New York

   Great hiking and good weather this week. Stayed the night in Vernon Nj at a free church hostel on Tuesday night.  A cheap breakfast at the Mixing bowl the next morning, pancakes eggs hash-browns and coffee for $2.50. Love those prices! Steep climb out of Vernon that morning and a cool breeze to greet me at the top reminded me of what I had been missing since Tennessee. The rolling hills of Virginia and the rocky, flat terrain in PA and NJ left me missing the sharp inclines of the deep south. New York has been a welcome change. Challenging climbs and rewarding views.  Crossing into New York we climbed Waywayanda mountain, Prospect rocks, agony cliffs, eastern pinnacles, and cat rocks. Lots of rock scrambles and hand over hand climbing. 
  Thursday started rough. I was hiking thru a dense meadow with 4 ft. tall grass and shrubs. The trail was barely wide enough to move thru. As I approached a stream crossing emerging from the grass i felt a sharp sting around my ankle, then another and another. It took me less then a second to realize bees were swarming my legs. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, swatting bees off me the whole way. My hiking buddies 50 yards ahead were alarmed at first, then laughing hysterically.  The bees got me 4 good times. No worries though. 5 miles away trail angel "Patio" washed away my pain with cold beers, hotdogs garnished with bacon, and lots of good tunes. 3 hours later, with a full belly, I was hiking again. But as usual Blue, Saber, Squirrel and I got distracted. A swimming hole is always enticing and Island Pond was no different. We were joined by Akuna-Matata, Pele, Sgt. Pepper, Green Man and Vittles. The chance to knock the hiker funk off was appreciated. That evenings hike was exceptional. We trekked up and down thru wide open cove forest with tall green grass covering the forest floor. Squirrel even spotted a black bear moving thru the woods. Somehow after all the messing around we still managed to make it to camp by dark, 20 miles from where we began.  The next 40 miles across Ny included views of the distant NY city skyscrapers from Bear Mountain and crossing the mighty Hudson River.
  Yesterday we arrived at Amy and Bills house just a couple hundred yards off the trail. Every year they throw a 4th of July party for thru hikers. They are great people. Currently there are upwards of 20 hikers here and the number will continue to grow. They are feeding an army here. Amy has been cooking waffles all morning and the burgers and dogs aren't far off. I cant forget about the huge pile of beer and Ben n Jerry's ice cream either. We are all extremely thankful to celebrate this holiday here. 
Life is good! Happy independence day!