stop and pick us up midway would pick us up on town. He also advised us on the proper stance to be successful It worked perfectly. After about 10 minutes a fellow in a pick up truck stopped and we all hopped in the back for a quick ride to the trailhead.
Reminded me of the old Gorey adage: "Don't run if you can walk, don't walk if you can stand still, don't stand still if you can sit and don't sit if you can lay down".
The weather for today was a 50% chance of violent thunderstorms, but we had a mostly sunny and humid day.
The climb out of Vernon was a steep one as promised, but then the trail leveled out pretty good until we hit NY. I take back any bad things I may have mentioned about PA & NJ rocks. So far NY has them both beat. What an introduction to the NY trail! Bolder upon bolder all as big as box cars as far as the eye can see. We scrambled over them for hours. At one point someone had put a ladder in place to help us get up. Hiking poles were just a nuisance most of the time. Tonight we're all kind of beat from the rocks but tomorrow we'll be ready for more.
We did a 17 mile day today, but I know you're wondering...what about ice cream? Well at about mile 15 low and behold there was a home made ice cream shop just 2 tenths of a mile off the trail. They made the best shakes and provided water for hikers. Perfect timing because we were all out of water. The water sources in NY up to that point were not to appealing.
Rain came just as we finished our ice cream and we thought we were going to really get heavy showers. We had a few brief downpours, but by the time we were at the shelter for ten minutes the sun came back out.
Tonight's spot is a shelter area in a low somewhat damp mosquito infested area. We've set up our tents and will be comfortable for the night, but it will be good to be able to hike on in the morning. We've been somewhat spoiled by all the nice tent sites recently.
Were beginning to hear reports of more south bounders. It will be fun to chat with them.
There still seems to be a large number of thru hikers out here. I think 2011 is a bumper year. Perhaps the economy has contributed to the numbers.
That's about it for today.
A goodnight to all,
Trolley Stop
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| The Boarder! |
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| Yinz & Mr. Black were also at the boarder! |
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| The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen hit NY! |
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