Day 114-Trying to Beat Fay

July 10-10.9 miles-Campsite to Greenwood Lake, NY to Vernon, NJ-AT mile 1374.6 

My son texted me last night warning me about a tropical storm coming our way. Great...well, we do really need the rain for the water sources...

Last night we discovered a major downside to our lovely little campsite. Apparently, we were camped in Slug Central. For a creature that seems to move slow, they sure seemed to end up on everything rather quickly! Sure Foot and I brought everything into our tents (including our shoes). The only thing I left out was my Berkies (camp shoes). That was a mistake. I got up once in the night, and there were slugs in both shoes...yuck! There were slugs on our tents this morning. It was disgusting. 

We got started a bit before 6:45. We wanted to get as many miles in before the rain started. We knew it was going to rain, it was just a matter of when. 

In the meantime, we did a bunch of ups and downs. We would climb up, then come down to marshy trail (and mosquitoes). For the first time, I put bug repellent on (I was tired of the high pitched whine in my ears). Of course, I saw a bunch of my little orange friends, but I won’t post another picture. 

We managed to cross into New York (leaving New Jersey for the last time) before the rain. 

Sure Foot took this photo. I think the angle makes me look funny. 

We made a decision to come off the trail into Greenwood Lake, NY. There was a .9 mile trail that came down to the village from the AT. We had 2.5 miles to go. Turns out it was a very slow 2.5 miles. We had been walking the ridge over big flat rock (when dry, is not so difficult). But, there were also places where we had to climb up. 

Even climbing up a rebar ladder (Sure Foot took this one). 

Which way should I go?

Prospect Rock (the highest point on the AT in New York...whew, got that out of the way quickly). 

Greenwood Lake in the distance. 

Sure Foot makes it look easy. 



See the white blaze up ahead?

The rain started slowly, but picked up as we worked our way up and down the slabs of rock, with them getting more slippery as they got more wet. 

Finally, we reached the Village Vista Trail that would take us  down to the village of Greenwood Lake. I had left a message at Anton’s by the Lake Inn. We made it to the village. I still wasn’t getting through to the Inn. We stopped at Murphy’s Tavern and had some lunch. The waitress said Anton’s was open, and we could just go there. Well, we walked on over, found the office, opened the door, and...no one was there. It was a little weird. We called out several times. Finally, we left. We walked over to the Linden Motel. The elderly woman who ran the place said they were booked up. I had left a message with the woman at The Breezy. She got back to me, saying they had no availability. That was all the places in Greenwood Lake. Warwick, NY was not far away. I called the Warwick Hotel. They were closed because of the virus. The B&B didn’t answer. So...we looked further. I called the Appalachian Motel. They had a vacancy. It’s in Vernon, NJ. Jamie, from Rickey Farm Ministries, shuttles, so I called him, and he agreed to come get us and take us to the motel. 

So, while we left New Jersey behind on the trail, we’ve ended up back in New Jersey for the next two nights! The only potential problem is that this motel is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Actually, it’s just a little over a mile from the trail where we were yesterday, at the beginning of the Stairway to Heaven! We can just barely see the mountain from our room (because of the rain). We had dinner delivered, but we might have to shuttle into Vernon to get groceries. 

We are taking our first unplanned zero tomorrow. There is a possibility the weather will clear up, but with all the rain, we think it’s a good idea to let the trail dry out a bit (hopefully, anyway). We don’t know how much more of the rock slabs we have, but if we have more, it would be nice if they were dry. In the meantime, we are safe and sound indoors!