6/22-7/3: Delaware Water Gap, PA -> Kent, CT

I’ve made it back to New England!! I’m really excited to be here, and excited about how I got here, too. New York and New Jersey were surprisingly spectacular sections!

In my experience, no one really had much to say about this section of trail beforehand. The way people talk about the trail around here is usually something like this:

• Man, Rocksylvania is tough and annoying!
• ???
• ???
• ???
• Wow, the Whites are so hard, but incredible!

With this sort of black box and no expectations going in, I was really pleased with these varied, beautiful, and yes, challenging states.

My first day in New Jersey was interesting and awesome for several reasons. First thing in the morning, I hiked out of DWG, and out of Pennsylvania, across the Delaware River on a bridge alongside I-80.

NJ was absolutely lovely right off the bat! A lot of it made me feel like I was truly back in the Northeast, including peaceful, pretty Sunfish Pond.

Soon after, I saw a bear for the first time!! I was coming around a corner into a clearing and I heard what sounded like a large rustle. I was thinking, “Bear?” When I came into the clearing, there it was, sitting under a tree. It was pretty small, perhaps a teenager? Idk my bears. I observed it quietly from a safe distance before it looked up at me, turned around, and calmly bounded away. I was so excited!! NJ is apparently infamous for lots of bear activity. I had already narrowly missed seeing two more that morning, according to other hikers who saw them.

It was an excellent day for wildlife. I also came close to a deer (we really startled each other), some frogs, and a non-venomous snake I didn’t recognize.

The trail was beautiful, varied, and rewarding all day. I saw stunning views from Raccoon Ridge, a beaver pond with lots of lily pads, and a dried up beaver bog. At the Fairview Lake overlook, I came across a HUGE group of YMCA campers, easily the largest group of people I had seen on the trail at once. More views followed from Rattlesnake and Blue Mountains, which also featured cool subalpine vegetation. Who knew New Jersey had all this in store?

After lunch that day, though, I started getting really tired, and I was worried I hadn’t gotten enough food for this leg. Luckily, I was saved by day hikers Mike and Angela, who gave me a protein shake and a couple of Kind bars as trail magic in passing. It was truly game-changing, day-saving trail magic. Sometimes, the best trail magic is a little thing, whatever it may be, when you need it most.

It was a great day – my longest day ever! Counting side trails to the shelter and get water and the like, it was over 25 miles, achieving a trail bucket list item for myself. (I was also glad to finally overtake my slackpacking day so my longest day feels fair and square, and not like it comes with an asterisk.) It was one of my favorite days on trail, and certainly recently.

I was glad to have pushed miles to see all that great stuff that day while the weather was good, since the rain started the next day. There was a full week of it in the forecast: not something I looked forward to. That first day wasn’t too bad, though. I was a bit bummed to be totally socked in on (creatively named) High Point and Sunrise Mountain, the two highest points in the state, but I enjoyed the cool High Point obelisk in the fog anyway.

The next morning, I met up with my Aunt Carol and Uncle Ken! They live in NJ and came up to visit me and for Uncle Ken to hike with me for the day. We shared a varied, peaceful section of trail featuring some pastures and a cool marshland section. The rain even let up and we had a beautiful afternoon. It was a lot of fun to hike with Uncle Ken and have a hiking partner again for the day!

We met up with Aunt Carol again and we all got good Mexican food for lunch, and they helped me resupply before bringing me back to the trail. It was so good to see them and I was really glad we could make it work! I love seeing friends and family on trail. There was plenty more of that coming, too.

I spent that night in a shelter after a short, sweaty climb. I had a great time with trail friends Animal, Bambi, and Vitamin D as we watched a thunderstorm from the dry shelter. We could still see the sunset, too; it was a cool effect.

That night, we also had a lovely conversation with a ridgerunner, Hoot! Ridgerunners are the eyes and ears of the ATC on the trail. They keep track of hikers and make sure we all follow Leave No Trace principles, monitor the trail for any blowdowns or animal activity that require attention from trail crews, and are generally around to make sure that everything is going swimmingly on the trail. It was cool to get to know more about what that entails and hear about Hoot’s experience.

Mosquitos were a big annoyance that night: one downside of sleeping in a shelter. Bugs became a ubiquitous new challenge in this section. I was glad to have my bug net. It does its job, but makes everything else harder. I kept accidentally bouncing trail mix off my face because I’d forget I was wearing the netting. Sigh. I got all too used to wearing it over the next few days, however.

My last day in NJ featured the beautiful (and flat!) Pochuck Boardwalk, and a big climb known as the “Stairway to Heaven.” (Guess what I listened to on the way up?) There were tons of day hikers there, and the view from the top was great! It was a hot day, and after that climb, I was the sweatiest I had been on trail yet.

Soon after, I crossed into New York! I was excited to be back in one of my home states. I also had an interesting moment of perspective when I realized that the NJ section was only slightly shorter than GA, but it took me less than half the time.

NY really came out swinging. There were all sorts of rocks, including several tough but fun scrambles, and an extended ridgeline of sheer rock face. I crossed the highest point of the NY section soon after the border at Prospect Rocks, with gorgeous views overlooking Greenwood Lake. It all made for one of the toughest days on trail so far. I was absolutely exhausted.

Luckily, I had several cool destinations in mind for the evening. I ended my day of hiking at Bellvale Creamery, where I had delicious ice cream in an awesome location.

Nearby Warwick, NY has a three-screen drive-in movie theater that will let hikers camp there. You can rent a radio to watch the movies, too! I was excited to seize this unique opportunity. Unfortunately, it was a lot harder to get there from the creamery than I expected, which was stressful. I couldn’t find a ride from any of the numerous people at the creamery. Eventually, I found a pricey Uber, and barely made it to the drive-in in time for the movies to start.

When I got there, I was pleased to run into Radish, Iceman, Pirate, and Firefly, who I had met all the way back in Damascus! I also met a hiker named Walrus, and we all watched Pixar’s Elemental. (I was hoping to see Spiderman, but for some reason we couldn’t get the audio to work right for that one.) The movie was completely mediocre. I wasn’t sure if it was all worth the hassle, but I was still happy to have had a unique experience and wouldn’t have regrets about not giving it a shot.

My experience the next morning definitely made it feel not worth it on the whole. It took me 2 HOURS to get back to the trail; so frustrating! Ubers canceled or couldn’t be found, the shuttle situation in this area was iffy…finally, though, I caught a ride with a wonderful trail angel Jess. Meeting her really turned my morning around, and her kindness set me on a good course for the rest of the day.

I was thrilled to find trail magic halfway through the day; I was even more thrilled to run into S’mores there! It was so good to reunite with him. He was my first close trail friend from the Before Times – before my week off trail – that I had caught up to again.

The trail magic was great, too, though. Pacer (AT ’18) and his friends set it up about 8 times a year. I had pancakes, a burger, and more for lunch, but the best part was the big tents over us to get us out of the rain. It’s the littlest things when you need them the most!

It was the last 4 miles of my day when the real rain came. It had rained on and off for the past several days, but this was finally the heavy rain we had been promised. And heavy rain it was. It was the worst weather I had had on trail, by far; it was possibly the worst rain I had ever been caught in in my life.

On every slope, the trail was a torrent. I walked through ankle deep puddles. It was my first time having lightning overhead, and I had to hurry off a few somewhat exposed rock faces. There was lots of looong, rolling thunder. I wish I had more pictures of all this, but my phone was too wet to take pictures during the worst of it! I was totally soaked through; it was the wettest I had ever been.

Somehow, I wasn’t in a bad mood. It was just kinda funny. It did start to wear me down eventually, though. My thoughts were completely frantic as I rushed through to get out of the rain. It felt like a blur. I did have the presence of mind to notice that this section through Harriman State Park actually seemed like a nice, pretty section if the weather weren’t so miserable. One particular noteworthy feature was the Lemon Squeezer, a cool rock formation that I climbed up through in the downpour. I was relieved that I was able to get through it without taking my pack off.

In the midst of all this, I saw a deer. She was standing serenely in the middle of a grassy field next to the trail. She seemed completely unperturbed by the rain cascading around her and the lightning crashing above, or by my presence on the trail nearby. Seeing that deer calmly standing there, taking in the storm, was truly magical.

It was a very spiritual experience hiking through such a storm, and being completely at the mercy of the elements. Seeing that deer definitely contributed, too.

Eventually, though, I made it to Fingerboard Shelter. Of course, the shelter was predictably packed already, so I had to set up my tent. In fact, there were about 5 of us that were tenting because there was no room in the shelter. Luckily, there was room for me to set up my tent in the shelter before bringing it outside to keep it dry (good idea, Animal!). I had a really nice time socializing over dinner with S’mores, Mystery Man, Vitamin D, Bambi, Dutch, Animal, and others – it was quite the crowd! I was glad to have their company that night.

The rain had calmed down a lot by the time I actually set up and the rest of my gear, and I discovered that all my gear and clothes had gotten wet. It was another blow (although an unsurprising one). My damp sleep clothes were still better than the alternative, though.

That day had the lowest lows of any day on trail, though it had its moments as well. The saving grace was that I knew I’d be off trail the following night; that thought kept me going that night and the following day. Those past couple of days felt like I was really riding the AT rollercoaster. I just had to hang on tight and enjoy the ride.

Later that night, there was another massive lightning storm, this time sounding much closer overhead. It was kinda terrifying to see and hear from inside my tent. I basically had to curl up inside my sleeping bag and hope for the best. Thankfully, it was calm when I woke up, and I had a mercifully mellow morning hiking through the rest of the state park.

I enjoyed hiking with S’mores for a while that day. It was great to reconnect with him and have some deep conversations on trail. We skipped an official detour and safely crossed the Palisades Interstate Parkway, but then took an unfortunate detour of our own in search of promised trail magic that we never ended up finding 😦 We did find wild blueberries to snack on, though!

That afternoon, I hiked through gorgeous Bear Mountain State Park. The trail was super well maintained throughout the park, which made for excellent hiking and was much appreciated.

At the bottom of Bear Mountain, I met up with a friend of Aunt Kathryn & Uncle Bryce, Rebecca! She had been enthusiastically following my thru-hike and had invited me to her home in Westchester for the night. It was great to meet her! Once again, the trail brings people together 🙂

Rebecca and her husband were wonderful trail angels. Rebecca had thought of everything, including loaner clothes while I did laundry! I spent a lovely, relaxing evening and most of the next day at their house, doing all my usual chores, and most importantly, drying out all my gear in their garage.

I felt much refreshed and refueled by the time I got back to the trail that afternoon. At Bear Mountain, the AT goes directly through the appropriately-named Trailside Zoo! It is a cool, unique attraction on the trail, but you have to make sure you go by during its open hours, or else you have to go around. I had a lot of fun going through the zoo. It’s a small zoo, but they had bears, birds, and a beaver, among other things. I barely made it through in time before they closed up for the day.

From there, I crossed the Hudson River. Unsurprisingly, it’s by far the biggest river crossing on the trail, and it was a truly majestic, beautiful crossing over the Bear Mountain Bridge.

I’m generally more willing than most to take side trails to see viewpoints and the like. But 0.6 miles one way is a lot even for me – especially after a steep, sweaty climb up from the Hudson. I took the long, but easy, side trail to Anthony’s Nose anyway, and it was well worth it! The views were incredible. It was maybe one of my favorite spots yet.

The next two days were deceptively tough, with surprisingly rocky terrain and rather unrewarding. As it turned out, the latter half of NY was a lot less exciting than the first half. There were some nice features, though, just mostly not natural parts of the trail. I found the Telephone of the Wind, for those we’ve lost, quite moving. I thought of Gramma and Papa and heard them in the sounds of the wilderness (and unfortunately, the nearby road noise).

Happily, those days were a rich social experience, though. I stopped by the Appalachian Market for second breakfast with my new friend Foxy. When she’s not thru-hiking, she plays French horn in the Army band. I also met Easy and PF (it stands for Polite Fucker…one of my favorite trail names ever), and enjoyed hanging out with them, S’mores, and Threepy, at the cool RPH shelter and elsewhere.

I was really excited to meet up with my family at the end of the following day. They were coming east for the 4th of July. That day also happened to be my Dad’s birthday, so I was looking forward to seeing him and celebrating with him. But first, I had a pleasant, varied day of hiking which included nice Nuclear Lake and the Swamp River Boardwalk right before I crossed the Appalachian Trail train station! It’s the only train station right on the AT (though far from the only railroad tracks). You can get into NYC in only a couple hours!

It was cool, and a little surreal, to pass unique landmarks like the train station. People had talked about some of these since the beginning: “Oh, I can’t wait til we go through the zoo!”, “There’s one place where you can catch a train right from the trail!”, etc. They all seemed so far away then. And now, I’d made it there, and I was seeing these things with my own eyes.

I did not take the train into New York (but I did get lunch from an awesome Malaysian food truck on the road right by the station.

In the mid-afternoon, I met my family at a road crossing just before the Connecticut state line. When I got there, I was delighted to find them with a big trail magic spread including plenty of fruits and baked goods!! We hung out there for a long while with the other hikers that rolled through, including several I hadn’t met before: Solo, Toto, and a cool couple from New Zealand, as well as S’mores, PF and Easy, and Threepy. It was good to see so many people coming by; my parents had a lot of fun and great success with their first “hiker feed” trail magic!

It was great to be with my family (sans Nick). We went out for a big Italian dinner for my Dad’s birthday and spent the night at a hotel.

The next day, Daniel rejoined me for another day of hiking! This time we got to slackpack thanks to my parents. Mom & Dad hiked with us for a short bit, and it was nice to hike all together. It felt great to have a hiking partner for the day and hike with Scrappy again! It flew by with us chatting away. Even though we were slackpacking, we were much slower than I anticipated. I underestimated how much the heat and humidity would affect us. It was a huge contrast from the earlier week that Daniel had hiked with me, when we had to deal with freezing temperatures!

We entered Connecticut right away, and I was officially back in New England! The rest of the day featured some more rocky terrain, but also a nice flat section along the rushing Housatonic River. Daniel and I took a side trail to check out the covered Bull’s Bridge. I also crossed the 2/3 mark of the whole trail!

Our parents met us at another road crossing, where they were doing more trail magic to get through more of the food they had brought. We had a nice drive across CT, punctuated by stops for delicious ice cream and Chinese food for dinner, to my uncle’s house in Rhode Island, where my extended family was gathering for the 4th of July.

I spent an awesome zero day at Greene with lots of my extended family. Macy even came down for the afternoon! It was so good to be with her. We played board games, several sports, including a highly racuous game of croquet, and even went for a walk (imagine that). It certainly wasn’t the most restful zero day, but it was totally worth it 🙂

To my great surprise, I even met some thru-hikers! I was sitting on the porch at Greene when I noticed several hikers with big backpacks walking right past the house. They definitely had the thru-hiker look about them. Naturally, I jumped up to introduce myself. It turned out they were a family of 4, Spreadsheets and family (I forget their other trail names), who were thru-hiking the North-South trail through RI. Not only that, but they had thru-hiked the AT last year! I couldn’t believe that I was still meeting new thru-hikers even on my zero a whole state away from trail. So serendipitous!

I did get kinda sad at one point that day. I felt separated from my trail identity while I was there; perhaps that identity is more distinct than I thought. It felt so good and normal to be there at Greene, surrounded by so many people I love. I felt ready to be done with the trail and back with Macy and my normal life.

But at the same time, I knew I wasn’t ready to be done, and I had unfinished business on the trail. I was happy to be back in New England, and so excited to hike through many of my favorite states. I’m ready to tackle the last third of the trail!