July 23, 2016   Kent, Connecticut

On the Connecticut Border

  Well, we have finally come home... home to New England that is. After almost 1500 miles of walking from Georgia, I have come far enough to see the skyline of New York City. Since my last entry, it has been hot. I have tried to make a somewhat expedited passage of the middle Atlantic states as a result. Last night, I camped on the shores of the Housatonic River, and made the final 8.5 miles here today, starting my hike at 6 AM, arriving at 9:30, in order to avoid the heat of the day. I also wanted to get to town early enough to do all the chores of laundry, food shopping, stopping at the outfitters, and I still found time to use the computer at the library to catch up.

  Crossing the Delaware was interesting, following a pedestrian way linked to I-80. The bridge actually swayed as some of the larger trucks rolled by. I kept encouraging the bridge to last long enough to allow me safe passage. George Washington standing in a boat, and any other thought was pretty much wiped from my mind by the decibels that highway was raining upon my eardrums.On the other side, we entered Worthington State Park and New Jersey. About 4 - 5 miles of climbing later, I reached Sunfish Pond. The sign tells us this is the first glacial body of water we will encounter heading north, as this point marks the farthest south the glaciers reached. Of course, the sign also warned us not to go swimming, a warning seen by thru-hikers as a suggestion only, usually to be ignored. The ridges in NJ were different: They were much more open with sparse trees and grass. Views were good, particularly of incoming thunderstorms which caught me in a deluge the second day in. Thunder and lightning on an almost open ridge can be a terrifying event.

Passing thunderstorm

  Appalachian Mountain Club out of Boston has a presence down here operating the Mohican Center, right on the trail. You can camp here, for a price, or rent a cabin. They will also make sandwiches and sell small hiking accessories. Nine years ago, Sean and I stayed at a YMCA camp on a lake, just off the trail. I asked the AMC director if she was aware of any camps allowing hikers to camp. She pointed to a small lake on the map, but said it was owned by SCA now, but often would let hikers stay. When I arrived at the camp, I realized it was the same place we had stayed nine years ago. The Park Service now owns the property, and has contracted to have many of the buildings restored. I was a little chagrined to find out that the camp was a BSA camp in 1971, at which time they had added copper sulfate to the water to eliminate some pest or algae. The water is still sterile to this day, but brilliantly clear. I stayed in an old Todd Lodge built in 1938 with beautiful woodwork, again being restored, and found a painted map on the wall of the old 1971 BSA camp.
  At the camp, I initially left doors and windows open, only to discover swarms of mosquitos after dusk. This was actually the first time this pest has shown it's presence. The three state of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York have been very dry, so the presumption is this has kept the suckers' numbers at bay. (Trail Angels have been wonderful, leaving water by the sides of roads or at the shelters.) Up till now, we have experienced gnats, which are a  close relative to the Maine black fly, our state bird. The southern variety do not swarm in great numbers too numerous to count as in Maine, but a few can constantly hover around your face if you are walking, and can then suddenly dive bomb into an orifice like the nose, mouth or ear canal. Their bite is just as reactive as the Maine black fly, and they don't seem to have the short season we have in Maine, but remain active and alive for the whole summer. The purpose of dive bombing remains obscure. On two separate days in Shenandoah, Meghan received a fly bomber in her eye. I initially offered surgery with tweezers and a scalpel. She sought a second opinion, and we eventually agreed upon removal of the buggers with tissue paper. I often think of the Star Wars movie, ' you've got to drop the bombs in the reactor core to blow up the Death Star'. If my head blows up someday, I'll know the gnats were successful. Then we have deer flies, about the same as the ones in Maine, but with one critical difference: they can go on silent running, and occasionally land without detection. The final pest down here, and one with potentially much more serious consequences, is the deer tics, which can harbor Lyme Disease. Having contracted this on my first thru-hike, with no serious consequences, (treated 4 months after the fact), I wanted to take no chances this time around. I have frequently sprayed my clothing with permethrine. Without any scientific basis of fact, I also use my poles to disturb grass and brush in front of me, knowing that they are sensitive to movement, and cue their drop to it. Using the poles out front, I am hoping the tics will fall where they may, preferably not on me.
  The middle Atlantic states have also allowed me to forage for food off the AT. At any particular road crossing, there is greater than a 50% chance that a deli or bar is within a half mile walk. This lessens the necessity of carrying ones lunch, and sometimes dinner. Most deli's in NJ are excellent. With the hot weather, I have also made a few more overnight town stops. I stayed in a church hostel in Vernon, NJ. The next day, I crossed the long rock ridge, and the NJ/NY border in the heat of a 90' day.

I ended up at the end of the day once again in Greenwood Lake, NY, where I enjoyed a swim in the lake and a good meal in town. Since entering NY, the terrain has actually been much harder. It began with the Bellvale Mountain traverse, which required us to also do a lot of bouldering. The next day, we came down a stretch, fondly referred to as Agony Grind. Most of this is managing to walk through large rocks without falling. It's like I can hear, 'eh, it's New York...get outta here!"
  Entering Harriman State Park was once again a treat. It did start with another powerful thunderstorm, which I was largely able to weather under the narrow roof of an information kiosk in a parking lot... right next to the couple in the huge RV, who did not seem interested in sheltering a hiker from the storm, but did find time to walk the three dogs in the storm. After that passed, I walked the short distance to Island Pond, a camping and swimming spot we had used 9 years ago. The site did not disappoint and the evening was great. I went to bed with no other tents around, and awoke in the morning to see 5 other tents and a hammock. They explained they came across Trail Magic at 6:30 PM, so they could not run out and be rude, ...so they just had to night hike there...SS,DD.

  The following day I traversed the park to Bear Mountain, then down to the zoo. On the summit of Black Mountain, we clearly saw the New York skyline for the first time.  The trailside zoo actually contains the lowest point on the AT by the Bear Exhibit at 121' above sea level. Sean and I had missed this last time as we arrived after closing. David, my brother-in-law, met me at the bottom, and brought me back to his home for the night. He cooked dinner, and even did some food shopping for me prior to my arrival. He was a true trail angel. Traffic pattern was quite complicated that evening as the Tappan Zee was closed due to crane collapse, and it was grid-lock over Bear Mountain Bridge as a result.

Summit of Bear Mountain

Bear exhibit, Trailside Zoo, lowest point of altitude on the AT; 121'

Bear Mountain Bridge

  David dropped me off the following morning at the Inn, and we crossed the bridge on a spectacular morning. Again, mostly because of water issue at the shelter sites, I aimed to stop at Fahnestock State Park in NY. I arrived at 6:30 after a long day. There, trail angel Joe was preparing free dinner for all hikers, almost 30 in all that night, consisting of an egg, cheese and ham sandwich. Ladies got pie or pastry. He had been doing this several days a month during hiking season for over 10 years. I asked him why and he told me he had been family camping there 10 years ago and saw a guy with a pack go up and down the road in front of him waving 3 times. He waved back. He later saw the hiker the next day and asked why he had gone by so many times, and it came to light that the hiker was hoping for an invitation to dinner. Joe felt terrible he had not seen the cue or invited him in. Prior to that, Joe knew nothing of the AT or thru-hikers, but has been paying it back for these many years. He provided the same meal from 5-9 AM the next day to us as well! As an aside, the water in the park was also not potable as a large stockpile of roadsalt had leached into the aquifer, rendering the was not potable.
  The AT through this corridor may look like wilderness, but at times does not sound like it. We have had to cross such busy roads as the NY Thruway, the Taconic Parkway, and I-84. You can hear those trucks for miles. At Telephone Pioneers shelter, not only was the water source dry, but the more dependable source a mile earlier was also dry. I had to get by on minimal water for the night and went to bed thirsty. There I met Blue Turtle, a 70+ German thru-hiker. She called herself a turtle because she thought she was slow, but in fact, her start date was March 22, and from what I could see, she could put the big miles down as easy as the youngsters.I started sleeping in the shelter, but the mosquitos got so bad that I got up in the night, and set up my tent and then moved sleeping quarters. We have no water, but still have bugs... where is the justice!
  Last night, I pulled a short day after entering Connecticut. Entering New England was emotional for me, as this was finally home, within short reach of family and friends. I camped on the shores of the river, and cooled down with a couple swims. We again came across another nice gentleman, John, and his friend grilling hot dogs and hamburgers by the side of the trail The generosity of people to perfect strangers hiking on the trail is really remarkable.
  I roughly expect to go 9-10 days before entering Vermont, and there will once again find real mountains. I plan to stay with fiends in southern Vermont, and perhaps Zero there, affording me yet another opportunity to add to this blog. Till then, happy trails!

Housatonic River, Ct.