New York: days 79-82

Day 79: Wawayanda Shelter to Greenwood Lake, 10.1 miles
Day 80: Greenwood Lake to William Brien Memorial Shelter, 21.6 miles
Day 81: William Brien Memorial Shelter to mile 1416.4
Day 82: mile 1416.4 to Morgan Stewart Shelter, 21.6 miles
Total AT miles hiked: 1438

We slept in a bit at Wawayanda Shelter, as it was cold and rainy outside until about 8am. We had an extra cup of coffee, and looked ahead in our guidebook- New York was only a couple of miles away! The guidebook also cautioned us that the next few miles were quite rocky, and travel may be slow. We like the rocks, but the overnight rain had made them slick, so the going was indeed on the slower side of things. Despite that, we made it to the border!
Shortly after this picture was taken the rain began again, making for even slower travel. We made it to a road around noon, and with ten miles to our day decided on a whim to try and get a ride into Greenwood Lake a few miles away. We were successful, and an hour later we were warming up with pizza! We stayed in town to dry out for the night.

Fortunately, the rest of our time in New York was sunny and pleasant! The trail gets close enough to New York City that you can actually see the city skyline at one point from the mountains.

Another peculiarity of the AT in New York is that the trail goes through a small zoo, aptly named the Trailside Zoo. It sits at the base of Bear Mountain State Park, and all the animals are either rescued or rehabilitating. It’s a small zoo, and kind of sad. The day we were there the weasel was off, signs at the porcupine and the muskrat exhibits said the animals had passed away in the last couple of months, the bullfrog exhibit consisted of two plastic bullfrogs, an exhibit consisted of just one utility pole, and the bear exhibit was 10% bear and 90% black vultures (the vultures were not supposed to be there- never a good sign). On the bright side, there was ice cream! 

Afterwards we crossed the Hudson River on a suspension bridge, and the headed back into The mountains.

New York was also characterized by delis located close to the trail. Nearly everyday we were able to get a sandwich, or a snack, not too far from the trail. This made us very happy! We’re starting to get to the point where the same food after 80 or so days is getting a bit tiresome, so we appreciated the switch! All and all, from the rocks to the zoo, New York was a distinctive state!