I got up first, though no one really wanted to. It was a chilly, rainy morning. As I packed up my stuff, everyone else was in various stages of the same.
Wingit mentioned that the Wawayanda State Park office nearby (pictured) had a public restroom that was left open, so that was my first stop. I tossed my trash, cleaned up, brushed (and flossed!), rinsed my previous day's hiking socks and partially dried them with the hand dryer, and charged my phone. Cinnamon Girl showed up and did much the same. I took off after my phone was fully charged.
The hike to the Wildcat shelter was only 12 miles, but it was tough going. The ongoing rain saturated the trail and streams were difficult to cross (pictures). Many stepping stones were submerged. Twice in close succession I sank my right foot into muddy water, each time taking off my shoe to wring out my sock. It was quite annoying.
The rain stopped (which also meant the swarming gnats and mosquitoes started), so I put away my poncho.
In between swamped trail were climbs to ridge walks along damp, slippery rocks. I tried to avoid walking on rocks as much as possible, but banged and cut my right elbow when I slid in mud between large rocks. I had to move very carefully. While I was patching up my elbow, Cinnamon Girl and Wilderness Hawk caught up with me, and I followed them.
Eventually we reached the marker on the trail indicating we were crossing from New Jersey into New York for the last time, and Cinnamon Girl took my picture straddling the state line (pictures). Shortly thereafter, there was a makeshift flagpole with a view of Greenwood Lake, NY.
At one point, the AT blazes followed an angled rocky ledge over an eight foot drop (pictured), and we didn't feel safe on that given how slippery the rocks were, but Cinnamon Girl found a tricky butt-slide and climb down to bypass it (pictured, looking back from the bottom).
I followed them down the trail, which was more of a stream in places (pictured).
I slipped one more time on a rock face but fell on my rear, injuring only my pride. However, I started butt-sliding whenever I came upon a similar descent.
I continued on while the others took a break after a tricky stream crossing, then found I had a steep rock climb followed by a climb up rebar ladder in the rock face (pictures).
I found Dory ahead of me, also carefully navigating the treacherous rocks. She said she had already fallen a few times (including on the ledge we bypassed) and torn clothing. We switched places leading a few times, then Cinnamon Girl and Wilderness Hawk caught up and we were together for awhile (pictured). Every time the trail dropped off the rocks it either went into trails with lots of water or returned to more ridge rocks. This got old fast! We were ready for some simple, easy trail.
The others took a break, but I was motivated by the promise of ice cream at the Bellvale NY creamery (http://bellvalefarms.com/creamery/), just off the trail at a road crossing two miles ahead. Fortunately, the trail did drop off the ridge and became easier, but I was already tired.
When I got to the busy road, I followed it west and found I had just missed 3pm closing time at a hot dog stand. I continued on to the creamery (pictured) and dropped my pack. I ordered a large hot fudge sundae with vanilla ice cream (lunch!), then went back for dessert of a large strawberry ice cream cone while I used their outdoor hiker charging outlet for my phone (pictured, with the cone that recharged me!). I also made use of the outdoor water spigot for hikers and cleaned up a bit in the restroom.
Slow Lane hiked in and had some ice cream before his ride into town for the night showed up.
I realized how late it was getting and I still had to get to the shelter so I returned to the trail. At first it was easy though muddy, but I was charged up on sugar and moved quickly, only to find more tricky, steep rocks to climb and cross and a stream crossing on loose branches that really topped off the day (pictures). However, the sun had dried most of the rock faces so they weren't nearly as slippery, so made good time to the shelter. I found Dory there, and Cinnamon Girl camping nearby with Wilderness Hawk. I was afraid I would not find space.
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