NJ-NY

I am sitting in my parent's apartment in NYC. We got off the trail 1,408 miles from Springer and a short 767 miles to Katahdin. I have not been able to update for a while so I am now trying to go back and put in some photos and fill in the missing gaps, but not really in order, so bear with me. This entry will cover my time in New Jersey and New York, and then my next update will be the end of PA. However since the most recent post is always first you will probably have just finished reading about PA when you get to this disclaimer.
When we (Shadow, Peacock, Daddy-O and Toad) left the Delaware Water Gap we were very excited to leave PA. None of us had enjoyed the rocks or the lack of views and we were ready for something new. We also knew that we had a relatively hard 7 days of hiking before a week off in NYC and we were looking forward to that. Immediately NJ was better than PA. The trail was nicer, and we started getting views. We caught back up with Jack Frost and then came across lovely Sunfish pond. Toad and Peacock stopped to catch frogs while Shadow, Daddy-O, Jack and I continued to the Mohican Outdoor Center. In the hiker box there was a 2lb can of baked beans which we were able to heat up for lunch. We hiked up a fire tower with a great view and cell phone reception, ran into a black bear and stayed that night at an old YMCA camp. There were two very sketchy screened in shelters with camp beds and a horrible tasting faucet to get water from. The one redeeming quality about the location was the beach and lake. After a hot 18 miles of hiking we had one of the best swimming holes on the trail.
The next day we started out with a blue blaze back to the AT instead of a mile back tracking and pushed on for a 22 mile day. The shelter we stopped out was not a great one, was a steep descending .4 off the trail and had the worst privy I have used. There were no walls just a box covering the hole. However, the box was rotting away and you were not sure if the seat would hold you.
Our next day was a planned resupply. 11 miles to Unionville, NY and then another 6 afterwards. When we got there we saw a sign from the mayor offering laundry and showers at his place so Shadow called up. We were picked up and also offered a free place to stay, free dinner and breakfast and the first beer free, the next 3 25 cents each and then you were cut off. We decided to stay. Previously the most guests the mayor had in one night was 10. That night there were 25. All the beds were taken, all of the floor space and most of the lawn. It was a wonderful night, but meant a couple of more long days coming up.
From the mayor's house we pushed a 21 mile day. Around lunch time we came to Heaven Hill Farm. We had heard that they had ice cream and water for hikers. As we walked in we came across Ron Beatty (Shakedown Cruise). He said hello and offered to treat us to ice cream, up to a quart. So I decided to have a quart of ice cream for lunch. Cookies n Cream, Raspberry Blast and Java Chunk make a great combination. That enabled us to continue on to NY and Prospect Rock. Prospect Rock is the highest point on the AT in NY. We decided to cowboy camp there with a sunset and sunrise view. We were able to watch the lights come up on Greenwood lake and we could even see the orange haze of NYC.
When you are driving from NJ to NY the quality of road changes for the worse. This was copied on the trail. The trail planners in NY do not believe in switchbacks. They go out of their way to take the trail up and down ever single viewless ridge. On top of this the weather turned hot and humid. In NJ and NY most of the streams are not good for drinking so we go from faucet to faucet leaving with 7+ pounds of water. Currently NY is pushing Pa for the honor of worst state. 17 miles into the next day after descending Agony Grind we crossed the NY state Thruway and came across Paddy-O. Paddy-O hiked in 2000 and has been doing trail magic for the last three years. He cooked us Hot Dogs and gave us Gatorade and offered use of his full bar. We accepted and had "Trail Bombs." An Irish car bomb, but on the trail. That enabled us to continue on the next 4 miles to the shelter. NY does not space shelters well, nor do they have all the amenities like picnic tables, privies or water. I was the only person sleeping in the shelter that night, and I wondered why we even bothered to go there since there had been better camping spots on the actual trail.
The following day was Saturday and we made to Bear Mountain. Lots of other people on the trail and we were able to help out 5 day hikers who had taken the wrong trail down and were now very far away from their cars. The trail then took us to Hessian Lake which is a very popular picnic spot and was very crowded. I felt out of place in the party atmosphere with my stinky shirt and backpack and continued on to the zoo. The trail takes us through the zoo to Bear Mountain Bridge. In the zoo we were able to see all sorts of things we had seen on the trail, such as three bears at the lowest point on the trail. We hiked on to another campsite with no water. We were feeling pretty miserable at this point. Two days of hiking without being able to even take a bandana bath at the end of the day. We were sticky, stinky and not very happy.
Our last day on the trail took us to Clarence Fahnestock State Park. We left early in the day because we knew we had showers and a swimmable lake waiting for us. We made a questionable choice of filling up water which ended up being very foul tasting and turned my stomach. With our bad water the trail took us over some wood planks and a bees nest. Peacock, Daddy-O and I each got stung 3 or 4 times. Shadow was hit 13 times. We ran through there then stopped at a road just down the trail and took Benedryl. This slowed us down even further. It is mazing how you feel tired after taking Benedryl. However we made it to hot showers at the campground just as it started to rain. I spent the entire rain in the shower then set up my tent and went to sleep. We cooked some food and then were driven into NYC in time to see my parents and have some more food.
I am now spending the week in NYC visiting my grandparents and other friends, running errands and catching up on sleep. After the last couple of days hiking through NY I was very ready to take some time off the trail. When I get back on the trail just 767 miles and eight weeks to Katahdin.