I had planned to hike this section of the Appalachian Trail in September 2005, but when I arrived in New York, the forecast was for a solid week of rain so I postponed my hike until spring. I flew to New York from New Orleans on Mother's Day and took Trish, Maureen and their daughters out to dinner Sunday night. New England is experiencing the worst flooding in 75 years and the television news is constantly showing pictures of bridges and dams which have been breeched. I am determined that I will go now so I decided to use Tuesday morning to get to the trailhead in Pawling, NY where I left off last year, and use Tuesday afternoon to hike a few miles to the Morgan Stewart Shelter where I will sleep Tuesday night. I returned my rental car to Kennedy Airport and took a series of trains to Manhattan and then up to Pawling. I did not arrive until 3:30 PM, but the rain had stopped. I had planned to get a taxi to the trailhead, but when I inquired about taxi service at the local Chamber of Commerce, the fellow on duty offered to take me up to the trail himself. En route, he gave me a tour of Pawling including the former home of Governor Dewey and the current home of James Earl Jones. It was only three miles from Route 55 where I was dropped off to the Morgan Stewart Shelter. I have not hiked for several months and paid the price for not being in shape. I had thought I might have the shelter to myself, this being mid-week, but was surprised to find 8 campers from Ohio where were hiking together. Since I did not have a tent and they did, a couple of them offered to move out of the shelter into their tent so I would have a place to sleep. They all seem to be members of the same church group. I am not carrying any food with me and went to bed without dinner.
Wednesday I was up early and hiking by 6:30 AM. The weather is good today
but more rain is forecast for Thursday and Friday. I hiked about nine miles
crossing highway 84 and The Taconic Parkway. I passed four hikers heading
north. I arrived at the RPH Shelter just before noon and was exhausted.
This is a very nice shelter, made of concrete block with a picnic table and
well pump. The shelter got very busy in the afternoon. First Ralph, of Ralph's Peak Hikers, namesake of the RPH Shelter stopped by and shared his life story. He also gave me some ideas as to where I could stay if it rains during the next couple days. Four northbound hikers came next, but only stopped for lunch as they were pushing on another nine miles to the Morgan Steward Shelter that night. These were the first thru-hikers I had met and they confirmed that there was only one other thru-hiker ahead of them. Hikers who leave Georgia and hike all the way thru to Maine without stopping are thru-hikers. The fastest hikers can hike 25-30 miles per day. Four more northbound section-hikers arrived at 4:00 PM and they were staying the night. Section-hikers hike the trail in sections and generally travel slower. This group was hiking about 10 miles per day...more my speed. There was a sign in the hut which said that Ray's Brick Oven Pizza delivers to this address so the five of us called and ordered a feast for dinner which, sure enough, was delivered as advertised.
Thursday morning I was up at dawn and hiking by 5:30 AM. The forecast is
for rain sometime today, but it is beautiful now. I planned to hike until I
saw clouds blowing in and then hitchhike to a motel to wait out the coming
storm. I spent the first hour climbing
Shenandoah
Mountain.
I am hiking about two miles per hour. At ten miles I came to Dennytown Road and although the weather was still good and I felt I could go another four miles to Canopus Hill Road, I was tired and decided to hitch a ride out to Route 9 where I checked into the Countryside Motel in Cold Spring, NY. There is a deli across the street and I washed some clothes in the afternoon. At 6:00 PM I heard thunder and it started to pour. The forecast is for rain again tomorrow so I may stay here two nights. It did rain again on Friday and I stayed in Cold Spring a second night. I have a sore throat now also which I am worried about but I should be able to get some medicine for it around here somewhere. I arranged for a taxi to pick me up Saturday morning and take me back out to Dennytown Road. I have 14 miles to hike to the Hudson River and plan to stay at The Bear Mountain Inn Saturday night. I left
the hotel at 6:15 AM and was on the trail by
6:30 AM. The weather was
good and although clouds showed up in the afternoon, it never rained. Just
after 10:00 AM I came across a new born fawn right in the middle of the
trail
Sunday I decided to stay at the Bear Mountain Inn for a second day. I walked over to the little town of Fort Montgomery in the morning to get some food and cough syrup and then returned to have Sunday brunch at the inn. It rained for awhile in the afternoon, reinforcing my decision to spend a second night here. Monday
I left Bear Mountain Inn and started up
Bear Mountain
at 6:30 AM. After an hour of climbing I reached the top and then continued
over West Mountain, Black Mountain and Goshen Mountain. By 3:30 PM I had
reached Fingerboard Shelter where I planned to spend the night. Tuesday I woke up at 3:00 AM and had to wait two hours until there was enough light to hike. It is windy today and although there is no threat of rain, the chill will make my cold worse. I hiked 4 1/2 miles to Route 17A where I hitchhiked up to the town of Harriman and got a room at the Harriman Motor Inn. I washed out some clothes and walked a mile up to the library where I checked email. Later in the day I headed over to Wal-Mart to pick up some provisions but turned back after what was described as a one mile walk exceeded four. I stopped for dinner at Appleby’s which was in the Woodbury Commons Premium Mall. I ended up finding the provisions I needed at a Mobil mart shop across from my motel. Wednesday I took a taxi back to the trailhead and started up ‘Agony Grind’ to the top of Arden Mountain. The weather is beautiful and there is very little wind so I am able to comfortably hike in a T-shirt. I continued over Buchanan Mountain and Mombasha High Point, resting every hour or two. I saw a large groundhog on the trail and a few minutes later met a northbound hiker who claimed to have seen a bear cub. They were probably one in the same. By 2:30 PM I had reached Wildcat Shelter where I planned to spend the night. Today I hiked 10 miles. I had the shelter to myself for a couple hours but was joined by another hiker late in the afternoon. I left
Wildcat Shelter at
6:00 AM the next morning and continued south over Cat Rocks.
This is a high outcropping of rock which, I suppose, a lion or other cat
would like to perch itself upon to survey the surrounding territory. It is
a little difficult to climb but the view is nice. Unfortunately the trail
continued over every set of cat rocks imaginable so by
10:00 am I had climbed and descended at least twenty different large
rocks. When I reached a particularly large one, I decided to take the
blue-blazed trail around it, only to discover a quarter mile later that the
trail led elsewhere and I had to retrace my steps. At
11:00 AM I reached the
NY/NJ border where I stopped for a photo and a break. The day dragged on and although I was only going 11 miles, I was exhausted. I have never liked cats. I stopped every hour for a 10-minute rest and finally got to Warwick Turnpike at 2:00 PM. My guidebook said there was a motel 8/10 of a mile west so I continued walking another 20 minutes but could find no motel. When I stopped at a nursery I was told the motel has been out of business for eight years. The daughter of the nursery owner offered to give me a lift to another motel a few miles away and I jumped at the chance. I checked into the Warwick Motel, electing to stay two nights to recover and avoid hiking in the rain which is forecast for Friday afternoon. I walked to the town center Friday morning where I got some laundry done, went to the library and had lunch. It started to rain as I walked the ½ mile back to the motel. The rain became very heavy later in the day and I was glad I was taking the day off. Saturday before I left I walked to the deli to get some orange juice and doughnuts for breakfast. After checking out, I took a taxi back out to the trailhead where I continued hiking at 8:00 AM. It is very muggy today, but I suppose that is better than rain. The trail was good and I made great time out to Pinwheel Vista where I descended 800 feet of steps. It is amazing the amount of time volunteers must spend maintaining these trails. I crossed a large marsh atop a boardwalk which must be a mile long. By noon, I had reached Route 517, and decided to hitchhike up the road a mile to have lunch at a country store. I got a ride with the first car which came by and spent 45 minutes in the store enjoying the air conditioning and eating a sandwich. I wasn’t so lucky on my return to the trail, walking the mile back to where I had left the trail. I continued south another four miles to Pochuck Shelter where I will spend Saturday night. I put my energy bars and toothpaste in the bear box and spread out my clothes to dry. I called my cousin Nancy Brown who lives about 12 miles from here to see about getting together but she was not home. I’ll try her again tomorrow. Today I hiked 13 miles. About 6:00 PM another hiker arrived at the Pochuck Shelter. He had just started hiking north today and is from Waterbury, CT. He is a criminal defense attorney and just finished a murder trial in New London, CT. His pack is huge so I hope he makes it back to Connecticut. I left
the shelter at 6:00 AM on Sunday morning, hiking down across the
Wallkill River and into
Unionville where I bought breakfast at another country store. By 9:00 AM I
was back on the trail heading for Route 23,
High Point
State Park.
I passed a hot air balloon which was either attempting to take off from a
very small yard, or had just crash landed there. The trail follows the
NY/NJ borderline then turns south at the northwest corner of New Jersey. I
could have taken a short detour to climb the highest point in New Jersey,
but was too tired by the time the opportunity presented itself. After hiking 14 miles, I went to the park headquarters and found a hotel which had a room available seven miles north in Port Jervis. I hitchhiked a ride with an off-duty taxi driver who gave me a lift right to the front door of the Comfort Inn. I showered, did some laundry and relaxed for the rest of the day. Monday is Memorial Day. The forecast is for thundershowers in the afternoon and I thought about staying a second day, but decided I should keep going. I ate breakfast, packed and checked out. I walked out to Route 23 and started hitchhiking the seven miles back to the trailhead. But for some reason I was having the worst luck getting a ride and after standing there for 2 hours, wasting the coolest part of the day, I decided I would go back to the hotel and stay a second night. Tomorrow I will arrange for a taxi to pick me up early. I spent the day typing my journal and watching television. I ordered Chinese food for dinner and went to bed early. Tuesday my pre-arranged taxi failed to show up at 7:00 AM, but the hotel clerk was able to call another company which sent someone right away. I rode out to the trailhead and was hiking by 7:45 AM. Aside from all the loose stones, the trail was pretty good today. I made good time especially since there were no mountains to climb. I took my first break at 2 ½ hours and my second at 4 ½ hours. I met a couple hiking south who told me about a place called the Mohican Outdoor Center which is an AMC run facility right on the trail where I can stay tomorrow night without having to hitchhike to a town. By 2:00 PM I had reached Route 206 where I planned to stop for the day. I had hiked 14 miles today and am now confident that I can reach the Delaware Water Gap and Pennsylvania border in two more days. Hiking south, reaching the Delaware Water Gap sounds much more impressive than simply reaching the NJ/PA border. I hitchhiked to Branchville and checked into a very meager motel. There is a time/temperature sign at a bank across the street that states it is 97 degrees this afternoon. I ate dinner at a wonderful family-owned Italian restaurant next to the motel. It poured during the night so I was fortunate to be indoors again. I was up before 5:00 AM and decided to try my luck hitchhiking four miles back to the trailhead. I stood on the road for half an hour with no luck. The bakery across the street opened at 6:00 AM so I went to get some pastry and coffee which I took back to enjoy on the side of the road. And of course the next car stopped and I juggled my breakfast and pack into the car. The guy who picked me up was middle age with a nice car and told me he worked for Merck, the big pharmaceutical company. So I was flabbergasted when he asked me if I could give him a couple dollars for gas. I happily gave him some money and then decided that his begging me for money was no worse than me begging him for a ride. The Merck guy dropped me at the trailhead and I started hiking at 6:30 AM. Today will be my most ambitious day as I attempt to cover 17 miles. It is overcast and foggy but the forecast is for clearing in the early afternoon. The temperature is cool but it is very humid and it is not long before I am drenched with sweat. I met a northbound hiker who told me he had seen a large black bear on the trail about 20 minutes back. This section of the AT is notorious for bears and there are signs everywhere warning about them. I would like to see a bear, but would prefer to see it at a distance. I decided to make noise so I would not startle the bear so I started to whistle. But after awhile I realized that my whistling blended in with all the birds which were singing and I did not think a bear would be able to tell the difference. Instead I started to sing which quickly degraded into talking loudly to myself. I never did see the bear so perhaps I frightened it away after all. The trail is pretty flat today. There are a couple sections where it follows a fire road and I was able to hike quite fast for a couple miles. But there were just as many rocky streambeds which slowed me down so I probably didn’t average more than a couple miles per hour. By 11:00 AM I was so drenched that my boots sloshed with every step. I decided to change all my clothes and to try to dry out my boots. This worked for awhile but by now the sun was out, it was getting hotter and I continued to sweat. I only took a few rest stops as I was attempting to get to the Mohican Outdoor Center by 3:00 PM. The last couple of miles were particularly difficult, but I finally got to Camp Road and walked the final ¼ mile to arrive at 2:45 PM. This facility is run by the Appalachian Mountain Club and is one of five ‘full service’ facilities along the northeast portion of the trail. Full Service in this case meant a hot shower; bunk with a mattress and a store where I could buy drinks. They also have a kitchen which hikers can use. I met Marshall who works there and fixed me up with a bunk and six drinks for $20. He lives in the town of Delaware Water Gap where I am headed and was able to give me some information on the town and how to get a bus back to Connecticut. I took a long shower, rinsed out some clothes and planned to go to bed early. Thursday, June 1st, I was up at 4:00 AM, found some oatmeal in the kitchen which I cooked and ate while waiting for the sun to rise. At 5:30 AM I headed out anxious to complete my final day. My feet are very sore and I still have 14 miles to hike. The trail is very rocky but after the first couple miles it is flat or downhill. I stopped a couple times to rest but was able to get to the bridge which crosses the Delaware River before 11:00 AM. I decided to change out of my hiking boots now that I was on asphalt and walked the last two miles in my sneakers. I found a motel in town where I showered and rested for a couple hours. In the afternoon, I went to a diner for lunch and then walked up to the bus terminal to learn the schedule and buy a ticket back to Connecticut for Friday morning. The Pennsylvania section of the Appalachian Trail is supposed to be particularly difficult. I am not sure when I will get back to do this next section, but it will not be in the heat of summer. |
