1 June 2021. Day 55. 12.4 Miles + 661.4 Miles = 673.8 Miles. Wawayanda Shelter to Wildcat Shelter in New York.

07:22. Parker Lake Outlet

I pulled out of Wawayanda at 07:15 and within minutes came upon Parker Lake. As with every waterway here the beavers had been hard at work. In this case the main lake drain was completely plugged causing the lake to drain only via the overflow chute. That caused the actual trail to be a muddy mess as you can see in the second picture. That’s water and mud beyond the wooden walkway.

08:19. You Get Water Where You Can Find It

Evidently this is high iron content in the water. We have since found it in other streams. Filtering helps……somewhat.

10:06. In Case You Can’t Remember

North

New York hiking became walk across massive stone ledges. They were so large they had to paint the directions on the rocks. In front of me and out of the view of the camera is painted a southbound arrow.

10:10. Into New York

I wasn’t expecting this thinking that we still had many miles of New Jersey to do. It was a pleasant surprise to have walked into my 9th state of the AT.

10:27. A Patriot has Been Here

Prospect Rock was one of several rocky overlooks which provided a view toward New York City (without seeing it). A young female hiker came by us as we were taking pictures. She never even glanced at the flag. I said hello and she responded with a grunt. I sure she’ll have many good memories of the trail.

10:28. Fish Oil

Fish Oil was her total opposite. He was warm and friendly. He began his through hike on March 9 which was two days after my 2018 start date. The difference? He was 700 miles further North than I made it. He got his name because his pack was overloaded with fish oil when he first began the hike. Yuck……..

11:28. The ladder

If you look closely you can see the steel rod ladder I posted the video of. This was taken looking straight down the rock ledge.

11:32. Lake Greenwood

Our first view of many of Lake Greenwood.

12:10. The Rocks of New York are Wicked

This hiking of rock faces was exhausting. We sat at one of the rock piles and had lunch. Lost Bells and Random came by Along with several of the through hikers.

There are times that I resent having to ID myself as a flip flopped. After all I will in the end have hiked the same 2,200 miles as them. In fairness to them though they are all over 1.300 miles at this point compared to my 600+ miles. I just tell everyone now when I’m asked that I’m “flipping through.”

15:13. Ice Cream at Bellvale Farms

This was actually advertised as Bellvale Farm and Hotdog Stand. It had been hankering for a hotdog all day but when I took the side trail up the mountain to the stand it was closed. That was more than disappointing!! Several others appeared ready to down a dog only to be met with the same fate. Nearby sat a utility worker sitting in his pickup truck. I asked him if there were any other options for food nearby. He pointed further over the hill and said there was a creamery over there. ICE CREAM!!!! I’m on it! No distance off the trail is too far! Thoughts of hot dogs became a distant memory. I’m gonna get me some ice cream!!!!

15:37. Dirty Dan

Skywalker had arrived just prior to Landslide and I and had seen a woman give the creamery $20 to pay for any through hikers order until it ran out. I went to the window and placed my order….. a Sunday with salted caramel ice cream, whipped cream, strawberries, nuts and a cherry. And a home made root beer made there on the farm. Perfect!!! I had to call their hand on the $20 trail magic though. It seems that they had forgotten about the act of kindness given only 4 customers before.

Behind us arrived through hiker Dirty Dan. I immediately informed him of the gift. He used up the remainder of the money with a mighty fine banana split. He was being picked up by The Perchcreek Explorers (the family of eight) of and taken to a local drive in theatre. There they allowed through hikers to camp on the grounds and take in a double feature. I saw Dirty Dan the next day and asked if he liked the movies. The first one was A Quiet Place 2…… he fell asleep exhausted from the days hike barely into the showing. It’s good to know that these kids also get tired.

16:05. Landslides Landmark Mileage

A mile later Landslide reached his 500th mile. It won’t be too long and I’ll have my 700th.

16:22. It’s the Ice Creams Fault

I had envisioned 15 miles today but the difficult rocking and ice cream stop had kicked that plan in the tail. Tonight’s landing would be Wildcat Shelter at 12.4 miles. Disappointing but at least closer to Maine.

16:44. Impediments to Reaching Wildcat

The sugar high may have drained me but the two miles to Wildcat completely exhausted me. When I arrived Landslide was sorting gear on the picnic table and Skywalker was unlaxing in the shelter. He was ready to chill. His mother was picking him up the next day for a break. I stumbled down into the tent site away from the shelter. Awhile later Lollipop Man arrived. He had been chasing Landslide for weeks after getting off trail to visit his wife for a day. That day turned into a week. I’ll tell you….. there’s no way I’d accept the trail name Lollipop Man even if I was handing them out.

I got into my tent to write the blog….. once again no signal. The more I get ahead the more I get behind. “Stumble and hike on.”