It was another long day, but a good one. The weather was perfect all day, and the trail stayed interesting. We began the day by finishing the climb up Pochuck Mountain. Also within the first 6 miles of the day was a long, .8 mile boardwalk through a big, which was really cool. We stopped by one of the pools that the boardwalk crossed and counted up something like 20 turtles either swimming around or sunning themselves. By about 9:45, we arrived at the road crossing at NJ 94, where we headed just up the road to Heaven Hill Farm store. This turned into our breakfast stop where we got muffins and cider doughnuts. We also grabbed a few chicken wraps for lunch, and a few snacks. It was a nice little stop, and very close to the trail.
After our breakfast stop it was time to climb again. We headed up to the Pinwheels Vista. The climb up there is known locally as the Stairway to Heaven, and it became pretty obvious why. It was a long, steep climb up a bunch of stones which kind of created a stairway. The view from the top was excellent though, very much worth the climb. About 4 miles later, we stopped by the Wawayanda State Park entrance where we sat and ate our lunch, and watched cars enter the park. It was much nicer than it sounds.
After lunch we had another 4.5 miles or so to Prospect Rock. Just before reaching that viewpoint, we crossed over the NJ/NY border for the last time, officially completing another state. When we reached Prospect Rock, we were treated to an incredible view down to Greenwood Lake, and way off in the distance, the New York City skyline.
The next 4 miles or so were really difficult. Lots of rock scrambles, quick up and downs, climbing with our hands… all things that slow us down. We were already getting tired at this point in the day, and that terrain was just accelerating the feeling. A bit after 6pm we finally made it to the NY 17A road crossing, where we walked an extra .2 miles west, and rewarded ourselves with a visit to the Bellvale Farm Creamery. The ice cream they make there is so good, and they even make their own sodas. The place was packed, which reassured me that the ice cream is probably still good even if you didn’t hike 21 miles to get it. We relaxed for a bit and took in some of the nice view that they have from their lawn before heading back out.
We only had a bit over 2 miles to get to the Wildcat shelter, which started out nicely enough, but soon we got more rocks, and more climbing. It was just after 8pm when we finally reached the shelter. We quickly set up our tent, cooked some dinner, and climbed in. We totaled about 23.5 miles today, and completed New Jersey. Our next few days will get to be a bit shorter, which we’re looking forward to. It’ll be nice to take some longer breaks.
