There's not as much leisure time as one would think while hiking the AT. By the time we're finished walking for the day we eat and then we're pretty much ready for bed. As a result, our blog often suffers neglect. At some point far south of here I fell very behind on our updates and my efforts to catch up have been futile. I would very much like to post more current updates as we are nearing the finish line. The next few posts will contain shorter daily updates that will focus less on the unimportant details. Thank you for continuing to follow.
5/24 Day 82 Palmerton, PA to Leroy A. Smith Shelter - 15.5 miles
Today started off great. We met a very nice guy named Nick at the local diner who was very interested in our trip. After talking with him through breakfast he insisted on buying our meal. An older couple in the diner offered to give us all (me, Wideload, Witchdoctor, and Passover) a ride back to the trail. Things didn't continue in our favor. When we arrived at the foot of Dante's Inferno it was cold, raining, and very windy. This section was a a difficult rock scramble under perfect conditions but we made it.
The weather was terrible all day. The rain never stopped and the temperature never reached 50. It seems crazy to me to have weather this cold at this time of year. It's going to be a cold night but we're excited to visit with friends Jared and Kyle who are driving from Ohio to meet us at Wind Gap, PA tomorrow.
5/25 Day 83 Leroy A. Smith Shelter to Wind Gap, PA - 4.6 miles
Still cold this morning. Met Jared and Kyle at the trail head in Wind Gap and said goodbye to our friends Passover and Witchdoctor not knowing when, if ever, we'll see them again (on trail). We had no real plans for the weekend but when Jared and Kyle spoke of visiting New York City, we made a spontaneous decision to take a trip to the big city.
We drove to Liberty State Park in New Jersey and then made plans to stay in Newark, NJ for the night and figure out how to take the train into the city and what to do tomorrow. After checking in we ate at a great diner and then watched a movie. We plan to tackle the city tomorrow. I'm nervous about this.
5/26 Day 84 New York City - 0 miles
Today was not a restful zero by any means but it was an adventure we won't soon forget. We took a train into New York City. When we got off the train and walked through the station up the stairs into the street I was instantly overwhelmed by the number of people. Next, I noticed the size of the buildings and the traffic. This place would be overwhelming to me anytime but it was so much more so after spending the last two months in the woods sometimes only seeing a handful of people a day.
We walked around like the tourists we were, heads in the sky, making our way to Battery Park. After learning the Statue of Liberty was closed we headed over to see the 9/11 memorial. After learning we had to have a pre-printed pass to enter we gave up. We headed underground to tackle the subway in hopes of finding our way to Central Park. We eventually emerged at Central Park. I thought it would be a nice place if there were less people there. We walked around for a couple hours and then walked to Time Square. At that point, I was pretty much done. We took the subway back to the train station and train back to Newark. From there we drove back to Wind Gap and got a hotel for the night with Jared and Kyle. New York is a nice place to visit, but not a great place to rest.
5/27 Day 85 Wind Gap to Backpacker Campsite - 20.9 miles
Jared and Kyle were anxious to get on the road early but we decided to sleep in and just hitch hike to the trail later. We left Pennsylvania and entered New Jersey. We camped at backpacker campsite not far from the state border. The water here is brown, I hope all water in New Jersey isn't brown. I talked to Ayce and learned he moved his finish goal to an earlier date. Sadly, this means we won't be hiking with Ayce any more.
5/28 Day 86 Campsite to Brink Road Shelter - 19.5 miles
The rain began soon after we left camp this morning and continued all day. It was another cold day with the temperature never rising above 50. The terrain is still very rocky which is tricky on a rainy day. There were three section hikers monopolizing all of the shelter space when we arrived. We stood shivering in the cold rain for ten minutes as they reluctantly moved there things to make room for us. It's going to be a long night.
5/29 Day 87 Brink Road Shelter to Highpoint Shelter - 19.6 miles
Still raining this morning. Stopped at a deli just off trail for a breakfast sandwich and some coffee and the rain stopped. Met a New Jersey ridgerunner who told us thru hikers are given free Pepsi at Highpoint State Park office but they close at 5:00. We hustled to arrive at the office at 4:20 and found they close at 4:00. Luckily, a park employee was still there and went back inside to get us a Pepsi. Later, we climbed a wooden observation tower from which we could see the Highpoint Monument standing tall on New Jersey's highest peak. I asked a local kid what the monument was built for and he answered, "I think they built it for looking at something." I'm almost certain that's not the case. Shared the shelter with a southbound section hiker.
5/30 Day 88 Highpoint Shelter to Vernon, NJ - 18.9 miles
Today was a day of road crossings; nineteen of them by my math. We also had a long, sun-exposed road walk, field walk and the famous New Jersey boardwalk (not Atlantic City, the other famous boardwalk). Today was the warmest day we've experienced reaching mid 90s. The heat was hard on me today; I nearly passed out upon arriving at the road crossing that would take us to town. I didn't expect heat like this. We were freezing just two days ago.
We easily hitched a ride into town and headed for St. Thomas Episcopal Church Hostel. This place was really nice offering laundry, showers, Internet, TV, AC and a place to sleep for a small donation. We walked to the grocery store and pizza shop and then headed back to the church to relax.
5/31 Day 89 Vernon, NJ to Wildcat Shelter - 17.1 miles
Another hot day. We hitched out of town and hit the trail at 9:30. It was already in the 90s. We met two southbound section hikers who told us two things that excited is: there was a mother bear with cubs just ahead of us and Blue Moon was just ahead of us. We didn't see the bears but we did find Blue Moon. Later we left New Jersey and entered New York. The terrain was difficult with many steep climbs and boulder scrambles. In the evening, we took a small detour to Bellvale Creamery for homemade ice cream and orange soda. This was a nice treat at the end of a tough hit day. Mosquitos are our only company in the shelter tonight. This in combination with the heat is going to make sleeping difficult tonight.
6/1 Day 90 Wildcat Shelter to Mile 1380 - 10.2 miles
We got a message from Nomad last night telling us he was going to meet us at the parking lot at mile 1380; this and the heat was our motivation to get moving early. We didn't get a break from the heat as it arrived early again. The hiking was difficult with many rock scrambles and much exposed trail. Water sources are scarce in this area but local trail angels have provided gallons of water at many of the road crossings. We made our way to the parking lot where we would meet Nomad by way of "Agony Grind," a steep rocky decent. We found Nomad wating with cold drinks and we were ready for a break. After resting there for a while we decided we didn't want to hike any further so we jumped in Vanimal and headed for a hotel for repsite from the heat. We spent the rest of the evening eating, relaxing, and watching movies. We kind of had a system reset and realized there is no need for us to rush our hike. We want to enjoy this experience as much as possible and if that means slowing our pace than that's what we'll do. This is a once in a lifetime experience and we need to treat it that way.
6/2 Day 91 Mile 1380 to William Brien Memorial Shelter - 9.3 miles
We had no reason to rush today. We have a new approach, remember? We hung out at the hotel until they kicked us out and then hit up the grocery store for a resupply and had lunch with Nomad. Nomad decided to hike in a couple miles with us to check out a rock feature known as "The Lemon Squeeze." It was still hot today and the clouds threatened rain. It was fun to hike with Nomad again if only for an hour or two. He headed back to the van to travel to New Jersey and we continued north. William Brien Shelter looked nice from a distance but was in need of much repair upon closer examination. It was so bad, in fact, that we decided to tent despite the coming storm leaving the shelter empty. The rain arrived soon after dinner but we were dry and happy in our tent. We felt great after our break with Nomad.
Moose
