Askus3
04-22-2009, 14:18
I went there a couple of days ago to help one of our fellow hikers with a car spot and noticed there was a minor adjustment of the AT route in that vicinity of the NY 17A crossing between Warwick & Greenwood Lake. The AT distance probably did not change and I don't see any advantage to the new route and cannot understand the reasoning for this change. However, the impact is that you don't have to walk about 20 yards along 17A and it crosses not at the height of land on 17A, but a tad to the east. The end result is that if you wanted to stop at the Bellvale Ice Creamery you now have an extra 100 yrds of walking along 17A each way (especially if you are committed to seeing every white blaze). Also, a disadvantage is that the trail does not come right out at a major open lot that is convenient for alot of vehicles to be parked right on the trail. The old route both northbound & southbound are blue blazed but no signs indicate where the blue trails go, and there is no notation in the guidebook to indicate these blue trails exist so if you are not familiar with the AT in the area, you would not opt to take the blue blazes to shorten your walk to the ice cream stand. Also for safety sake be aware that the highway sign going westbound on 17A indicating a hiker crossing is now after the AT crossing!