Miles: 1361.0 | An early, mosquito-filled start leads to a hazy sunrise climb up Stairway to Heaven and a brutally hot descent toward Warwick. With water running low, a timely hitch spares us from the worst of the heat and delivers groceries, coffee, and unexpected kindness from locals. A hiker-friendly B+B provides air conditioning, clean sheets, laundry, and deep rest—exactly the reset we needed after relentless miles and rising temperatures.
Miles woke me up early. 5am early. We packed quickly in the mosquito infested forest and worked our way up the climb. The views from the top of the 'Stairway to Heaven' were amazing and hazy.
I had recently received a sizable donation with a note accompanying it requesting: 'Treat Yo' Self. You deserve it!'
So I made a reservation a couple of days ago at a hiker friendly B + B in the next town. After our climb we set out to do the last ten miles into Warwick, NY. After five miles we sat down by a road. It was hot. Really hot. There were no water sources and we were almost out of water. Neither of us wanted to keep hiking, but we didn't want to miss out on the B + B. My sunburn stung and sweat kept dripping into my contact clad eyes. The road we were standing on lead to Warwick, along with three other roads on the map over the next ten miles. It was 7:30am, but we decided to try to hitch into town anyway.
I stood by the road with my thumb out and started hitching. About four cars passed in a ten minute span and none of them stopped. Finally, after only fifteen minutes of hitching, a man named Joe stopped in his mini van as he passed us and backed up down the rural, unlined road to where we were standing. "Where do you need to go?" He asked us. I told him we were trying to get to the grocery store (it was too early to check into the B + B so we figured we'd get our resupply done first). He told us to hop in.
While he drove us to town he made small talk with us. Asking about college, hiking, our futures, etc. When I told him I majored in political science and used to work on campaigns he asked me who I had worked for. I saw the giant Trump sticker on his bumper. I tried to avoid politics on trail. I told him I had worked for Hillary (perhaps not my best move) and he slammed on his breaks in the middle of the deserted road and said, "Get out."
I sat there frozen for a second. I had expected him to be annoyed by my answer but not so much as to stop short in the middle of the road. I reached for the door handle and he started laughing as he gunned it forward toward town. "I'm just messin' with ya!" He yelled, laughing. "I don't like your politics and you probably don't like mine but that don't mean we can't be friends!" He continued, laughing still. I let out a sigh of relief and he quickly changed the subject to his adventurous escapades of his twenties.
Joe brought us to the Price Chopper in town, where he was headed anyway, and led us inside. It was the nicest grocery store we'd seen in a while with a great selection. When we finished with our resupply we sprawled our groceries out on some patio furniture the store had for sale outside.
One of the managers came over and I thought he was going to ask us to leave but he was actually very nice and commended us on our hike. While we were unpackaging our food and loading it into our packs, a local fire fighter came over and asked if we needed a ride anywhere. By now it was about 8:30am.
I got Challah bread French Toast with real maple syrup (the first time I'd found maple syrup at a restaurant and the first Jewish heritage food I'd found anywhere since I'd left home). It was so delicious. Miles and I sat and ate there for a while and used their wifi. The heat was already excessive and it was only 9:30am.
We asked him if he could bring us somewhere that we could get coffee. He agreed and after he bought his groceries he put our packs in his truck and drove us into downtown Warwick to a little place called Caffe A La Mode.
The woman who owned the B + B offered to pick us up in town at the park, so we went over there to wait for her. Miles found a tick on him. After he removed it he took a nap in the park.
The innkeeper picked us up in her small SUV and brought us to her B + B in a more rural neighborhood.
The yellow bedroom she set us up in had an air conditioner, thankfully, and was right across from the bathroom. The room and bathroom were beautiful and clean. She left us to shower and offered to do our laundry.
Miles and I showered and soaked our feet with the empsom salts she left for us. Then we laid on the perfectly made bed in the cool air conditioned room. It was the most comfortable I'd felt in days. Both of us fell asleep for a few solid hours. When we woke up we were very hungry.
I went downstairs and gathered our laundry from the clothesline that the inn keeper had washed and hung for us. I ordered a Lyft (they had them here!) to take us the four miles into the next town (which was closer than Warwick...) where we found a Tex-Mex restaurant. Dinner was so satisfying and a Lyft took us back to the B + B, too.
We went to bed early in our air conditioned room, happily full.