My Trails

7/25/12 – 1404 miles
It was a nice easy day. Kleenex has a cold, I have a sprained ankle, we were kind of beat up from the last few days, so we decided to meet at Graymoor Spiritual Life Center only 6 miles up the trail.

The motel owner gave us a ride back to the trail at 9am, earlier than we wanted to leave but good that we didn’t have to walk. The trail enters the Trailside Museum and Zoo where the bear cage is the lowest point on the AT at 124 feet ASL. Visitors have to pay but thruhikers are allowed in free.

Then it was a long walk across the Hudson on the Bear Mountain Bridge and, other than a couple of climbs, fairly easy walking to the monastery. The friars let hikers stay at a shelter at their ball field. They used to give thruhikers a meal but stopped that practice a while ago.

We arrived about 2pm and sat around for a while resting. I wanted to explore the building on the hill after pulling up a map on my phone and discovering there was a gift shop listed. So I talked Kleenex into walking up with me and checking it out. We spent a while browsing the gift shop and looking at photos displayed down a hallway depicting the history of the monastery. What got my attention was the soda machine at the end of the hall.

Several hikers are here tonight and a few of them are southbounders. It’s neat to start meeting SOBO’s now and trading information on the trail ahead. They tell us we are coming to the most beautiful and challenging parts. Nobody said it was easy.

7/24/12 – 1398 miles
New York State has been kicking my but. It’s almost like the trail planners decided that even though the mountains were nothing like they are in the South, they would route us through the most difficult and treacherous boulder fields they could find. We are doing 14 or 15 miles each day and feel exhausted with that.

It’s kind of neat that I’ve walked home, so to speak. Even though the trail is a long way from Western NY, it still seems familiar. The trees are recognizable and the landscape is like I remember. Even the humidity brings back memories of scorching days working in the woods.

I’ve been hiking off and on with Robo, Tink and Kleenex. I met Kleenex coming out of Vernon, NY and we hiked a couple of days together, crossing Harriman State Park and Bear Mountain. Tonight we are in the town of Ft. Montgomery to resupply for our push into Connecticut. Tomorrow we will stay at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center, another unique stop on the AT.

7/20/12 – 1332 miles
It rained off and on during the night so I stayed bundled in my tent longer than usual this morning. The rain let up long enough to pack most everything without getting wet, but my tent was soaked and all I could do was stuff it in its sack and carry the extra water. Usually, when it stops raining and the sun comes out, I will throw the rainfly over a bush and let it dry. Unfortunately, the sun never came out and it turned into an all day rain.

After several days of scorching heat the temperature has dropped into the sixties, add to that constant rain and wind and we were cold as ice today. There were several shelters spaced close together this morning and I stopped at each one to get in out of the rain and make a hot drink. The trail soon became like a river and my shoes gave up the will to stay dry. And the slippery rocks cut down my speed to a crawl. I crossed one small stream and slipped on the muddy bank, pitched over, and ended up on my side in the water. I wasn’t hurt just muddy and wet.

At about 3:00 pm, I came to the High Point State Park visitor center and stepped inside to get out of the rain. The park employees really like thruhikers. They let us sit around by the heater and scatter our stuff all over the floor. They even gave each of us a soda. By the time we finally left the visitors center it was too late and we were too worn out to go very far.

We made it two more miles, only 11 for the day, to a place called High Point Shelter.

7/19/12 – 1319 miles
I left Delaware Water Gap yesterday just before noon and walked about two miles through town, across the Delaware river, and entered the State of New Jersey. It seems unreal that I’m in my eighth state. Past thruhikers tell us that the state lines fall quickly for awhile and then we hit Maine, over 300 miles of rugged wilderness.

I hiked only 11 miles to a place called the Mohican Outdoor Center and decided to stay in the bunk house. A front was quickly approaching and the forecast was for severe thunderstorms in the night. As it turned out, we only had brief rain before dark and the rest of the night was clear. It felt like I had wasted money by staying in the lodge, but it was a great time with good people.

I was up early and hiked out before anyone else was awake. It rained for a while but at least the oppressive heat is gone. The rocks are starting to let up a little, too. We still have sections of jagged rocks but we are starting to see some dirt once in a while.

The rain makes the trail slippery and I took my time over the mountain tops. A couple of times I did some skating down the rock face of one particular bouldered slope. Eventually, I covered 21 miles and made it to Gren Anderson Shelter where I’m tented for the night. It looks like I will sleep to the sound of more rain on my roof tonight.

7/17/12 – 1287 miles
Today was a zero day. I’m here in Delaware Water Gap waiting for the worst of the heat to pass. There are a lot of hikers in town and many are moving out tomorrow, creating a bubble that keeps growing as we move north. I think everyone is finding a place in the hiker community, joining other hikers with the same interests and pace, hanging around with people whose personality we like, moving as a group but individually as well.

My break has allowed some of the hikers behind to catch up. I met up with Kleenex, Nooga, and Bandana – hiking for the past three hundred miles a couple of days behind me – and had breakfast and lunch with them. Nooga, Bandana, and I even shuttled over to Strausburg to see the new Spiderman movie.

Tomorrow I will make a short hike up to a place called the Mohican Outdoor Center and camp there. The heat is supposed to break after that and I plan on making some good miles – no zeros for awhile – through NJ and NY.