Category: Long Distance Trails

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: 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: Pochuck Mtn Shelter (AT mi 1353.1). Stop: Warwick Drive Inn Movie Theater (AT mi 1365.1) Today’s miles: 12 miles. Total AT mileage: 340.4 miles

I slept something seriously awful. Which is frustrating because I should have slept so good at the campsite I was at! It was perfect! But, as the daily trend goes, my air mattress was flat, super fast this time.. so I was rolling around on the ground trying to get comfortable. As some point I ended up cuddling my deflated pad when I got cold, while laying on said cold ground-awesome.

I heard movement around me by 6am, and decided to get up to pee-it’s not like I was going to be falling back into a comfortable sleep anyway. I ate breakfast with some folks and then packed up.

The day got hot, fast. And then I was walking on a boardwalk, which looked beautiful but was without any kind of cover. I was toasting. As it kept getting hotter and I kept growing irritable (Quality sleep really does make everything better), I was thinking I no longer wanted to walk 1/2 mile past the planned shelter, hitchhike 3 miles to a drive in movie theater and camp there. The only issue with that was that I had already talked it up and got all of our tramily wanting to go.. ha. Last night at camp, Finch was telling us that was their plan (Finch, DoubleDecker, TownLegs, TBird, and some others).

After 6 or so miles, I made it to a farmers market/flower shop that sells cold drinks, ice cream, donuts, etc.. it’s name is Heaven Hills Farmers Market I think. Now the memory is a little fuzzy. They had tables and chairs outside and a pretty grassy area. Perfect for us hiker trash to spread out our damp gear and rest. I got there and Poptart and Professor and Frosty the SlowMan was already there. Poptart shared a huge chocolate chip cookie with me and then I got a Gatorade and an apple cider donut. The three of them didn’t want to go to the drive in either.

Shortly after I devoured my treats, Lizard got there. She too was backing out of the drive-in because she has a hammock and we all assumed there wouldn’t be trees at the drive-in for her to set up on, so she’d have to sleep on the ground. FarOut and HotSauce appeared. They too were hot and irritated and saying they didn’t think they wanted to go. Haha weren’t we a fun bunch? So now, the only ones who hadn’t backed out were Derby, Cholula, and Curmy-and all three of those speed demons haven’t been seen since their breakfast departure LOL

After almost an hour and a half of sitting at the little market filling up my water bottle for free, chugging it and repeating, I set out for the rest of the hike, fully planning on getting to the shelter and calling it a day. At the road, I ran into Fixit. We hiked together through the sun, into the canopy and to the start an apparently very popular day hike climb to a view. The AT follows this same trail, but at the top where the view is, the “tourists” hike back down and we follow the white blazes over. The climb was a beautiful 1.5 mile rock hopping, switch backing trail slap full of every single resident of New Jersey. People were all over the dang place. I got many side eyes.. not sure if it was because of my smell or that they thought I was nuts for carrying such a big “day pack” lol

About half way up, Lizard a passed me. She lives up to the trail name in more ways than one.. she seriously glides over the rocks like they’re not even there! I texted Cholula and Curmudgeon while going uphill to let them know we were reconsidering the camping plan. They were ALREADY THERE! Derby, too! Cholula sent me a picture of a bacon and blue cheese burger at the cidery across the street from the drive-in. Damn, she knows the way to my heart already! Haha

At the top, FarOut and HotSauce caught me. We started on a gentle decline with soft ground.. crossed over creeks on small wooden bridges.. and when we got to one, we cross the bridge-stopped and looked at each other- and then all 3 decided to get in. Why the hell not? It’s hot, we’re disgusting and smell bad. Our clothes are gross. We deserve this perfectly clear creek bed with a little rushing waterfall! The water was ice cold and everything my sore feet and muscles needed! I didn’t sit in, because of my knee bandaids and shin splint KT tape that FarOut has lent me again.. so I just take my shirt off, stand in the water and use my bandanna to carefully wet and wash everything but the majority of my left leg. I should have dunked my head, but that thought didn’t cross my mind at the time.

As the three of us are soaking up every second of the water, I catch myself starting to reconsider the drive-in. My whole mood has shifted, it’s getting later in the day and it’s still close to 4 miles away-so we wouldn’t get there until later, which means it won’t be as hot in an open field with sunshine on a blistering day. Not to mention that burger looked real good. Like REEEEEEAL good.

As we were drying off, Professor came up and mentioned trail angels just ahead at the road, with a grill and cold drinks! Then, minutes later, Finch text me telling me the same thing and that it won’t be hard to hitch into town. So, the three of us haul ass to the road (and really I mean they did and I chased them for half a mile-it’s fine). HalfBaked and 2 of his buddies had set up a canopy and were grilling burgers & hotdogs, plus had pickle spears and Gatorade’s, sodas, and beer! What a flipping delight! I got a Mountain Dew, pickle and a hotdog! Talk about a turn of events today!

As we were hanging out, I text Cholula to let her know that we were pretty sure we were coming, but that Lizard was ahead of us and probably was still a no. Seconds later, Lizard text me to say she was at the shelter and thinking she wanted to go to the drive-in-mosquitoes were out like crazy by the shelter. YESSS! We were all back in!!

Minutes of hanging out and talking with HalfBaked and his little crew, Quicksand and Hawk showed up! These two are the YouTube celebrities on trail that I’ve met weeks ago. I can’t remember if I mentioned them, but Hawk is set out to get the record for the most thruhikes of the AT. They are so much fun to be around-such positive vibes. They both said we have to do the drive-in, that it’s a once in a life time experience like no other-alright, we were definitely sold now!

We all head out, Lizard had gotten to the road and hitched into the drive in. The trail angel, Mario, that took her came back to the trailhead and was hiking in to the shelter to cook steaks for the hikers with his friends. When he passed us, he gave HotSauce a beer and then told us to wait by his van-He literally went to the shelter, dropped off the coolers he was toting, walked back and drove us to the drive-in! Talk about an angel! Holy crap! He ended up calling us his heroes, because we’re able to do something incredible that he’s currently not in a position to be able to do. So. Damn. Nice.

We got to the drive-in and picked out our spots on the hill at the back.. along a tree line, so Derby and Lizard were able to hang their hammocks! It was slightly sloped ground, so those two had to be the most comfortable by far! Lol In attendance of our hiker trash tent/hammock city besides myself were Lizard, Derby, Cholula, Curmudgeon, a couple I didn’t know, FarOut, HotSauce, Smiles, Push, DoubleDecker, TownLegs, TBird, Finch, and Tie-dye. What a group. Half of us went over to the cidery place and had dinner and drinks. It was a beautiful outdoor set up, tables under umbrellas and string light. Very cool little spot for sure!

We all came back to the drive in, FarOut got a radio from the security guy and we watched the new Cruella movie sitting under the stars on a hill back behind all the cars. We were far enough away that we could actually watch all three screens playing. What a day. It’s amazing how easily things change when you accept that you’re going to be miserable at times but don’t let it control all of your choices. I crawled into my tent before the movie was over, put in my earplugs and fell right to sleep on my flat pad.

Today was a good day.