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O.K, so since the mayor's house we experienced the rest of Jersey (which actually had some small, but scenic climbs) and went straight into New York for a couple days where we met up with Alden, Bret, and Neville! We got to stay at the luxurious Tuxedo Motel (there's actually a town named tuxedo, complete with it's own tuxedo police that we want to be a part of) and spent most of our zero day at Lake Tiatori. It was actually the first time this entire trip that we have gone swimming, very relaxing/ sad since our upper body strength has diminished quite a bit. After that we spent our last night with the folks at the Franciscan Monk Spiritual life softball field, and had them drop us off at Bear Mt. to restart our hike. It was quite a sight to see indigenous animals at the NY zoo the trail passes through, and more people than we have seen in one place in months! So far I think New Yorkers have the most entertaining reactions to where we have traveled from; everything from "Get-da [expletive] outta hear" to "why da hell you doin' that?!". One woman in Connecticut simply kissed Stewy's zombie foot and blessed it with the power of God for the rest of the trip (It's as odd as it sounds, you don't wanna kiss that foot man).
The rest of NY was quite nice, with some decent climbs and very well maintained trails, actually less road walking than PA if you can believe it. CT has surprised all of us with some very good climbs, and some of the first real views we have seen since Virginia really. Today we stopped in the very expensive town of Salisbury to grab some overpriced food for our last ressuply (aside from lunch in Dalton, Ma) to Mt. Greylock near North Adams, Ma where we plan to meet with Jeff's folks after a longer 28 mile day. So some of you may be seeing us as soon as this Friday when we drive back east for the weekend (I know, two days off, crazy stuff). We are finally stepping down our miles a bit since we are finally in a safe place for scheduling and I have to admit it has been nice being able to sit for more than ten minutes after eating before falling asleep.
Hope to see as many of you as possible when we head east! Your support for us has been one of the few constants (aside from hiking) this entire trip! Thank you so much.
PS: Thanks again to Stew's parents for the maps and food when we got to Bear Mt. and thank you Sam for the Biscotti
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Knock 'em Down
Hey everyone!
we made it through the Maryland Challenge just fine; 42 miles. The day started bright and early at 4am and we took a taxi from our hotel room back to the Patomac River to the border. We made good time thoughout the day while still taking our time to have breaks at 16.5, 28, and 36 miles into the day before the finish. On our last break we saw a single black bear in the state before hitting PenMar park, and getting hit by a thunderstorm for the last few hours before Pennsylvania (good way to end a long day). Surprisingly, it didn't seem like our hardest day, just long. After walking into the state of PA, we discovered it was getting dark and that 42 miles tires you out a bit, so we decided not to hike 5 more miles to the shelter and went back into the park where we slept on an empty ampitheator during the rest of the storm (another great hobo moment).
The first section of PA was realy nice; extremely well maintained and the shelters were some of the best we've seen on the trail. After the halfway point (temporary) sign at an old civil war jail ruin we all tried our luck at the Half gallon challenge in Pinegrove state park where you eat a half gallon of icecream to celebrate the halfway mark. Jeph got close (Moosetrack) but was stopped by a solid wall of chocolate. Stewy ate about half, but was eating very very well early in the day and didn't have the normal hunger he usually does (strawberry twirl) and I completed my cherry jubilee in 22 minutes (thinking about a gallon challenge at Katahdin).
The hiking after that was very flat with lots of field walking (beautiful) and road walking (lame-o). Still we made fiarly good time through the state waiting for the "bad" PA rocks to begin. It turns out the lore of the infamous rocks is mostly myth until the last 100 miles where the rocks get MUCH more consistant and pointy. It didn't help that we had our longest days in that section, with a few 30 mile days and a 35 mile day. The whole time in the state we caught 1.5 days of sun and the rest was rain and storms. The last storm slowed us down by a day and we had to stay in a cheap motel to dry our things since the night before we all pretty much slept completely waterlogged (I slept in my boots to keep my toes warm, funky). Some weekenders decided it would be to much to squeeze jeph and I into the 6 person shelter with the 3 of them (next time we will not be as cordial). After that though we had luck with an 8 person shelter when we fit 11 of us including a family into it to stay out of the rain. We missed most of the few views we would have seen because of the storms, but ran into lots of Rattlesnakes along the way (not many other animals because of the lax hunting laws in PA). Still out of PA in 10 days isn't bad.
At Delaware water gap we stayed in a church hostel and ate authentic philly cheesesteaks that were huge and delicious at the town's diner. We had our last 31 miles day for a while to start out NJ where it also rained the whole time. The rocks from PA did not stop there, and only yesterday decided to start letting up to normal levels. Also, most of the trails were flooded out by storms, and we spent most of our time wading through mud and tall grass becuase of the poorly maintained trails. Luckily we got word from a southbounder that a small section of trail was blowndown by a tornado that hit Unionville and we managed to avoid it by walking down the "old" AT which ran parrallel to the trail down a rural NJ road.
We're in NY for the next couple hours at the ex-mayor's house which I can only explain as one of the most refreshing experiences we have had out here. Hot shower, laundry (which we didn't get a chance to do), pasta, dessert, Budweizer, and breakfast in the morning were all we needed to feel human again after a long week and a half of trudging. There is a lot to say about the operation here and it is all hard to fit into words, but basically the old mayor decided to statt taking in hikers a few years ago to honor his wife that died some years ago. Apparently when we was mayor he recalled running into these strange quiet people that smelled and looked like hell, but seemed happier than ever and his wife said "wouldn't it be nice if we were broken down on the side of the road and someone stopped to help us out". Wouldn't it be nice? It is in honor of this notion that he decided to host over 1500 thru hikers the past two years into his home and take respite from the trail.
More to come later! We will be meeting alden and the guys at Bear Mt. in NY tommorow afternoon for our zero day.
PS-slackpacking is where you basically hike a section without your normal backpack, just the simple fod and water stuff.
we made it through the Maryland Challenge just fine; 42 miles. The day started bright and early at 4am and we took a taxi from our hotel room back to the Patomac River to the border. We made good time thoughout the day while still taking our time to have breaks at 16.5, 28, and 36 miles into the day before the finish. On our last break we saw a single black bear in the state before hitting PenMar park, and getting hit by a thunderstorm for the last few hours before Pennsylvania (good way to end a long day). Surprisingly, it didn't seem like our hardest day, just long. After walking into the state of PA, we discovered it was getting dark and that 42 miles tires you out a bit, so we decided not to hike 5 more miles to the shelter and went back into the park where we slept on an empty ampitheator during the rest of the storm (another great hobo moment).
The first section of PA was realy nice; extremely well maintained and the shelters were some of the best we've seen on the trail. After the halfway point (temporary) sign at an old civil war jail ruin we all tried our luck at the Half gallon challenge in Pinegrove state park where you eat a half gallon of icecream to celebrate the halfway mark. Jeph got close (Moosetrack) but was stopped by a solid wall of chocolate. Stewy ate about half, but was eating very very well early in the day and didn't have the normal hunger he usually does (strawberry twirl) and I completed my cherry jubilee in 22 minutes (thinking about a gallon challenge at Katahdin).
The hiking after that was very flat with lots of field walking (beautiful) and road walking (lame-o). Still we made fiarly good time through the state waiting for the "bad" PA rocks to begin. It turns out the lore of the infamous rocks is mostly myth until the last 100 miles where the rocks get MUCH more consistant and pointy. It didn't help that we had our longest days in that section, with a few 30 mile days and a 35 mile day. The whole time in the state we caught 1.5 days of sun and the rest was rain and storms. The last storm slowed us down by a day and we had to stay in a cheap motel to dry our things since the night before we all pretty much slept completely waterlogged (I slept in my boots to keep my toes warm, funky). Some weekenders decided it would be to much to squeeze jeph and I into the 6 person shelter with the 3 of them (next time we will not be as cordial). After that though we had luck with an 8 person shelter when we fit 11 of us including a family into it to stay out of the rain. We missed most of the few views we would have seen because of the storms, but ran into lots of Rattlesnakes along the way (not many other animals because of the lax hunting laws in PA). Still out of PA in 10 days isn't bad.
At Delaware water gap we stayed in a church hostel and ate authentic philly cheesesteaks that were huge and delicious at the town's diner. We had our last 31 miles day for a while to start out NJ where it also rained the whole time. The rocks from PA did not stop there, and only yesterday decided to start letting up to normal levels. Also, most of the trails were flooded out by storms, and we spent most of our time wading through mud and tall grass becuase of the poorly maintained trails. Luckily we got word from a southbounder that a small section of trail was blowndown by a tornado that hit Unionville and we managed to avoid it by walking down the "old" AT which ran parrallel to the trail down a rural NJ road.
We're in NY for the next couple hours at the ex-mayor's house which I can only explain as one of the most refreshing experiences we have had out here. Hot shower, laundry (which we didn't get a chance to do), pasta, dessert, Budweizer, and breakfast in the morning were all we needed to feel human again after a long week and a half of trudging. There is a lot to say about the operation here and it is all hard to fit into words, but basically the old mayor decided to statt taking in hikers a few years ago to honor his wife that died some years ago. Apparently when we was mayor he recalled running into these strange quiet people that smelled and looked like hell, but seemed happier than ever and his wife said "wouldn't it be nice if we were broken down on the side of the road and someone stopped to help us out". Wouldn't it be nice? It is in honor of this notion that he decided to host over 1500 thru hikers the past two years into his home and take respite from the trail.
More to come later! We will be meeting alden and the guys at Bear Mt. in NY tommorow afternoon for our zero day.
PS-slackpacking is where you basically hike a section without your normal backpack, just the simple fod and water stuff.
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