Month: June 2021

Start: Warwick Drive-In Movie Theater (AT mi 1365.1) Stop: Wildcat Shelter (AT mi 1376.8). Today’s miles: 11.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 352.1 miles States Completed: Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey

There are good days on trail, and then there are *not as* good days on trail. AKA: today kinda sucked. Which annoys me, because technically the day was beautiful and would have been a fantastic day if today was spent say—on a boat, or swimming off a dock, or absolutely anything other than backpacking over more freaking technical rock scrambles. Ugh.

Well, let me back up. I woke up on my flat pad sliding slightly in my tent.. I had previously woken up to restake one side of my tent when the whole thing slid down hill, sometime say around 2:30am. I also had the pleasure of waking up multiple times before that because of the movie playing and the cars coming and going with their headlights shining at the tents. We expected that though.

I was all the way awake and back from the port-a-potty before 6am. I packed and Lizard and I walked to the bagel store in the shopping center next to the drive-in. Everyone but FarOut and HotSauce beat us to it and were waiting by the grocery store for the ride they arranged yesterday. We didn’t prearrange anything yesterday, personally because I wasn’t really sure what time I’d wake up and I didn’t want to feel rushed if I didn’t have to.

We got our bagels and drinks, were sitting there eating inside when I pointed to the 2 trucks outside and jokingly said to Lizard, “one of those need to take us to the trailhead.” Well, one of the guys in one of the trucks (the bigger one) came in and got a coffee. He saw us and our packs and started asking questions.. and then-I’ll be damned if he didn’t offer to drive us to the trailhead! He was meeting a friend in the state park on the way to go bike riding. PERFECT.

As he drives through the parking lot, I see our group of friends: Curmudgeon, Cholula, Derby, TBird, TownLegs, DoubleDecker, Smiles. All still waiting for their ride. It either came early and took some of the other hikers before these guys got there, or she hadn’t shown at all. I giggle a little and point them out to our new trail angel, Mike. We tell him we know them and their ride must have failed, and would you believe he stopped, moved around some stuff, and we packed every single one of them in! Seriously!
He drops us off and we head out at different speeds and paces. I start off decently quick for me, my shin isn’t bothering me, life is good.. but I’m already starting to get sticky and it’s not even 8am yet. It’s going to be another scorcher of a day. Which is great when you have a pool or lake or beach or air conditioned anything. When you’re carrying all you own on your back and your back also has your shirt sweated to it like it’s painted on-it’s flipping awful.

I slowed my pace after a bathroom stop and wrote out yesterday’s blog post. I typically do this at the end of the day before bed (like I am now) but I was watching a movie and 3 beers deep before that first glorious slip into sleep. I just couldn’t even attempt to recall my day-and I’m not ashamed of that for half a second. I slowly walked and wrote, the trail was soft and kind, and I was still in the belief that it might not be that hot or hellish if the terrain is like this and the canopy of trees keeps my body shaded.

I got to the New Jersey/New York state line just before 10 am.. Curmy, Cholula, Lizard, TBird, TownLegs, Poptart, and Frosty were there. I got some pictures of the stateline and sat down for a break to finish writing the post and upload some pictures. It was beautiful, we finished another state, one which was very kind to us after Pennsylvania. We were only planning to get to the next shelter, a whole 11.7 miles total, which feels like a “low mileage” day these days. Plus, somewhere up ahead was a creamery to hangout and eat icecream at. Cool.

I sat, I wrote, I smiled. And then I walked into New York and all hell seemed to break loose. It was a lot of walking on huge rocks, much like Stone Mountain.. like-rocks that just don’t seem to end. Which was fine when my shoes had tread on them. They don’t now. It’s terrifying to go to climb a scramble and have your foot slip, and then have the foot that’s supposed to catch you slip, too. These rock walls had pretty views, but they were so very exposed. I actually had to put on sunscreen, although with the way I was profusely sweating, I couldn’t tell you how useful it was.

It went on and on like this for what seemed like eternity. Rock walk up to rock scramble requiring you to throw your trekking poles up and drag yourself up to them, rock walk into a patch of woods just long enough to make you cuss when you see you’re going right back out to another rock scramble. Over and over and over again. It was like heaven greeting you to walk back into the shade of the woods-but even then you’d pour sweat like you just stepped out of a shower.
I caught up to TBird and TownLegs at a creek crossing. They showed me where to go down to get “into” the small waterfall. And oh boy did I! I spent a solid 30-45 minutes in that little spot. For 10 minutes at least I stood in the water with my head in the waterfall just drenching my scalp. I flung my hair back like how those Instagram models fling their hair in fancy pools.. except no one was there to witness it LOL

I was completely content for a solid 15 minutes after I got my shoes back on. Then it was right back into the sun and I could no longer tell what was water from the creek and what was sweat. I was chugging water like a lunatic. And then, only 2 hours into New York, I rolled my ankle. I had just been then thinking about how good my shins feel and how thankful I am to the people that helped me with it.. Lizard, TBird, and HoneyBadger for the stretches, FarOut for the KT tape. When I rolled it, I felt and heard the pop and crack.. I saw only white and then when my vision returned I almost puked. I leaned on my trekking poles and hobbled over to some shade about 4 steps away, and in clear view of the new rock scramble ahead. I tossed town my poles, my bag, and sat and gently as I could and propped my foot on my bag. It wasn’t swelling like I thought it would, so I was starting to think I didn’t roll it as bad as I thought I did-but that original pain was something sickening.

I decided I’d finish working on uploading pictures on the blog for yesterday’s post, and rest my foot for a while. Not too long after the whole incident, maybe 10 minutes-you know long enough to have the “what if I just ended my hike? What if it really starts to swell? How will I get my ass off this mountain if I can’t walk?” questions come up- FarOut and HotSauce appeared. I was instantly happier, and suddenly less worried about my predicament. They sat with me a few, told me about their morning of trying to hitch in and it taking awhile and then how irritated they were with the heat, too.

Eventually, we got talking about the creamery and decided the best thing to do is to carry on, as long as I could walk. HotSauce helped me stand and test out my foot-no sharp shooting pain and I was able to hold pressure on it. Ok, cool, I just panicked because of how painful it had been. I can walk on it! So we moved on to rock scramble after rock scramble followed by a slew of cuss words from my mouth. They were kind enough to stay just ahead of me until they were sure I was ok. We took a break for water and a snack, and then after what felt like a lifetime, we got to the creamery (they a good bit ahead of me).

Everyone we knew practically was there. I got in line, TownLegs got me fresh water.. ok, life is getting better. Professor came strolling up slowly and I ended up getting his ice cream for him so he wouldn’t have to stand in the line (it was at least 15 deep), and he got me some trail magic AND toted my pack up to the “hiker hill” all of our people were at. I had ice cream and Gatorade and water surrounded by people l enjoy a whole hell of a lot.

Afterward, I took it very slow on the last 2 miles to camp. I called and talked to mom, thankful for the easy terrain. Which then changed into another rocky disaster with a mile left to go. Awesome. Professor caught up to me and we caught up to lizard. We slowly made our way, the steep drops of the rock edges being the hardest on my ankle. Cholula called and told me there’s a side trail to look out for that will re-route me around the really rough rocky spots. I told Professor but lizard already got away from us, although I’m pretty sure she loves the challenge the rocks bring. I told Professor about the side trail and he opted to go with me on the easier terrain “to make sure you’re ok,” lol – Professor is a total badass, out here hiking the AT at 70 years old. He took a bit of a beating from the rocks today, too, and even broke one of his trekking poles. I felt better having him hike with me.

We met Lizard where the 2 trails meet, and she said it was tough for sure, confirming my decision was the right one for me. We let her head out in front of us and slowly made our way to camp. We set up, ate dinner, talked. Professor is staying in the shelter, but the rest of us (Poptart, Frosty, a couple I don’t know, Lizard, Derby, Cholula, Curmy, FarOut and HotSauce) are all camped down the hill a bit. Poptart let me use some cortisone cream on an awful heat rash I’m brewing (well, it’s already brewed and it’s along my panty line on my butt, waist and hips, and let me tell you, that rash did NOT help improve my mood today lol). I’m laid out in my tent, thankful it’s not see through-as I’m trying to air out all my ailments without my sticky/sweaty clothes on. If a bear runs through camp tonight, it’ll be real awkward for me. Seems worth it, though.

Start: Wildcat Shelter (AT mi 1376.8). Stop: Fingerboard Shelter (AT mi 1391.3) Today’s miles: 14.5 miles. Total AT mileage: 366.6 miles

I slept ok, I mean-my pad still went flat and I ended up sleeping better on the floor of my tent than on the pad, but it was better sleep than the previous few nights. I’ll take it.

We got up and moving by 8am and when Lizard passed me, I made the comment, “how the hell are we sweating like this and it’s only 8:30 in the morning?” Ugh, looks like it’s going to be another hot day. Less than 15 minutes later, we crossed a waterfall. Normally, 8:45am would make for a very cold swimming experience. Today-today that water was perfection! Derby, HotSauce, Lizard and I all soaked our heads by walking into the little pool of water and putting our heads into the waterfall. Curmudgeon, Cholula, and FarOut all enjoyed the water without getting mostly submerged. Looking back, while it was worth it, I’m pretty sure it didn’t help my heat rash currently growing across my upper legs and butt. Good thing I’m not trying to enter any beauty pageants out here, this body is 100% wrecked.
Anyway, we cooled off and kept hiking. It got so hot so dang fast. I was cooking within 30 minutes.. and I don’t mean food. I really wish I could accurately describe the misery of hiking in such heat. There’s no escaping it! You hike all day, and when you get to where you’re getting to-you’re still hot, you go to sleep hot and sticky and smelling like swamp-ass. Remind me to never complain about the cold again.. ever. Hahaha

We cross a road with a sign posted on a tree that says “Trail Magic in 1.7 miles, today until 5pm” before I let myself get excited, I look at my watch and realize that it’s Monday. That sign was probably from yesterday. I look at my Guthook app and see that water is just past the road crossing this mystery trail magic might be at. So, to level expectations, I told myself to hike to the water. 1.7 miles can’t be that far. Except it can when the road is at the bottom of the other side of a mountain you now have to go up and over, with some of those fantastic rock scrambles thrown in all around. If you think I wasn’t cussing enough to make a sailor blush, you don’t know me well.

On the uphill, I was hot and irritable and thirsty and about 20 literal steps from the peak, I threw all my stuff down and yelled out a good, “are you EFFING KIDDING ME!?!” (I definitely didn’t say eff for the record) when I saw that I wasn’t at the top yet. I sat, chugged all of the water I had and ate a couple sour patch candy pieces. During my meltdown, Numbers passed by and made some comment about how you just gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other.. and I had a sudden urge to chuck a piece of candy at him-which then made me laugh, because clearly I’m psychotic.

I got up, got my life together and carried on, and quite literally the summit was a whole 20 steps ahead. Krash was there, so then I laughed again, wondering if he heard my yelling of obscenities. I made my way slowly down the hill, and towards the bottom I caught a strong whiff of meat on a grill. The delight that suddenly consumed me was palpable. I would have skipped down the rest of the mountain if I was capable! As the trees cleared, there it was: TRAIL MAGIC.

Two long tables were set up with an older man at a grill, his wife sitting nearby and another gentleman chatting with all my people! They gave us hamburgers/cheeseburgers, hotdogs, oatmeal cream pies, sodas.. he’d even make you blueberry pancakes if you wanted one! I stayed chatting with everyone for almost an hour (if not more). It was GLORIOUS!

We went up and over another mountain-it also sucked. It started to lightening, thunder and rain as I was making my way downhill. Cool. I can slide to my death now. I’m glad I didn’t, because at the bottom, across another road: TRAIL MAGIC AGAIN! Some sweet man had a cooler of big Gatorade’s!

We walked into Harriman State Park, which was beautiful! The rain was slowing and the thunder and lightening had stopped. There was a lake ahead and we originally were planning on swimming earlier in the day-we also thought SURELY we’d have reached the lake by like, I don’t know, 2pm-and here were are at 4 something with a whole lot farther to go. And then the rain put a damper on things. As Krash and I got to the little dirt road to the lake on our right, I saw 2 packs and Lizard walking down.. HELL YES!! We’re swimming!!

I went down and started dropping my pack and taking off my shoes. FarOut was already in the water swimming out into the deep, squealing with happiness at the coolness of the water on her feet and just how awesome it all felt. The rest of us (HotSauce, Lizard, Krash and I) weren’t far behind her. And damn was she right! That water was everything I needed! The lake was large and the water was warm on top from the sun and ice cold below by our feet. Refreshing doesn’t even begin to explain how good swimming around out there felt. Rejuvenating.

When we left we said we were going to walk the last bit slowly to not break a sweat, since the water made us feel all cool and not sticky. That lasted all of 45 seconds. We went through the Lemon Squeezer, a spot where you have to take your pack off and squeeze through two long narrow rocks. And then there was a rock wall to climb. Umm. I have no upper body strength, and I’m a lot to lift. Ha. HotSauce pulled me up while FarOut pushed my butt, and some how by the grace of God and their muscles, I got over that wall. I’m sure they were sore after that one! Lol

Almost to the shelter, I saw a bear! I heard him splash in some water and stopped to watch him walk. Lizard and Krash came, they saw him, and then so did FarOut and HotSauce. The bear didn’t seem to mind us at all, which is a little unsettling. I didn’t get a picture or anything, as my phone had 40% battery, my battery pack was dead, and I still had another day before I got to town. BUT Lizard got some footage I think 🙂

We made it to the shelter, and I was utterly exhausted. This has been the hardest day for me so far. If we didn’t have the trail magic, and if I didn’t have this tramily, I don’t know that I would have made it as far as I did today. It was miserable, but there’s something about overcoming the misery that makes the challenge that much more incredible. Like it was so difficult, but I made it. I did not, however make dinner. Hahaha I was so pooped, I ate all my sour patch candies and then made a wrap with pepperoni and some chip mix flakes that FarOut shared with me! It was just enough to be satisfying and not need to get out the cookware.

I decided I was too tired to set up my tent, so I slept in the shelter with Derby and Numbers. I didn’t even blow up my pad, I laid it out and slept on my sleeping bag (and FarOut let me sleep on top of hers too).. so I had a pallet on the floor and slept inside my sleeping bag liner.. and was still hot. Oh well.. we’ll see how this works. Sweet dreams, y’all.

Start: Fingerboard Shelter (AT mi 1391.3). Stop: Bear Mountain Bridge Motel, Fort Montgomery, NY (AT mi 1406.1). Today’s miles: 14.8 miles Total AT mileage: 381.4 miles

I woke up to Numbers packing his stuff.. and I have to say, I had the BEST sleep I’ve had in over 2 weeks! Apparently all the hassle of blowing up the flat mattress was just a waste of my time, energy, and sleep. I should have been making a pallet and calling it a day! I did struggle to fall asleep at first because my feet were aching so much from yesterday’s awful ups and downs. At some point Derby rolled and Numbers made racket, so I got up and got my pack and propped my feet up on it.. THEN, then I drifted right off and slept until I was woken up, which was well after 6am. I’ll call it a success!

I started packing too, once Derby was up and moving. For some reason I still think my stuff makes more noise than other people’s stuff, so I never want to be the first one to cause the noise disturbance lol.. that may change. I ate breakfast and everyone was up and packing or already heading out (FarOut and HotSauce were one of the firsts up! They weren’t planning to zero so they wanted to knock out today’s hell as quick as they could to get their chores in town done). Lizard seemed to be still snoozing, so when I was headed out (last besides her), I went to let her know. She was already awake-just not up yet, and wouldn’t be far behind me.

It was smooth going for the first bit of the morning. I mean it was hot as hell already, but the terrain was nicer than it had been. Mostly smooth-ish trail with no scrambles. I passed Krash who was camped up on the hill and not out yet. A mile later, I got to a road crossing where Derby was sitting. He told me where to go to get fresh water down the hill. He carried on hiking, I hid my pack and poles behind a tree and trekked down to the campground to fill my water bottle. Yesterday’s creek crossings had a lot of tannin making the water look yellow. I wanted clean filtered water that didn’t require extra effort of actually doing the filtering. When I got down there, Finch and Smiles were there. We chatted a second and I left them, knowing I’d be seeing them again soon enough.

It was smotheringly hot. Like, you know the sky wants to bust because it is so absolutely humid that no one, even the sky, can stand it much longer. Smiles ended up passing me while I ate my lunch, and mentioned that he might get a ride from one of the upcoming road crossings and go to town, then come back tomorrow to do this next portion. Not me, I think. I don’t want to make this misery last 2 days when it can just be today (I do swear I love backpacking and want to be here.. you just have to realize you go through a lot of emotions at times. This thing is tough, physically of course, but mostly mentally.. your mentality can make or break you on this journey.).

When I got back up to my pack, I was a little mad I hiked down that hill and didn’t get any closer to my destination. Oh well, what’s done is done. I started hiking again and quickly came up on Krash, who passed me during my side venture. He was getting yellow water, and I was back to being happy I did venture down there after all. I walked and walked and went up and down several times. At some point pretty early/mid morning, Lizard passed me and I didn’t see her or anyone else (besides Krash) again until almost 6pm when I made it to the motel lol

The third huge climb of the day had me dragging. I’m talking probably one mile an hour drraaaaaaaaagging. Cussing every time I had to use my hands to hoist myself up over something. It was at the top of that third climb when the lightening and thunder started. I was hiking with Krash, who walks in a defeated “what in the hell am I doing here” kind of slow saunter.. which is hysterical and regardless of if he feels that way, just seeing his walk makes me feel like he’s commiserating with me.

We walked and talked and seemed to both know how ridiculous we are by being on a mountaintop during a thunderstorm, but I just couldn’t seem to move my feet any faster. Not to mention, it’s honestly more scary to think about being down the mountain some and getting hit by a falling tree. But whatever. We’re out there already, it’s best to just keep moving. So we did. I turned a corner and saw a gorgeous mountain with a huge firetower looking structure on top. And then it hits me. “SHIT! That’s where we’re going!” Down this mountain, across that valley and UP THAT MOUNTAIN and back down. Holy hell. I may die today.

Also of note, my phone was at a lovely 32% battery at this point (i started at 44% thanks to FarOut and HotSauce giving me a little juice so I could have enough battery for an Uber when I got to the bottom of that mountain..).
So, half way down that third mountain, the rain came. It was like watching a scary movie and hearing a wave of crazy birds coming or something.. I heard the rain way before it got to us. And I’m here to tell you, I literally teared a little, looked at the sky (through all 9 million trees) and said a “thank you” to the man upstairs, because that rain was just what I needed to cool off. It finally got to a point that I could move quicker than a toddler mid tantrum in a grocery store.

As Krash and I started up the 4th mountain, Bear Mountain, I quickly realized this is a mountain top traversed by the day hiking community. It was so well groomed, and WIDE.. and to my complete disbelief: there was not one rock scramble to be had! AH! The big guy just blessed me twice because I was thoroughly stressed about the difficulty ahead. It was smooth, albeit still slow going to the top. We made it there and there were vending machines! Lots of benches and whatnot too, but it was mid downpour thunderstorm, so those didn’t suit my needs.. but the Poweraid in the vending machine held its weight in gold! I huddled under the awning and got my phone out-which was acting fritzy due to the water droplets on the screen (it’s in a waterproof case, but the water still wigs it out). I blew on my right hand until the phone agreed it was dry enough, took it off airplane mode, and got hit with all the texts. Everyone was at the motel/hotel already and easily got Uber’s from the bottom at the resort area the trail walks through. Cool. 20% battery, I can do this!

We talked to the couple I didn’t know from the other day, we leapfrogged a few times today, they are DuckTape and Lemon maybe? I was a bit distracted by my misery to pay all the way attention earlier in the day and felt it too rude to ask her what her name was again lol. They were at the vending machines with Krash and I, and she looked like the picture of despair. I must look the way she does now when they pass me on those uphills-giving those pleading looks that say, “please just make it stop now..” hahaha I feel your pain, girl.

Going downhill was also smooth and wide and even, except it had the big stone steps that were placed there-but they’re not all the same distance, so it’s a long drop between steps at times. Those steps felt like they quite literally caught my feet on fire. It got to a point that I had to walk down by putting both feet on each step and alternating which one went first.

When we got to the bottom, I found the overhang of the spa and promptly dropped my gear and laid on the ground. I propped by feet up on one of the big stone pillars holding up the building. I didn’t have one care, and if someone from the spa was going to come tell me to move, I was going to take my sweet time. I was spent!
I waited for my hands to dry and opened my phone back up. Uber: no cars available. Seriously? Ugh. I text the group to see where they were when they got picked up. I waited awhile and let Krash use my phone since his was all the way dead dead. He made a call and I was worried it would really kill my battery.. 11%.. eeek!

The couple passes, says they’re going to walk. I think they’re nuts, then realize I’m going to have to walk, too. Ha. Oh, me. I wait 10 minutes, get my life together and start walking. When I get to the pavilion not that far away, I try again: Your ride will arrive in 51 minutes. Jesus Christ, Uber!Krash says he’s staying at the pavilion, I say bye and start walking. I get to a roundabout with no luck with my hitch game-cars are flying by way too fast. I felt like I was playing chicken when running through the roundabout to get to the correct road.. and then a cop had a car pulled over-no hitching here now, either. I carry on.

I pass over a bridge and once the railing ends I stick my thumb out, turn and smile as people fly by at 45-60 mph. I laugh, thinking no way in hell is someone going to pull over in the rain and pick my dripping wet self up. But against all odds, less than 2 minutes later, a dude pulls over with his flashers on and let’s me in his front seat! He was so nice, a teacher, with dreams of doing the AT when he retires (he couldn’t have been older than me, with all the things I see being a nurse in an ICU, I wanted to tell him not to wait, tomorrow isn’t promised, but I held my tongue). It was a quick 3 minute drive and I was at the motel, profusely thanking him for his kindness.

Derby and Lizard were in their borrowed “laundry” clothes and fresh and clean from their showers. They told me how to go get my laundry clothes, which I quickly did and got into the shower. The rain did not help my rash. At all. Like it got tremendously worse and burns in the water from the shower. Yikes.

Derby, Lizard and I shared a 3 bed room. We had pizza, watched tv (with actual commercials, been a few years since I’ve had that “luxury”), and then promptly got in our beds for the night. Cholula and Curmy were somewhere at the same motel, I saw Curmy for a quick second as I got there, and Cholula was already in their room, clean and resting her feet. FarOut and HotSauce got a room at the other hotel in town, along with almost everyone else we know.. haha there weren’t many options and no one wanted to carry on in the rain. Nine days of hiking definitely qualifies us for a zero.

I think we earned it. I’m pretty excited about sleeping in tomorrow, and I know my feet are!