Summary: Out of New Jersey into New York Random Campsite: 1162.1 Warwick, NY: 1172 Total miles: 9.9 The blood thirsty mosquitoes weren't as bad in the morning so we were able to move around a little more freely outside of the tent. We were hiking by about 8:30. We wanted to get to town early so we could get all of our normal chores done and still have time to relax before heading out again tomorrow. Also, we had heard that the trail got Pennsylvania rocky heading into New York. Grrrrr! About a quarter of a mile down the trail we found the reason for the particularly intense mosquitoes. A giant stagnant bog lay just over the hill from us. We'll try to avoid that in the future. We made good time for a bit, but the trail did indeed become difficult, though neither of us would qualify them as PA rocks. The trail went over and around low elevation rocky ridges. It was a bit reminiscent of just sub treeline trails in the White Mountains. It also made the trail difficult to follow at times. Sometimes blazes were frequent and laid out across the ridges and sometimes the trail would suddenly jump off of the ridges back into the trees without clear markings. The New York-New Jersey border also lay on one of these ridges. We took a short break with some other thru hikers to celebrate having six states left. We also grabbed a quick snack in the woods. This was a mistake since, turns out, the mosquitoes don't suddenly stop across the border. They swarmed us, though the garlic pills may be starting to work. We were surrounded, but not all that many of them seemed interested in sucking our blood.
After a few more miles, we took the side trail over Peter's Mountain to the Bellvale Farms creamery. From there, we would grab a bus into Warwick to stay the night at the Warwick Motel. We grabbed some truly fantastic ice cream at the creamery while we waited. As luck would have it, the every two hour bus was supposed to come three minutes after we finished our ice cream so we made our way to the bus stop. About five minutes later, the bus came screaming around the corner and didn't so much as pump its brakes when we tried to flag it down from the bus stop. So, rather than wait two hours, we called yet another Uber, who drove 25 minutes from a nearby town to pick us up. So much for trying to use public transportation.
* The creamery
The motel wasn't too far off the beaten path from the town. We checked in, hung around for a bit, and Tyler headed off to resupply and grab some laundry detergent for the free laundry at the motel (luxury!). We didn't need too many supplies, so the CVS three quarters of a mile down the road offered more than enough. An employee at the CVS asked a bit about the hike as well. He was convinced that we were almost at the end and must have about three hundred miles left in the journey. If only. The town of Warwick, though, looked quite cute, and if we wanted to walk back for anything (doubtful, we become fairly lazy once we finally find chairs) it seemed like it could be a great spot to relax.
Back at the motel, we threw in our laundry, chatted with the California parents, and relaxed horizontally for most of the evening (with a brief foray into the sun to grab burgers from TNT burgers across the street from the motel). Getting to the motel by 2 made a nearly zero feel like a full one, despite a difficult ten miles into town. Maybe there's even enough time to recover our muscles and feet before tomorrow.
