A Turn for the Sunny

Marching Northward

Over the past two days, we've hiked almost 20 miles. And treat of all treats, we've had exceptionally good weather. The sun has been shining, there hasn't been a cloud in the sky, and it's been about 65 degrees. Perfect Trail weather. The terrain has been more of the same. Lots of forests with short but steep New York mountains to climb. Yesterday, we started at the monastery (one of many in the area, I've learned...apparently New Yorkers have a thing for monasteries) and hiked along some ridge lines and rivers. One nice thing about all the wonderful spring weather is that the critters of the forest are starting to come alive again.

Standing in front of a beaver dam

Today, the terrain was fairly forgiving, with only a few significant climbs. However, the climbs we did have to make were well worth it.

AT Art

Even the "mountaintop" vistas don't get you very far above the forest here in New York. But there's almost always a river or lake or budding forest to look at, so the views are still nice. We hiked a little over 10 miles today. Today was once of the first days that we saw someone else out on the trail. Now that the weather is getting nice, I'm sure the Trail will get more and more crowded. Both today and yesterday, we went for sandwiches at the market that's right next to the Trail. I'm on a first name basis with the owner now, apparently. Three days of sandwiches in a row will do that. While we were enjoying our roast beef and chicken melts, a family of lost hikers wandered into the deli. They'd hiked 6 miles of the AT ( a one-way trail) thinking they were on a local 2-mile loop trail in a state park. Needless to say, they were lost as Easter eggs. I was pretty proud of myself, because between my trail map and my handy dandy GPS, we were able to find where they had started and give them a ride back to their car. Our good deed for the day, I suppose. If the Trail keeps showing me her best side, what with the sunny days and trees that get greener by the day, I could get used to this again.

Pretty AT Days

1400 Miles and Counting

1,400 Miles!

Today, we didn't do any hiking. The storms that have been tearing through the Eastern half of the US finally caught up with us, and the weather was pretty horrible. So we opted not to take our chances in the thunderstorms and did laundry instead. I was actually glad for a rainy day. I think my sore hamstring needed the day of rest. Yesterday, we hiked about 8 miles. We started at the Trailside Zoo, which didn't open until 10:00am, so we got a later start than usual. But we said hello to our animal friends and then set out to cross the Hudson River. From the top of Bear Mountain, it was very easy to underestimate the size of the Hudson. Crossing the huge Bear Mountain Bridge, it's size was incredibly apparent. There was even a really neat historic toll house at one end of the bridge.

Trolls live here

After crossing the Hudson (which, interestingly, has suicide prevention signs posted right next to it's warnings about the local nesting perigrin falcons), we climbed the mountain on the other side of the river. Obviously, after having passed through the lowest point on the whole AT, we had to climb a huge hill on the other side. But we made it up and over, one step at a time, and finished our hike just outside the Greymoor Monastery. It was actually very neat. We had parked our car in a grassy patch outside the entrance to the monastery, where the AT crosses. When we leave our car at the Trail, we leave a sign in the window with our phone number in case of any problems. We actually got a phone call from one of the monks, asking if we were ok because our car had been there for several hours. It was a simple act of kindness that I truly appreciated. We stopped at a local market on the way back to the RV for some delicious homemade deli sandwiches. Overall a very satisfying day. Hard to believe we've hiked 1,400 miles. I feel nice and rested after our rain day, so it's back on the Trail in the morning.

See you on the far side of the river

Low on the AT

We'll be in the Hudson...

Today we hiked a little over 9 miles. We had to start our hike about a mile from the actual AT, since the nearest parking area we could get to was a bit off-trail. It was very foggy this morning, so there wasn't very much to see when we got to the top of our first climb. We had another big climb to do later in the morning, though. Bear Mountain is one of the more popular outdoor destinations in the area, especially on a day like today. By the time the fog cleared, it was 80 degrees and very sunny. It was the first day so far that I got legitimately hot. Working to climb Bear Mountain in the heat was worth it once we got to the top though.

Bear Mountain

We spent the rest of the morning and a good bit of the afternoon climbing down the east side of Bear Mountain, the bottom of which hid some very interesting sights. First, the lowest elevation on the entire AT is at the bottom of Bear Mountain, at about 120 feet above sea level. I guess that means there will be a very big hill to climb tomorrow. Secondly, the AT at the base of Bear Mountain walks straight through a trailside museum and zoo. We saw minerals, fossils, historical artifacts, bears, hawks, eagles, owls, coyotes, porcupines, beavers and all manner of reptiles, amphibians and local birdlife. It's not every day something like that appears on the AT, so we definitely took our time strolling through. The only bad thing about it was that I didn't have any change on me to get a popsicle to cool me off in the zoo. After our educational afternoon, we spent a bit of time driving around the area rounding up our vehicles (we rented a car because the NY police officer who almost kicked us out two nights ago informed us the RV isn't allowed on one of the highways we have to drive on to get through this section of AT...thus a rental car), and stopped at a local diner for supper. If we have a few more days as beautiful as today, I just might get used to New York.

Zoo Hiking

Long NY Days

So many places to go, so little time. According to this sign, you can actually walk to NYC from here, down another trail (not the AT). Although I'm not sure I'd want to. I'm not sure how the locals would react to a smelly hiker wandering into Times Square with a pack full of spare socks and dehydrated food.

Today was a long day. We almost got run off from our overnight spot by a park ranger last night, and we got stopped by a policeman at 5:30 am this morning for driving in the lefthand lane. I know everyone is trying to do their jobs, but we were almost treated like petty criminals. I know that we have Kentucky plates and that Amicus has a ponytail, but really, surely these New Yorkers have seen stranger things? They acted liked coming here to hike the AT was very suspicious, even though the most famous trail in the country runs straight through their hometown. Anyway, no one was hurt and I actually am glad that the officers actually patrol the rural areas, which would otherwise probably be a pretty easy place for people who were up to no good to hide. Well done, New York law enforcement. Your backroads are safe from rednecks for another day. We hiked over 13 miles today, but only about 11 of those were on the AT. We had to park a significant distance from the actual trail. It was just the nature of the trail in this area. There were simply no good access points. So we walked two extra miles. It sprinkled a bit this morning, but nothing significant weather-wise, which was nice. The terrain was pretty varied. Flat in some parts, very steep in others. We even went through a section called the "Lemon Squeezer."

Entering the Lemon Squeezer

We've decided that the Trail in New York has a bit of a Napoleon complex. All of the hills we've encountered on the Trail in New York haven't been very high, never going about 1400 feet in elevation, but the climb to the tops of them is always straight up, over huge rocks. They are short climbs, but grueling because of how steep they are. It's almost as if New York is daring you to make fun of it for being the state with the lowest hills on the AT. I have a hard enough time climbing up those small hills, and I know how it feels to be the short one in school, so I'm reserving judgement. Merely observing. We finally made it up and over all those Napoleonic hills and to our destination for the day, even though it took us longer than we wanted (until almost 5:00pm) because of the extra mileage we added on to get to the parking lot. We were pretty tired, so we got ourselves some meat and vegetables at the nearby Outback Steakhouse and called it a day. A very, very long day.

First view of the Hudson River

Happy Easter from the AT

The Easter Bunny visits the AT too.

First of all, a very very Happy Easter to all the followers of Nano. Today was a very special day, because on this wonderful holiday, the sun finally came out. It seems a little divine inspiration was in order on this extra special divine day. It was beautiful and about 7o degrees all day long, which was a nice change from the wet and cold we've been dealing with. We went to the sunrise service at a tiny Methodist church down the road from the parking lot where we'd been staying in the RV, and got invited to breakfast, but didn't stay, and marched off into the beautiful day instead.

The first clear view we've had. Supposedly, on very clear days, you can see the New York City skyline from where I am standing in this picture, in the direction I am looking. It's back there somewhere, and the day was clear, but I didn't see anything I could call NYC with any degree of confidence.

We walked a little over 7 miles today, the other portion of the 12-miler we cut short because of the bad weather. I truly enjoyed the walk today. It's been so cold and nasty out that everything has just seemed glued to the ground by the damp. But today, in the sunshine, everything started waking up.

Easter Salamander!

We got a little bit of everything today. We climbed some rocks, had some panoramic views from high spots, walked through forest, crossed streams, and even came across a waterfall. I'm so glad that the Trail decided to give us this beautiful day as an Easter present. It was hard to not be home with my family. I know that Trail Angel Mamma had an amazing supper cooked, just like she always does, and I was sad to miss our traditional Easter festivities. But it seems fate stepped in with something beautiful for my Easter day, even though I couldn't be at home. Thank goodness for little Easter miracles.

Easter Hikers

Not one of my best days...

We were on the section named "Agony Grind"...that should tell you how our day went...

Before we went to bed last night, the weather was forecasted to be pretty miserable today. When we woke up, it turned out that the weatherman had gotten one right. The worst of the weather was supposed to come in the afternoon, so we got up very early. Even at 5:30am, the sky was grey and misty. We had originally planned on doing 12 miles today, but things looked so bad outside we shaved that down to 5. It was a good thing we did too, because the 5 miles we did do were tough enough.

5 miles of this...in the rain.

Climbing up, over, and down large, steep, slippery rocks is rather difficult. I'm not trying to justify my sloth-like pace of barely 1 mile per hour for the day. I was actually pretty proud of that pace. Going any faster would've been dangerous. One lesson I am relearning the hard was is that the terrain map in the guide book is occasionally deceptive. In my guide, this section looked nearly flat, or like gently rolling hills at best. Obviously that is not what we encountered. The pulled hamstring that was bothering me yesterday was worse today. I know that slowed me down a lot. But the last thing I need is to hurt it worse. I made it to the end just fine.

Resting on Rocks in the Rain

On the plus side, even though it took us nearly 5 hours to go 5 miles, we got finished with our shorter hike around noon. That gave us some time to do some planning, some laundry, and explore the nearby thriving metropolis of Warwick, NY, where I had some BBQ duck for supper. Even the "bad" days have silver linings.

Historic Warwick

New York State of Mind

Welcome to New York

Today we had our longest day this week, and one of our longer days since we started the trail. We walked 15 miles today. We finished up the last few miles of AT in New Jersey and then passed on into New York. In the guidebook, this section of trail looked relatively flat. And it was, I supposed, after climbing up nearly vertical boulders to a rocky ridgeline...

This is what I did all day...

All the climbing made for slow going. Even though the climbs weren't very long, the rocks were very steep and took some concentration to negotiate. I think I might have strained a muscle in my leg while doing all this. It hurts right at the top of my rear, which makes sitting awkward, but I can walk alright, and everything seems fine minus some annoyance.

Pretty to look at, hard on the old bones

We scrambled over all the rocks and finally made it the whole 15 miles. I think my karma must be weak. Last October, walking 15 miles in a day might not have been a problem. Maybe I've gotten soft again. I guess the only thing to do is to go find some more rocks to climb until I remember how.

Hard to climb, good for snack breaks

A Fond Farewell to New Jersey

A Day in the Jersey Marshes

Today was our last full day of hiking in New Jersey. It was also the first day of nice weather we've had since we've been here, and the sunshine was certainly welcome. We had a shorter hike today, only a little over 9 miles total, but it was definitely the prettiest and most interesting hiking we've done in New Jersey. The majority of the hike was through wetlands and marshes. We started the hiking circling the perimeter of a reclaimed wetland, and some swans and hawks were there to greet us. The best part of the hike, however, came towards the end.

Boardwalk through the Marsh

The end of our hike included walking about a mile along the longest boardwalk we've encountered on the trail. Even though it's too early for all the swamp plants to be blooming, it was still very beautiful. The boardwalk wound back and forth through the marsh, out into the middle of the swamp, along the treeline at the edge of the water, and back again. It was a great walk, and not just because it was nice and smooth underfoot. The only problems we encountered were a missing section of boardwalk about 10 feet long (it was left out on purpose, and we had to wade through swamp balancing on wet sticks...I have no idea why they just left a random bit of the boardwalk out...cruel joke), and a bridge that had been damaged in the recent thunderstorms.

I call this the Alice in Wonderland Bridge. Because it's extremely twisted and makes you feel like you're falling.

We were finished with our hike by early afternoon, just in time to get some delicious homemade fudge and brownie ice cream from a local creamery. I can't say that New Jersey has been my favorite bit of trail, what with all the swamps to wade through and strange smells to combat, but I can say that today left me with a very good impression. The only other impression of New Jersey I have is that they are in love with vinyl. As we drove from trailhead to trailhead, everywhere we looked we saw massive vinyl houses. Sometimes several in a group, sometimes standing alone in the middle of nowhere. Always huge, always symmetrical, and apparently always...deserted? We rarely ever saw anyone in the yards or driveways. It's as if they just discovered vinyl building materials here, and they are trying as hard as they can to show it off. Perhaps it's simply a New Jersey mystery that will never be solved.

Swamp Hikers

Hitting the High Points of Jersey

Wandering off into the foggy unknown...

Today we walked 11.5 miles further into New Jersey. We started early, and were greeted with thick, wet, cold fog. I'm starting to think that New Jersey just has one weather setting: dreary. It's a bit of a shame that the day was so yucky today, because our hike included the highest point in the state of New Jersey. The view from the wooden platform located at this auspicious point is supposed to be quite spectacular. But I was lucky to see far enough in front of me to keep from tripping, much less far enough to enjoy any sort of view.

Highest Point in New Jersey, view not included.

The hike itself was pretty difficult. Not because the terrain was steep or strenuous, but because everything was soaking wet. I think New Jersey must not drain very well. Most of the trail had standing water on or around it. Parts of the trail were literally flowing like little creeks. Everywhere we stepped was packed with mud. It made for kind of tricky and slow walking, but it was a new kind of adventure, that's for sure.

About to trip and fall in some New Jersey mud after traversing some mighty, post-thunderstorm, New Jersey rapids.

After climbing up to High Point, most of the hike was flat or downhill, with one or two short ascents to climb over hills between roads. Going downhill when everything is slippery and wet is actually harder than going uphill. We took our time so that we didn't fall and hurt ourselves, and after a few hours, by the time we were winding down our hike, the sun came out a bit and the fog lifted and it actually ended up being a pleasant day. The end of the hike was full of these really neat boardwalks that someone really spent a lot of time building. They make a clear, dry path through some very swampy terrain, and without them, hikers would be knee deep in muck for about two miles worth of this section of the trail. The swamp is just starting to bloom, so those bits of the hike were really beautiful. By the end of the day, my socks were soaked and I was pretty filthy from all the mud we'd waded through, but otherwise unscathed. I think it will be a few more days before I get my "Trail Legs" back, though.

Jersey Swamp

Dreary in Jersey

Rainy Days in Jersey

Today we got up especially early, because bad weather was forecasted for this afternoon. We started our hike just a bit past 7:00am. It was very, very cold, at least for my thin Southern blood. About 40 degrees, I think, with a thick fog in the air. We wanted to get an early start, not only because there was bad weather rolling in, but because we had 14 miles to hike today, which we knew would take up a big chunk of daylight. So in the early morning cold and fog, we pressed on. We hiked for about two hours before it started to drizzle. Luckily, a bit of good karma was with us and we were right next to a shelter when the rain started.

Suiting up in my rain gear for the deluge...

It never really rained very hard. Just a steady wet drizzle all day long. Just enough to get everything nice and wet. If it hadn't been so chilly, it would've been almost refreshing. Walking in the cold and the rain is never ideal. But one good thing about it, for me, is that it makes me take fewer rest breaks. I might move slower because I'm trying to pay attention to my footing, but I don't stop as much, since I start to freeze the instant I stop moving. So that's a plus. Total, we walked in the rain for about 7 hours. The terrain was rocky, but not too steep. We climbed Sunrise Mountain, which, surrounded by fog, was hardly ideal for viewing the sky, and ended up in the middle of a New Jersey State Park. At least the signs of civilization, when we emerged wet and cold from the woods, were comforting. It felt good to do a nice long hike, even if it was in pretty yucky conditions. We'll see if it clears up for tomorrow.

Going to dry off and warm up...

Return to the AT

Back on the Trail

Today, after two days of driving, we made it back to New Jersey, where we last left our intrepid hero, the Appalachian Trail, for another month of hiking. It's a little funny, because it's been almost exactly six months since we were last here, and yet it feels like very little has changed. It's still chilly, even though it's trying to warm up instead of cool down, like it was in October. The trees are mostly barren, but just now trying to come to life for spring. In October, the were almost finished with their fall color changes. Even without Nano, time marches on on the AT. I've really enjoyed the other adventures I've been on for the past six months, including but not limited to (for those of you who haven't kept up), spending over a month in New Zealand (see previous posts for more details/photos) and getting accepted to medical school, which starts in August (go CATS!). Despite all these adventures, there was a certain anticipation surrounding coming back to the AT. Not a "knots-in-your-stomach-heart-pounding-adventure" anticipation, but the anticipation that comes with seeing an old friend, or finding yourself with a rare opportunity to complete serious unfinished business.

A fickle mistress, the AT greeted my return with swampy footpaths...

We hiked about 11 miles today. It was cloudy and chilly for most of the day, but keeping moving helped us to stay both warm and motivated. A big rainstorm was supposed to blow in on top of us, but we managed to finish our hike for the day before we got wet. Divine intervention for our AT return.

Some parts even turned out to be downright pretty, despite the forecast.

We finished our hike in time to go scout out the area for our next few days of hiking. Unfortunately, for this round, it's just me and Amicus (which is Daddy's trail name, for those of you who forgot...it means "friend"). Our Trail Angel has lots going on at home right now, and a friend who needs her more than we do. All the same, we love and miss our Trail Angel very much, and we think about her all the time. The AT isn't the same without her. Amicus and I are going to try to make do on our own, leap frogging between pickup points with the RV and the Jeep. We'll see how that goes. It was a good day for a hike, even if it was in New Jersey, and a 10+ mile day isn't a bad way to start out. It's good to be back.

Onward to Maine!