June 22 - 10.2 / 1,364.8

It was an early morning as Harrison needed to drop us off and then drive to work. We left his house around 6:30. We had some options for the day: 10, 20, or 26 miles. At first, I was thinking 26 since we were going to have such an early start.

I came to the NJ/NY border about 45 minutes after starting. At least there was something indicating the border. The last few states have not had anything. I flipped through a trail register to see who was ahead of me and by how many days. Turkey, Thrasher, and Fusion then showed up. I had planned on making it a short break, but that turned into an hour long break. That made the decision for me that the day was going to only be 10 miles long.

The day ended up being pretty tough. Luckily, I had knowledge about NY being more difficult then it appears on a map on in the trail guide. A lot of the inclines and declines are large rocks and even require rock scrambles at some points. That can easily slow my pace to less than two miles an hour.

The trail took me over Prospect Rock, the highest point of the AT in NY. It had a pretty good view. The four of us took some pictures and the moved on. Around 8 miles in for the day, the four of us got to NY 17A. I had been looking forward to this crossing because I new Bellvale Creamery was just 0.2 down the road. However, I had to take care of some trail magic first. Samurai, who I had hike a good portion of the trail with, and his family had left some soft drinks, fruit, and fruit snacks. I think I had one 7-up, a gushers, and 6 clementines. I also took one 7-up for dinner later than night.

Samurai got off the trail to visit his family and girl friend. He is about two days ahead. I hope to catch up so we can hike some more together.

After the trail magic, we headed down the road to the creamery. It was a little expensive. I got a strawberry shake for $5. It was good though. That made it 3 straight days of ice cream. I can't complain too much.

We were at the creamery for probably two hours. We only had 2 more miles to go. We eventually got moving, hit a few more rock climbs, and then arrived at the shelter. Rain was in the forecast so we went ahead and set up our tents. I think all of us ended up taking naps. I woke up to rain and decided I needed to catch up on some blogs. I was able to complete the last four days.

I had dinner once some others arrived at the shelter.

Overall, it was a good day.