Month: September 2013

Miles today: 18
Total miles: 950.3

I slept wonderfully last night in the jail house hostel. I got up around 745 this morning and headed to the grocery store with Blondie. We resupplied and even got free apples since we are hikers. We packed up all our stuff and walked down the street to find a hitch around 10 am. I went to mail some letters at the post office on the way and asked an elderly man there if we take 248 east or west to get back to the trail. He replied that he knew right where it was and would give us a ride. After he did his errands. So Blondie and I rode and then sat and waited in the back of this mans car like little kids while he went to a couple different stores. He then drove us back to the trail and we got hiking by 11:15. We really need to stop starting so late. Luckily we only had 18 to go today and after the 20 miles starting at 11 am yesterday I knew I’d be fine time wise

The hiking was good today. Tons of day hikers were out as its the weekend. I met four day hikers about my age, two of whom plan to hike the AT in 2015. The girl asked me a bunch of really good questions and I hiked with her and the other girl for a while, chatting with them which was a nice change. The terrain today wasn’t bad. I’ve been expecting Pennsylvania to be miserable, as the northbounders have been warning me since Maine about how terrible and rocky the state is. Besides a tough rocky ten mile stretch my first day in PA, the rocks haven’t been nearly as bad as I expected. There are some rocky sections but also long sections of flat, easy, almost road like trail.

Blondie and I were lazy as usual, taking a lot of breaks today. We still made it to the shelter by about 6 pm though. ‘twas a good day and nice to be back in the woods after three straight nights in towns.

Miles today: 20.1
Total miles: 932.3

Had the luxury of sleeping in today since I didn’t have to be up until 9am. That’s when the owner of the Beer Stein comes and then we get free breakfast. Even though I could sleep in I still woke up around 7. I slept so well last night though. I got up, preate breakfast with some donuts and juice from the gas station across the street and relaxed for a while.

At 9, the owner, Kerry came and let us inside the kitchen. We basically had free reign and could use any of the food and all the stoves and cooking supplies. We had a huge meal and I was stuffed after eating my own breakfast wrap creation. Wood butcher and bartender made scrambled eggs, Rebar made French toast, and delta made pancakes. It was a feast! It was nice out so we even ate outside on the patio.

After that we were feeling stuffed. I’d planned to go 20 miles to the town of Palmerton but it was already 10 ish so that was seeming unlikely. We talked about going to a campsite at 16 miles and some of the other guys were even thinking of just doing four. I wanted toget walking so Blondie and I got a hitch to the trail head and got walking by 11 am, a very late start.

The rocks weren’t terrible today. Some tough patches but also some nice smooth sections. It was almost entirely flat all day so that was nice too. All day Blondie was trying to convince me we should go to Palmerton but I was hesitant if I’d be able to make the 20 by dark. When we got to the campsite at 16 miles it was only 430 ish so I gave in and we set out the remaining four or so to Palmerton. The trail goes on a detour around a superfund site which was strange. I’m supposed to be in this beautiful wilderness getaway trail and it has to be rerouted to avoid toxic materials. At least the detour was nice and grassy and right along a ridge line with beautiful views.

We had a rocky descent down to the road. It was actually kinda fun, did some butt sliding on steeper sections. We got to the road by 630 and got a hitch pretty quickly. The hostel is called Jail House Hostel since its in a building that user to be the police station. Now it’s a town hall type thing. But it was after hours when we got there so we had to check in with the point person who just so happens to be the police. HA. He took down our names and addresses (not really sure why) which felt somewhat like I was in trouble with the law.
I took a nice shower. There are three shower heads all together and I turned on two and ran between them for a little. Then Blondie and I went and pigged out at a diner. Not sure where everyone else got to today. We only have 18 miles to the shelter tomorrow and after our many miles starting at 11 today we are joking we can leave as late as noon tomorrow.

Not too much to report from these days. One day an older lady gave Blondie and me homemade chocolate chip cookies for lunch which was very nice. On day 73, I crossed the border from New Jersey into Pennsylvania. I was worried about getting to town (Delaware water gap) before dark as it was my longest day yet at 24.8 miles. I took shorter and fewer breaks than usual and although the trail was rocky in parts, other parts were nice wide gently sloping trail without many rocks. I surprised myself when I easily made it to town by 4:15 and even got to the post office before it closed. I walked almost 25 miles in 8 and a half hours! I was proud of myself for proving myself wrong. Once at Delaware Water Gap, I went to the church hostel where id be staying and discovered a big group of Southbounders! I haven’t encountered so many SOBOs in one place in over a month and a half so it was exciting to see I’ve caught up to people. I’d met many of them before—one or two of them on the day I got off trail which meant I made up the two weeks I was off trail by catching up with them. There was bartender, wood butcher, ziploc, rebar, chimp, and then Blondie and delta who I’ve been hiking with. A nice old man from the church showed up offering us a ride to the next town to resupply. It was perfect timing, right after I finished showering and we were discussin how to get to the store. We accepted his kind offer and resupplied and spent the evening pigging out and relaxing.

The next day the big group of us all headed to Wind Gap PA where we planned to stay at the Beer Stein, a bar that lets hikers camp in their yard. We experienced the rocks that PA is infamous for today. About ten miles straight of trail totally covered in rocks of every size, scattered in a way where it’s pretty much impossible to ever put your foot down flat. It was tough walking but still not as bad as the northbounders had made it seem. Perhaps the worst was later on. We got to the beer stein by 4ish and set up our tents in their yard. I turned on my phone and found out Wolf bird has gotten off trail. I was so sad to find this out but also understand his reasons completely–his dog mabel has cancer and so he needs to take care of her. He does a way better job explaining the series of events on his blog: http://puckettventures.com/category/appalachian-trail/. Fortunately, Cool Blue is still hiking and is a week or so behind. Hopefully he will hike quickly and be able to eventually catch up.

Back at the beer stein We got some food at the bar and many of us weirdly got salads since a girl down the bar had ordered one and it looked so good. Later in the evening, we made a fire in the bars fire pit in their yard. Me and the seven boys bro-Ed out sitting around the fire. Well more like I sat there amused by their often ridiculous conversation topics. It was a late bedtime for me at 10:45 or so.

Miles today: 18.9
Total miles: 852.2

Vernon to High rocks shelter

Got up, packed, and got dunkin donuts this morning. I had bought beer and didn’t drink it all so I gave the rest of my six pack to a guy pouring cement who was very excited for the free gift. Got a hitch with Blondie and was off hiking by 10 am. It was a beautiful fall day and the trail went on a boardwalk over a marshy area. It was so beautiful with bright blue skies and changing leaves all around. With a rejuvenated mind and body from my zero, the day felt totally different. I took my time and today felt like a nice enjoyabke fall stroll in the woods rather than a rushed forced hustling to the next shelter. On my zero day I took some time to sit and reflect and write down what I’ve learned so far from my experiences on the AT. I think that reflection helped me have a new and better perspective that made my hike today all the more enjoyable. I also encountered some unexpected trail magic today: a cooler of water bottles and sprite. That was a nice surprise. The terrain was pretty easy and delta Blondie and I all easily made it the 19 miles to the shelter by 5:30 even with our late start. It’s gonna be a cold night tonight. Already bundled up in my sleeping bag.

Miles today: 0

We got up this morning around 730 and headed out to grab breakfast. We went to a local diner, then to the grocery store to resupply. We returned to the church and packed our stuff and got dressed. Delta, Blondie, and I were all kind of taking our time and being lazy. I just didn’t feel like hiking. I wanted to delay it a bit so I put Twister in the VCR. Then we all got to talking and someone mentioned taking a zero. Once this idea begins it becomes contagious. Once we imagined sitting around, relaxing, catching up on chores, eating real food, etc, we were pretty convinced. We went and asked the church members if it’s ok if we stay a second night. They were very ok with it and also offered us all these pastries and coffee they were eating. Done deal. What was going to be potentially an 18 mile day is now a 0. While I want to make miles, I haven’t taken a day off from coming back on trail three weeks ago so I’m happy to relax a bit. Plus now I caught up on all my blogging and have watched Twister and may go check out NJ’s Oktoberfest in a bit (they have a wife carrying contest?). That 18 mile day will come tomorrow.

Miles today: 18.6

Total miles: 833.3

Blondie and I were spoiled once again this morning. We woke up and John cooked us pancakes. We also had coffee, orange juice, and cereal. It’s weird–sometimes I just crave the ordinary, mundane parts of life off the trail. Like being able to make a cup of coffee in the morning. Or simply having the OPTION to make pancakes if I wanted. It was nice to get up and feel like it was a normal Saturday morning–having breakfast and then going out for a walk.

John and Susan drove us to the trail head around 10 am for a late start to our day. Our goal was to get to Vernon NJ today where we’d go into town and resupply. The trail was really easy and largely flat today and the weather was cooler which I was happy about.

I had possibly the weirdest encounter I’ve had yet on the trail this morning. I was passing a man who was maybe about 70 out for a day hike. He asked if I was thru hiking and when I said yes he responded with “I’m proud of you! You don’t see many female hikers out here.” I thanked him and we chatted about the trail and the many different hikes he’s been on. He then returned to the female thing and said something to the effect of “If I could be born again I’d want to be born female so I could experience the trail like you”. A somewhat weird thing to say. I simply was like… “yeah…..I’m sure it’s a different experience.” Then things got even weirder when he started talking about having a feminine side. Then he said he sometimes feels like he is a female born in a male’s body. During all this I was politely nodding and trying my best to maintain a facial expression that was nonjudgmental as I wondered why a person I’d met three minutes before was confessing so much personal information to me. He then declared “I’m a cross dresser” and I think I stupidly said something like “oh, nice”. Then he told me he was currently wearing pink panties and I was just so shocked he said that I don’t even know how I reacted. As I stood shocked and for some reason still trying to be polite, he told me about how his feminine name is Justine and in the winter he wears bras and nylon stockings. He repeated several times that he is now more open about cross dressing, indicating that in the past he’d been ashamed and so I didn’t want to shut him down but I had heard enough about his undergarment choices for the morning. It was before 11am for goodness sake! Soon after I told him I had to go catch up with my friend and made my escape. Oh my gosh, what a weird experience. I don’t think he was trying to make me uncomforatable or be creepy, but at the same time he definitely overshared. In retrospect I wish I’d said something about how I am glad he’s so open about his clothing choices but did not need to hear about a stranger’s choice of undergarments ever. In the moment I was just so shocked that I probably said “oh cool” and “oh nice” twenty times. Well now if I encounter another cross dresser oversharer, I am prepared.

We had lunch on Prospect Rock, the highest point of the AT in New York with beautiful views of a nearby lake and surrounding mountains. I got to talk to Neon during lunch and hear about her last few weeks in Maine and her summit and ensuing hitchhiking adventure back to CT. Right after lunch we crossed the border into New Jersey–state number 7! It’s nice to have all these state borders to cross, making the progress more tangible. However, once we cross into PA it’ll be a while before I see another state border.

The rest of the day was fine, we made decent time. The day ended with a long downhill to the road into Vernon, which my knees were very unhappy about. I was relieved to be done walking once I got through that downhill. Blondie and I easily caught a hitch into town and got dropped off at St Thomas Episcopal Church, which allows hikers to stay for free in their basement. They also have a shower and laundry but we could not for the life of us find out where! There were signs that shower and laundry were located off near the kitchen, but we walked probably ten laps around the basement and still couldnt find it. We decided to go get food as it was already 6 o’clock and figure it out later.

We went to Burger King to find Delta there. He challenged us to beat his $13.50 total of food. Blondie did (see earlier post for pictures of his disgustingness). I did not beat the total but did eat a ton. We returned to the church where a volunteer showed us a secret door we thought was a fire exit but actually contained the shower and laundry. We took scalding hot showers–my SECOND in TWO days. THIS IS SO NOTEWORTHY. I felt so clean. We then watched Independence Day on VHS on their tv only to pause mid-movie to go back to BK for seconds. We are gross. I could write every blog post about how we think about food and eat food all the time. We went to bed happy to be out of the rain that was falling outside as we slept.

Miles today: 18.1

Total miles: 814.7

I wasn’t looking forward to the hike today because the elevation profile in my guide book showed tons of tiny up and downs. I hate those. I would so much rather have a couple big mountains to climb than hill after tiny hill. They just wear me out. On top of that, the weather was just a tad uncomfortably hot to hike in. Some days are just harder than others to find motivation and this was one of those days. I struggled up the many hills that in actuality weren’t that bad, but were made worse by my poor outlook. On the bright side, I didn’t miss a part where the trail turned, which I later found out Blondie, Delta, AND Timeless had all missed and ended up walking 2+ miles out of their way.

Blondie kept waiting for me every few miles and we’d take a break together. He simply cruises along seemingly effortlessly as I was dying, gasping for air, up the little hills. My day was made much better, however, when midafternoon I came across every hiker’s dream: trail magic! A wonderful trail angel had left a cooler full of fruit, granola bars, apple sauce, ramen, batteries–everything imagineable–by the trail at a road crossing. I was SO happy. I haven’t had trail magic of this sort–where a cooler or food is just left there–since Vermont before I got off trail for my knees. I kind of expected we wouldn’t get any more because all the Northbounders have passed already. But New York surprised me and some wonderful trail angel DOES care about southbounders. My day got way better as Blondie and I sat there pigging out (even though it was RIGHT after we’d taken a lunch break).

As we sat, we debated whether to continute to our planned shelter for the night, which would be a 19 mile day or to call these trail angels I’d heard about, which would shorten our day to maybe 15, a somewhat significant difference. We debated back and forth and then decided to at least call and see if the trail angels were even still hosting hikers. I called and John answered and was so friendly. He said they definitely will host us and to Blondie and my delight they’d pick us up at a road crossing further down the trail so we’d still be able to get in 18 miles today! That was settled-we’d stay with them. We had 6.6 miles to go to the road crossing where John would pick us up. I was still struggling with the frustrating ups and downs and heat, but I put in my headphones, blasted music and put my head down and was at the road crossing in a couple hours.

I was glad to have that day behind me. John came and picked us up and took me and Blondie to his house. We met his wife Susan, their two dogs Emily and Abigail, and their chickens. I took a hot shower with the most amazing water pressure I’ve felt in a long time, grateful for my first shower since MA. We got to do laundry too. And, on top of all that, they cooked us dinner. On the menu was mexican, complete with margaritas. We were in heaven. John and Susan were so kind and laidback, and just made us feel so comfortable. We even had ice cream for dessert. We sat around relaxing and reading past our bedtimes and I slept so well on a real bed.

Miles today: 16.5

Total miles: 796.6

We woke up this morning with our tents all wet from the dew and condensation overnight. It sucks having to pack a wet tent, but oh well. I didn’t eat breakfast because 0.5 miles down the trail from the monastery is a deli/gas station. Apparently people do a ‘tour de delis’ in New York since there are many very close to the trail, but this would be my first and only. It was a really interesting experience, as there aren’t gas stations that also function as delis/take out food places in MA. I got The Works for breakfast and ate my delicious eggs, french toast, bacon, ham, sausage, and coffee in record time as I watched the many locals bustling in and out of the store. This place must make a killing–there was not a lull in business the entire hour or so I was there. Blondie and I also resupplied here, which was not ideal, as their selection of food was what most gas stations have: lots of junk food. Luckily we were only getting three days worth of food so it wasn’t that bad, although it was definitely pricier than a grocery store.

We finally set out hiking at a late 10 am.  New York has been quite the odd experience. Pizza to a shelter two days ago, camping at a monastery’s baseball field yesterday, and today… the zoo! About six miles down the trail this morning, the trail crosses the Bear Mountain bridge. That was a cool experience–crossing the busy bridge on the sidewalk next to tons of traffic, with views of the Hudson and mountains with hints of changing leaves of fall. Right after the bridge the actual trail goes through a zoo. So weird. We followed the trail along the paths of the rather small zoo to the lowest point on the entire AT: the bear exhibit. These captive bears are first bears of my entire hike that I’ve seen. Blondie, Buzz, and I also explored the reptile exhibit and then hit up the overpriced ice cream vending machines. We were being super lazy today which has become somewhat of a theme lately, but it was nice just hanging out enjoying the nice fall weather. There was a beautiful recreation area with picnic tables right next to a lake with trees displaying their reds and oranges of fall.

After the lake, we had a climb up Bear Mountain. I was not looking forward to the uphill 1000 foot climb, but I had Buzz, Blondie, and Timeless to keep me company. We trudged up stairs the entire way up the mountain. I can’t imagine how many years it must have taken to make stones into stairs that far up. This was another one of those weird mountains where you can also drive to the top, so we got to the top to find many tourists that had driven up.

Far in the distance you could make out the New York City skyline which was so insane. I couldn’t believe we were that close to NYC. And that I walked here from Maine! There was a lookout tower with views all around and we had a great clear day for it. From the top of Bear Mountain we set out the next 7 or so miles to the shelter. The shelters in NY have all been kind of gross and dirty and full of trash. I think because many of them are close to roads so more people visit and leave trash behind.