Hiking Southbound through New York and New Jersey, back to Delaware Water Gap, PA, where we left the trail before our bus ride to Maine.
Day 144
Sleep was tough last night a train would fly by, blowing its horn every 30 minutes or so and the tractor trailers on the highway only stopped for a few hours. Also, Cathrine's sleeping pad has a hole in it. We both slept horribly. On top of that, I found a tick lodged in my hip as we were getting ready this morning. I guess thats a downside to all the warm weather.
We were worn out and figured it would be a bad idea to hike our planned 20 mile day on such little sleep. We ate breakfast and hung around the plant nursery for about an hour and hit the trail around 10ish
10.9 miles to Morgan Stewart Shelter. A nice, easy hike done around 3. We tried to order food at a road but no one around delivered! No worries we're definitely gonna got some pizza tomorrow when we walk past the RPH shelter for lunch.
We've got 146 miles to Delaware Water Gap from here, I went ahead and planned out the rest of our itinerary to there. Crazy to almost have the north done with.
The leaves on the trail are getting thick, if it wernt for the blazes we would be totally lost.
Sleep was tough last night a train would fly by, blowing its horn every 30 minutes or so and the tractor trailers on the highway only stopped for a few hours. Also, Cathrine's sleeping pad has a hole in it. We both slept horribly. On top of that, I found a tick lodged in my hip as we were getting ready this morning. I guess thats a downside to all the warm weather.
We were worn out and figured it would be a bad idea to hike our planned 20 mile day on such little sleep. We ate breakfast and hung around the plant nursery for about an hour and hit the trail around 10ish
10.9 miles to Morgan Stewart Shelter. A nice, easy hike done around 3. We tried to order food at a road but no one around delivered! No worries we're definitely gonna got some pizza tomorrow when we walk past the RPH shelter for lunch.
We've got 146 miles to Delaware Water Gap from here, I went ahead and planned out the rest of our itinerary to there. Crazy to almost have the north done with.
The leaves on the trail are getting thick, if it wernt for the blazes we would be totally lost.
Day 145
14 miles down today. The first half of the afternoon all we could hear was the busy New York highway, we could hardly hear each other talk.
We made it to the RPH shelter around noon. We saw that a Chinese place delivered there and had them on the phone right away. (A bright side to being so close to roads I suppose) It took about 40 minutes for our food to arrive but it was well worth the wait. They had smoothies too so we got a couple of those. We brought the lawn chairs from the shelter over and ate in the sun and digested there for another 30 minutes. It was nice to sit and relax and do nothing for a bit.
We hiked on to Clarence Fahnestock State Park where we are sleeping tonight. It feels a bit run down, but its free and there are power outlets so we're not complaining.
14 miles down today. The first half of the afternoon all we could hear was the busy New York highway, we could hardly hear each other talk.
We made it to the RPH shelter around noon. We saw that a Chinese place delivered there and had them on the phone right away. (A bright side to being so close to roads I suppose) It took about 40 minutes for our food to arrive but it was well worth the wait. They had smoothies too so we got a couple of those. We brought the lawn chairs from the shelter over and ate in the sun and digested there for another 30 minutes. It was nice to sit and relax and do nothing for a bit.
We hiked on to Clarence Fahnestock State Park where we are sleeping tonight. It feels a bit run down, but its free and there are power outlets so we're not complaining.
Day 146
We were hiking by 8:30, a bit of a late start, but getting up on the chilly mornings isnt easy. We hiked 18 miles today, it was relatively smooth. Today went by really fast, we kept a good pace- probably because we had food on our minds.
14 miles into the day we walked by the Appalachian Market, a gas station with a really nice grill and deli, right off the highway (and trail). Here we got 2 days of food to get us to Greenwood Lake, NY. I got a cheeseburger and fries while Cathrine got empanadas, we also got 2 homemade italian ice cups to celebrate having hiked 1600 miles.
We hiked 4 more miles to the Hemlock Springs Campsite which is .2 from the road, which I didnt like. We have a rule that we dont camp by roads, so we walked a little further up the trail and found a nice little stealth spot to call home for the night.
We've only seen 4 other hikers in the past 3 days, it feels like we're the only ones out here most of the time. I'm not complaining about that either, its been really really nice, the experience I was hoping to have on this trip.
Looking forward to crossing the Hudson river, climbing Bear Mountain, and getting some good views of NYC tomorrow.
We were hiking by 8:30, a bit of a late start, but getting up on the chilly mornings isnt easy. We hiked 18 miles today, it was relatively smooth. Today went by really fast, we kept a good pace- probably because we had food on our minds.
14 miles into the day we walked by the Appalachian Market, a gas station with a really nice grill and deli, right off the highway (and trail). Here we got 2 days of food to get us to Greenwood Lake, NY. I got a cheeseburger and fries while Cathrine got empanadas, we also got 2 homemade italian ice cups to celebrate having hiked 1600 miles.
We hiked 4 more miles to the Hemlock Springs Campsite which is .2 from the road, which I didnt like. We have a rule that we dont camp by roads, so we walked a little further up the trail and found a nice little stealth spot to call home for the night.
We've only seen 4 other hikers in the past 3 days, it feels like we're the only ones out here most of the time. I'm not complaining about that either, its been really really nice, the experience I was hoping to have on this trip.
Looking forward to crossing the Hudson river, climbing Bear Mountain, and getting some good views of NYC tomorrow.
Day 147
We laid in the tent for a few extra hours this morning, packs ready, waiting for the rain to stop. It didnt so we packed the tent up and started hiking at 9 am.
We crossed over the Hudson River pretty early on in the day, very fun, some sights to see make the rain not so bad. Straight off the Bear Mtn Bridge the trail took us through the Trail Side Museum and Zoo. It was unexpectedly nice with lots of animals. We saw 2 bears, 2 coyotes, 2 foxes, and I finally got to see a porcupine. We would have loved to explore around more but the rain..
On the otherside of the zoo we walked by the Bear Mtn Recreation area. Here tons of vendors were setting up for an Oktoberfest event. Going from seeing 4 people in 3 days to all of this going on we probably looked so wide eyed. People were everywhere.
We stopped into the Bear Mtn Inn to make a stop at an unforseen restaurant. We got hotdogs at the Hiker Cafe and were ready to take on some more rain.
The hike up Bear Mtn was great. A perfect rock staircase and paved sidewalks all the way to the top. I bet alot of people assume the whole trail is like this just from what they see on popular day hikes.
At the top it was too cloudy to see NYC. We talked to a large group of people our age who all hiked up in part to celebrate one of their birthdays. They asked us to take their photo and we asked them to take ours and they just started giving us food. 3 bagels, a banana, a bag of carrots, and a bag of nuts. Shortly after, we wished them well and were on our way.
On the downhill side of Bear Mtn I saw a bear. 3 in 1 day!
The weather cleared up in the after noon and we were able tot get a view of the NYC skyline.
17.6 miles hiked today. We made it to the Fingerboard Shelter right around 6pm. We're tenting about 200 yards up from it on Fingerboard Mtn. Its a chilly but beautiful night tonight.
16 miles tomorrow into Greenwood Lake, NY.
We laid in the tent for a few extra hours this morning, packs ready, waiting for the rain to stop. It didnt so we packed the tent up and started hiking at 9 am.
We crossed over the Hudson River pretty early on in the day, very fun, some sights to see make the rain not so bad. Straight off the Bear Mtn Bridge the trail took us through the Trail Side Museum and Zoo. It was unexpectedly nice with lots of animals. We saw 2 bears, 2 coyotes, 2 foxes, and I finally got to see a porcupine. We would have loved to explore around more but the rain..
On the otherside of the zoo we walked by the Bear Mtn Recreation area. Here tons of vendors were setting up for an Oktoberfest event. Going from seeing 4 people in 3 days to all of this going on we probably looked so wide eyed. People were everywhere.
We stopped into the Bear Mtn Inn to make a stop at an unforseen restaurant. We got hotdogs at the Hiker Cafe and were ready to take on some more rain.
The hike up Bear Mtn was great. A perfect rock staircase and paved sidewalks all the way to the top. I bet alot of people assume the whole trail is like this just from what they see on popular day hikes.
At the top it was too cloudy to see NYC. We talked to a large group of people our age who all hiked up in part to celebrate one of their birthdays. They asked us to take their photo and we asked them to take ours and they just started giving us food. 3 bagels, a banana, a bag of carrots, and a bag of nuts. Shortly after, we wished them well and were on our way.
On the downhill side of Bear Mtn I saw a bear. 3 in 1 day!
The weather cleared up in the after noon and we were able tot get a view of the NYC skyline.
17.6 miles hiked today. We made it to the Fingerboard Shelter right around 6pm. We're tenting about 200 yards up from it on Fingerboard Mtn. Its a chilly but beautiful night tonight.
16 miles tomorrow into Greenwood Lake, NY.
Day 148
Hiking by 8am today. We had a tough 16.4 miles to NY17A where we called a taxi to pick us up and take us into Greenwood Lake. We're staying at the Breezy Point Inn. It's a dumpy lake marina motel/bar/restaurant that's way overpriced. We were planning on 2 nights in Greenwood Lake but this is one of those places that doesnt seem too relaxing.
Hiking by 8am today. We had a tough 16.4 miles to NY17A where we called a taxi to pick us up and take us into Greenwood Lake. We're staying at the Breezy Point Inn. It's a dumpy lake marina motel/bar/restaurant that's way overpriced. We were planning on 2 nights in Greenwood Lake but this is one of those places that doesnt seem too relaxing.
Day 149
We were out of Breezy Point by 9:30, it wasnt a restful stay but I was surprised to catch the Walking Dead season 5 premiere so I guess thats something good out of our stay. We walked .6 into town and resupplied at the Cumberland Farms gas station. One of the toughest resupplies yet, not much to work with.
At the gas station we ran into Anton, the owner of Antons on the Lake (the place we were gonna stay if they had had rooms available and Cathrine's mom had sent us a package). We stopped by there yesterday on the way to Breezy Point to see if Anton had our package. He didnt and apparently wouldnt be able to pick it up from his P.O. box until Tuesday, it being a Sunday and now today being Columbus Day. At the gas station Anton offered to forward us the package when it came in. It worked out well because we were going to call him before leaving town to see if forwarding the package would be possible. Running into him saved us alot of headache.
The lady stocking shelves at the gas station gave Cathrine a grocery bag full of bags of potato chips. It seems our luck is turning around. We took a taxi back to the trail.
We hiked 10 miles to give our bodies a break. We're at Wawayanda Shelter. There's a section hiker, Bigfoot, here. He started today and is heading to Delaware Water Gap too. Hes from Summerfield, NC, cool to meet someone from so close to home. The 3 of us made dinner by the shelter and are all turning in for an early night.
We made it into New Jersey today! Planning another short day tomorrow.
We were out of Breezy Point by 9:30, it wasnt a restful stay but I was surprised to catch the Walking Dead season 5 premiere so I guess thats something good out of our stay. We walked .6 into town and resupplied at the Cumberland Farms gas station. One of the toughest resupplies yet, not much to work with.
At the gas station we ran into Anton, the owner of Antons on the Lake (the place we were gonna stay if they had had rooms available and Cathrine's mom had sent us a package). We stopped by there yesterday on the way to Breezy Point to see if Anton had our package. He didnt and apparently wouldnt be able to pick it up from his P.O. box until Tuesday, it being a Sunday and now today being Columbus Day. At the gas station Anton offered to forward us the package when it came in. It worked out well because we were going to call him before leaving town to see if forwarding the package would be possible. Running into him saved us alot of headache.
The lady stocking shelves at the gas station gave Cathrine a grocery bag full of bags of potato chips. It seems our luck is turning around. We took a taxi back to the trail.
We hiked 10 miles to give our bodies a break. We're at Wawayanda Shelter. There's a section hiker, Bigfoot, here. He started today and is heading to Delaware Water Gap too. Hes from Summerfield, NC, cool to meet someone from so close to home. The 3 of us made dinner by the shelter and are all turning in for an early night.
We made it into New Jersey today! Planning another short day tomorrow.
Day 150
We hiked 18.5 miles today, with great weather and smooth terrain, we couldnt resist. We were done by 5pm, we're staying at a cabin that Jim Murray leaves open for hikers on his farm. It's right off the trail and has some delicious well water, electricity, and donkeys. What more could a thru hiker ask for?! Jim drove up and talked to us as we were finishing up dinner, a pretty cool guy.
50 miles to Delaware Water Gap from here, we're looking at 3 days to get there if the storm coming through tomorrow doesnt set us back any.
We hiked 18.5 miles today, with great weather and smooth terrain, we couldnt resist. We were done by 5pm, we're staying at a cabin that Jim Murray leaves open for hikers on his farm. It's right off the trail and has some delicious well water, electricity, and donkeys. What more could a thru hiker ask for?! Jim drove up and talked to us as we were finishing up dinner, a pretty cool guy.
50 miles to Delaware Water Gap from here, we're looking at 3 days to get there if the storm coming through tomorrow doesnt set us back any.
Day 151
We said bye to the donkeys and were on the trail by 7:30. It was hot and humid this morning, a big rain storm is on its way so we planned to hike as much as we could before it hit us.
We stopped 6 miles into our day at the highest point in New Jersey to have lunch. We took the .3 side trail off the A.T. to a 220 foot tower on the mountain. It was pretty eerie with the fog moving in and being the only ones up there. Plus there were some creepy wind noises coming from within the tower.
We went a few more miles and stopped into the High Point State Park HQ to fill up on water. Water has been really hard to come by for the past few weeks so we chug and fill up at any places we see with running water. I was hoping they would have a drink machine to help with the soda craving Ive been having. The receptionist directed me towards a spigot outside for water and asked if we were thru hiking. I said yes and she handed me a couple of sodas, one for each of us. Whether they had a drink machine or not would have been my next question.
We walked a few more miles, there was on and off drizzle just before we got to Mashipacong Shelter. We had another hour long snack here and weighed the pros/cons of staying there or knock out another 6 miles with the risk of getting poured on by the lingering rain. We did the 6 miles of more easy ridgeline walking, got sprinkled on a little here and there but were pretty much dry when we got here at Gren Anderson Shelter. We set the tent up in the shelter tonight because we're the only ones here and its supposed to rain for the next 15 hours. It started pouring right after we were done setting the tent up. Prefect timing.
Unsure about the plan tomorrow, we're at the mercy of the weather at this point. Hopefully it will fill some of the streams up.
We said bye to the donkeys and were on the trail by 7:30. It was hot and humid this morning, a big rain storm is on its way so we planned to hike as much as we could before it hit us.
We stopped 6 miles into our day at the highest point in New Jersey to have lunch. We took the .3 side trail off the A.T. to a 220 foot tower on the mountain. It was pretty eerie with the fog moving in and being the only ones up there. Plus there were some creepy wind noises coming from within the tower.
We went a few more miles and stopped into the High Point State Park HQ to fill up on water. Water has been really hard to come by for the past few weeks so we chug and fill up at any places we see with running water. I was hoping they would have a drink machine to help with the soda craving Ive been having. The receptionist directed me towards a spigot outside for water and asked if we were thru hiking. I said yes and she handed me a couple of sodas, one for each of us. Whether they had a drink machine or not would have been my next question.
We walked a few more miles, there was on and off drizzle just before we got to Mashipacong Shelter. We had another hour long snack here and weighed the pros/cons of staying there or knock out another 6 miles with the risk of getting poured on by the lingering rain. We did the 6 miles of more easy ridgeline walking, got sprinkled on a little here and there but were pretty much dry when we got here at Gren Anderson Shelter. We set the tent up in the shelter tonight because we're the only ones here and its supposed to rain for the next 15 hours. It started pouring right after we were done setting the tent up. Prefect timing.
Unsure about the plan tomorrow, we're at the mercy of the weather at this point. Hopefully it will fill some of the streams up.
Day 152
We were very lucky with the rain this morning. We slept in an extra hour with the thought that it would rain as hard as it did last night all day. Our back up plan was to hike 3 miles into Branchville, NJ and get a room for the day. We were happy to wake up to the rain tampering off, quite contrary to what the weather forecast on our phones were saying.
We hiked the 3 miles to town. Saw what I think was a wounded vulture on the trail. It saw us and tried to fly away but flew into a tree and kind of hunched over and starred at us. In town we stopped by "Joes To Go" right off the trail to grab some subs for lunch. I bought a bag of chips and some snickers bars to hold me over to Delaware Water Gap. We had nothing but blue skies after leaving town.
We hiked 14.7 miles, we're tenting at an established campsite on the ridgeline. We've been walking on the Kittatinny ridgeline for the past 2 days and will be on it all day tomorrow until we drop down into DWG. There was a water pump a mile before our campsite that we were banking on to fill our bottles to have enough to cook with and drink. The pump was disabled for the winter, good thing I checked it before I chugged all my water. I had half a liter and Cathrine had a whole liter We passed by a rather large puddle on the way to the campsite and filled up another half liter.
Done by 4:30 today, nice to have some down time. I made a nice fire and we got some good R&R time. Excited about our 16.7 mile hike to DWG tomorrow where Cathrine's brother Kyle will be picking us up.
We hit our 1700 mile mark today!
We were very lucky with the rain this morning. We slept in an extra hour with the thought that it would rain as hard as it did last night all day. Our back up plan was to hike 3 miles into Branchville, NJ and get a room for the day. We were happy to wake up to the rain tampering off, quite contrary to what the weather forecast on our phones were saying.
We hiked the 3 miles to town. Saw what I think was a wounded vulture on the trail. It saw us and tried to fly away but flew into a tree and kind of hunched over and starred at us. In town we stopped by "Joes To Go" right off the trail to grab some subs for lunch. I bought a bag of chips and some snickers bars to hold me over to Delaware Water Gap. We had nothing but blue skies after leaving town.
We hiked 14.7 miles, we're tenting at an established campsite on the ridgeline. We've been walking on the Kittatinny ridgeline for the past 2 days and will be on it all day tomorrow until we drop down into DWG. There was a water pump a mile before our campsite that we were banking on to fill our bottles to have enough to cook with and drink. The pump was disabled for the winter, good thing I checked it before I chugged all my water. I had half a liter and Cathrine had a whole liter We passed by a rather large puddle on the way to the campsite and filled up another half liter.
Done by 4:30 today, nice to have some down time. I made a nice fire and we got some good R&R time. Excited about our 16.7 mile hike to DWG tomorrow where Cathrine's brother Kyle will be picking us up.
We hit our 1700 mile mark today!
Day 153
Hiking by 7:30 today. An easy 16.7 to Delaware Water Gap. The first 6 miles flew by, here we found ourselves at the Mohican Outdoor Center. We planned on getting lunch here, but the kitchen was closed. So we bought a couple of freeze dried meals from the gift shop and relaxed while we ate them in the sun. 10 more miles to DWG.The last 10 went by even faster. We stopped for another snack break near Sunfish Pond where a couple with their kids gave us a PB&J. Very nice!
The hiking was all flat and downhill. We made very good time.
As we crossed the Delaware River bridge I did the arm pump for every trucker that drove by us. Almost all of them blew their horns, I'd say about 15-20 of them on our walk back into Pennsylvania. This was our way of celebrating having hiked the entire Appalachian Trail north of Damascus Virginia all the way to Maine.
We met up with Kyle in town and figured out a rough gameplan. We decided we would get a hotel somewhere down the road for the night and tomorrow he would drive us to Mallory's.
We hit the road to drive along and find a good place to eat/sleep. We drove for a few hours and ended up by chance stopping into Hamburg, PA. Cathrine and I recognized it right off from when we walked there for a resupply back when we stayed in Port Clinton, PA. We had a great dinner at Red Robin and realized Hershey, PA wasnt too far, so Kyle looked up lodging around Hershey Park.
We made it to Hershey at around 8:30 pm. We're staying at the Rhodeside Inn, best place we've stayed at in a really long time. And I think we smelt so bad, Kyle offered to do our laundry! Thanks Kyle!
Its nice to have family to help us out so much. We're really going to soak it all in over the next few days. We plan to take 4 days off the trail to spend to relax and regroup before we head head back to Damascus to hike the last 466 miles that we have to Springer Mtn in Georgia.
Hiking by 7:30 today. An easy 16.7 to Delaware Water Gap. The first 6 miles flew by, here we found ourselves at the Mohican Outdoor Center. We planned on getting lunch here, but the kitchen was closed. So we bought a couple of freeze dried meals from the gift shop and relaxed while we ate them in the sun. 10 more miles to DWG.The last 10 went by even faster. We stopped for another snack break near Sunfish Pond where a couple with their kids gave us a PB&J. Very nice!
The hiking was all flat and downhill. We made very good time.
As we crossed the Delaware River bridge I did the arm pump for every trucker that drove by us. Almost all of them blew their horns, I'd say about 15-20 of them on our walk back into Pennsylvania. This was our way of celebrating having hiked the entire Appalachian Trail north of Damascus Virginia all the way to Maine.
We met up with Kyle in town and figured out a rough gameplan. We decided we would get a hotel somewhere down the road for the night and tomorrow he would drive us to Mallory's.
We hit the road to drive along and find a good place to eat/sleep. We drove for a few hours and ended up by chance stopping into Hamburg, PA. Cathrine and I recognized it right off from when we walked there for a resupply back when we stayed in Port Clinton, PA. We had a great dinner at Red Robin and realized Hershey, PA wasnt too far, so Kyle looked up lodging around Hershey Park.
We made it to Hershey at around 8:30 pm. We're staying at the Rhodeside Inn, best place we've stayed at in a really long time. And I think we smelt so bad, Kyle offered to do our laundry! Thanks Kyle!
Its nice to have family to help us out so much. We're really going to soak it all in over the next few days. We plan to take 4 days off the trail to spend to relax and regroup before we head head back to Damascus to hike the last 466 miles that we have to Springer Mtn in Georgia.
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