One funny part was when I passed by Verona's main street. I remembered my friend said there was a bakery there with the best donuts that I had to try. So I found the bakery (conveniently on the Lenape Trail), and went in for a donut. After waiting in line for a while, I asked the employee for a donut and a personal pizza pie. I showed the lady my credit card for payment and she said, "$5 limit for credit cards." This was confusing, and I said, "You mean minimum?" and she agreed that was the right word. So, grumbling, I ordered an oatmeal raisin cookie. She rang it up on the cash register. "$4.25. You need to buy something else." What a pain! I felt like I was in a Seinfeld episode. So I got a chocolate chip cookie. While the lady rang it up, the guy behind me said, "Watch, it'll be 4.99" and laughed.
$5.45 was my total. Finally!
Trail conditions: The trails were either flooded, still partially covered in ice, or muddy and hollow (I never knew when I would fall in suddenly). The worst conditions were in South Mountain Reservation.
Next, I'm excited to run the whole length of the Lenape Trail, from Millburn to Newark.
Trail Closure: After leaving South Mountain, the trail stops in some private community. You have to take a left, two rights, and follow the road out to Rt. 10. From there, I descended down and took a left on Mt. Pleasant Ave. where the trail rejoins the road again, originating from the direction of a power line trail. The trail website says PSE&G is still replacing their transmission towers since starting in 2012.
Happy trails everyone!
~Steve
