Crocs at West Mountain Shelter NY 1396 Miles

July 13  Anton's/Greenwood Lake, NY  1371 Miles 
Today we would cross for good into New York. No weaving in and out of the New Jersey/New York border.
Ravi, the motel owner, gave Chili Dog and Persistent and I  a ride up to the trailhead this morning after we had walked down to Burger King and ate a pancake breakfast. 
It was supposed to thunderstorm that day and I was a little anxious to get going but the two guys were taking their time. Persistent, was 62 years old and looked tired. He said that he had thought of quitting a number of times and was looking forward to putting his feet up and watching TV for a week. He said he was bored with the views and the climbs were too rough.

I felt a little of the same way but I just needed rest and I'd be ready to go on. Dreaming of TV and movies and such seemed as distant as political news and other society and media events. They just seem illusory and a waste of time, a way for the "owners" to keep the "consumers" busy. But I understand being tired and feeling beat up as Persistent felt.

We got to the trailhead around 10AM.

It was a two mile climb up the "stairway to heaven" but I felt pretty good about it. Then about two miles out I heard Chilli dog say stop and I stopped as a large 6 foot black rat snake slittered a few inches away from my foot and began climbing up a tree on the other side of the trail.
That was close.
Of course I took pictures. It was an amazingly beautiful beast.
For  the first six miles it was moderate trail walking and we stopped for lunch around 2PM at the state park.

The headquarters had rusty water from the outside spigot for hikers and so I went into the headquarters and used their water fountain to fill up my Smart Water bottles. Most hikers use Smart Water bottles because their size is perfect for using a water filter and the bottle itself is slim for carrying in a backpack.
Chili and Persistent were taking their time eating and after a half an hour I said I was going on and would meet them down the trail. They said ok.
It was getting dark and looked like rain. I couldn't understand why they were lollygagging about as if they were on a summer stroll.

About 30 minutes later it started to rain and then about 45 minutes later it started to thunder and pour.

I had given up my poncho long ago and covered my bag and hightailed it up the hills and skipping over and around the rocks. And it became rockier and the trail turned into little rivers that I straddled up. My clothes and my shoes were drenched but at least it was not cold.
It had been a few weeks since I had walked in a storm. I had to admit it was kinda fun and exciting as long as I didn't slip and break my ass.

Then it became as challenging as it was exciting. I came to some rock and saw that the trail went up a wall and step bars were hammered into the side that I had to climb up. I put my poles in my bag and climbed up the "steps" up to a ridge and over it in the rain and then I was jumping from huge rock to huge rock for the next hour. Slowly. The rocks were very slick and I sure didn't need another accident.  I felt as if I was back in Pennsylvania.

Then about after an hour and half  the rain began to let up. I stopped at the top of a hill on a rocky ledge and  ate some power bars and checked my backpack. My stuff was dry amazingly enough.
I walked about a mile more and saw some tents. How is it going I shouted out.
Fine. Who's that?
Crocs.
Oh hey Crocs. It's Marigold. It's supposed to rain more in about a half an hour.
Ok thanks. I better get going then. Have a good one.
You too. Be safe.

It didn't look like more rain so I slowed down. I needed a break.
About 20 minutes later Chili Dog and Persistent came up a hill and we walked together for the next 10 miles. Along the way I slipped backwards onto my ass coming down a huge wet mossy rock and me poles went flying off the rock and down into the forest below. Oh well.

After seventeen miles of walking that day, we landed at the ridge above Greenwood Lake, NY and came down a rocky mile trail into town. They couldn't have given us a normal trail after all that crap I thought.

We were beat. I called "Anton's on the Lake" and told this gruff  New Yorker guy that  we were coming in.

Keep your expectations low I told Persistence who was hoping that Anton's was nice. Anton's on the Lake sounds nice he said.
I doubt you'll get breakfast in bed.

Upon arrival we saw that Anton's was just another budget inn with Goodwill furniture and door handles that were coming off for 90 a night and 120 on weekends.
I shared a room with Persistent and Chili took his own room.
If the place was shabby, the lake view  was pretty with bridges and boats and kayaks and geese. And after we got settled in, we went to a local restaurant and sat at the bar outside eating pizza and drinking beer and swatting mosquitoes until almost 10PM.

 July 14   Antons  1371 Miles

Everyone, including myself, wanted a zero day. So we did the usual resupply and laundry and walked around Greenwood Lake some. Not much though. My feet were aching.
We had lunch at a nice cozy coffee shop. I drank a number of cups of coffee and talked Bernie Sanders with the owner who was a supporter. Then went outside and saw I saw 38 year old Marigold sitting at an outside table.
You made it down I said.
Crocs?
Yeah.
Well, I called my sister. I'm off the trail. I can't do this anymore. It is too rough and its no fun anymore.
I understand that I said.
Sitting in that tent in the rain, climbing over those rocks.
They were a bitch, I said.
I've got things to do that are more productive back home. I'm looking forward to some relaxing time. Seeing my family and friends.
I hope you have a good one Marigold.
You too. Be safe.

I was looking forward to going back to my bed. But two hikers that Chili and Persistent had been hanging with were coming back in and they got my bed. I was back on the floor again.
That night the old group of friends went out and drank some. I lay down on the floor and was asleep by nine-thirty.

July 15 Fingerboard Shelter, NY     1387 Miles
I skipped breakfast with Persistent who was going to zero another day with his two new companions. He acted guilty for taking another day but I told him to enjoy it. Get off your feet.

Me, I couldn't afford it and I couldn't afford to get too comfortable. Although that group was about my age, and I enjoyed the company, I felt that they would slow me down. And I couldn't afford any negativity. It was hard enough as it was without the reinforcement.

I took an Uber back to the trailhead. I was not going to take that bastard of a trail up to the AT again. When I got to the trailhead however and took out my pack, I realized that I had left my hiker poles back at the coffee shop.
Damn. I didn't want to go back, spending more money and wasting more time. So I went on without them. I had done it before and I would do it again.
The trail was a lot of PUDs, pointless ups and downs, but all at the same elevation, around 1000 feet. Yet it still was as rough as it was the other day going into Greenwood Lake. But it wasn't raining thank God.

Then the trail started smoothing out and then the trail began to go through woody dark fields that looked like pictures I'd seen of Ireland, with huge rocks jutting out of green fields and small cliffs beside small running brooks. It was very pretty.
There were many day hikers out and they all had questions about my through hike it seemed.
Then I came across Hiker Man and Susan putting out thirty or so gallons of water on the trail. They were doing trail magic and I helped them unload their stash from the car. They weren't hikers they said, they just wanted to feed their good Karma. Nice folks. And the water is in short supply up North so it is definitely appreciated.

After about 10 miles I crossed over NY Thruway 87 and ran into some trail magic in a parking lot at the local Park. It was nice to relax and drink some Mtn. Dew and eat a couple of hamburgers.

Leaving the parking lot, I walked a few miles and went through the  Lemon Squeezer, two gigantic boulders thrown together so that it was a tight squeeze to get through it with or without a pack. It was fun.

I came into the Shelter around 6 PM and having walked 16 miles. I let a group of young people go on another 5 miles. One of the group had no poles and she said she thought poles were just a crutch.
I had to agree. Moreover, I enjoyed the freedom of not having to mind where my poles went or having to carry them up and over ridges where they did no good anyway.

The Fingerboard Shelter sat on a rock and was made of rock. Much of the tent space was gone so I settled into the shelter and looked out into the rocky pastureland.
And as it went dark, I felt like was in the old country, and wouldn't have been surprised to see a stocking-capped Leprechaun walking by smoking his pipe.

July16   West Mountain Shelter, NY  1396 Miles

I could only muster nine miles today. I was tired and my feet were aching mightily.
I took it easy, and walked as if I were strolling in the park at home, taking pictures and talking to day hikers. The terrain was just the same as yesterday and I took the time to enjoy it.
I crossed Palisades Parkway a busy 4-lane divided highway. The cars zoomed by at about eighty miles an hour. I looked in the guidebook and saw that New York City was just 34 miles away. How cool is that? The guidebook also says the West Mountain Shelter had NY views. Cool.

From the Expressway I went uphill and met Doppler going South. Doppler drives his truck to a place and motorbikes up the trail and hikes back to his truck slack packing and then sleeping in his truck. Must be nice.

It was a long ridge around to the shelter trail and then 80 yards to the shelter itself. It was an eight person shelter and I settled in at 4PM and enjoyed the view of the Hudson River and the docks and extremely far in the hazy distance I saw the NY skyline. I took out my hiker box Jack Reacher novel and read some.
A couple of hours later Compass and Pipes and his girlfriend, Fiddle and the German, Illegal, came in to tent. We sat around the shelter and watched the sun go down and the twinkling of the NY skyline come up.

Then Compass came back from his tent and said there was a snake curled up near him. All the guys got up and ran to see it. I could tell it was a Rattle Snake by its marking. We all took pictures and we poked it a little (isn't that what boys do?) to see if it was alive. It was. It raised it's head and just stared at us, not moving.

We left it there. Later, Compass poked it some more so as to get it away from his tent. But he said it went into some bushes closer to his tent. We all got a good laugh about that and told him to sleep well.
After watching some more of the view and watching an insouciant bullfrog lazily hop by our feet, we all went to bed.
It had been a good restful day.
I needed to hike less, more often.