Saturday, July 4, 2009

Day 125

Weather:
Partly Cloudy.

Today's Hike:
Waywayander Shelter to Ny17A/Greenwood Lake, NY - 9.9 miles

If the trail teaches you anything, it teaches you that life will happen as it should; your only job is to be aware enough to accept and take action toward whatever comes your way. When I woke up this morning, the plan was to hike 16.0 miles to the top of Mombasha mountain where we maybe able to see fireworks that evening from New
York City. Four miles into our day the five of us crossed over from New Jersey to New York and took a break at the border for the rest of the morning.

When we started into our ninth state we were welcomed with bouldery mountain climbs above tree line and beautiful views of Greenwood Lake where people were out celebrating independence day. What any one of us would have given to be there.

Six long exhausting miles later we reached NY state rd. 17A, turned left and walked .1 miles to a creamery to consume large quantities of ice cream in honor of the 4th and our NY state entrance. By now it was late afternoon and we were tired. Our first ten miles of the day took much longer then usual given the new terrain. The girls were not to keen on wanting to hike another six miles, especially if they were going to be anything like the previous six miles. So we sat outside the creamery staring at an amazing view of the valley trying to figure out a plan. The idea of going to the local drive in theater was appealing, but there wasn't a hotel in town so figuring out where we were going to call home for the night was up for discussion.

After about thirty minutes of contemplating our next move two men walk up to our table and ask Rocket if they could borrow money from her. After a minute of real confusion there was a moment of complete surprise and excitement. The men were Rocket's uncles whom she hadn't seen in nearly ten years. They knew she was on the trail and probably somewhere in the area but had no idea she would be at the creamery. It was an amazing reunion to witness. I could feel the excitement between the three of them.

After introductions we learned that her family was about ten minutes down the road at their lake house celebrating the fourth of July. It didn't take long for Rocket to ask if we could join them for the weekend. Before I knew it we were all sitting on a dock of an amazing home on Greenwood Lake staring at the ridgeline we had been hiking just hours before, and Rocket was catching up on lost time with her wonderful family. The evening was filled with fireworks, great food, and great weather. Way better than a drive-in movie.

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