Follow the AT Chaplain

Today was my last full day in Connecticut. I passed a high school, fell twice, and climbed some mountains. I’ve found myself in a bit of a lull between waves of thru hikers, so the trail has seemed a bit lonely the past few days. Looking forward to either catching up to or being caught by some more hikers!

In the meantime, here’s the falls of Falls Village, CT.In case no one’s noticed, I especially love walking through fields and found another one today with the bigger mountains of Mass in the background.I also passed Bert’s thumb-one of the more peculiar rocks along the AT.There are some pretty severe storms in the forecast for tomorrow, so another hiker I just met at the shelter and I booked a room at the Days Inn in Great Barrington and are planning on waking up at 2 am to get there before the worst of it starts. Wish us luck!

This morning I was still a little soggy from my storm escapade the night before, and it didn’t get much better as it’s been crazy humid. However, hikers are pretty good at laughing off the dampness. It’s also been exactly 1 month since I started my journey!

I can definitely tell I’m getting close to New England and some real mountains now…the climbs have gotten a lot longer and more frequent. This is Caleb’s Peak:If twice wasn’t enough, I got hit by trail magic for a third time for lunch! Thanks to Tinkerbell for faithfully serving hamburgers even though most of his customers were in town watching the World Cup.

In between the climbs, I walked for quite a while along the Housatonic River where it was completely flat.This afternoon was rough with humidity and a virus I picked up in New York, but I did get to spend some time with my new friend Rooster. Looking forward to town in a few days!

I boarded an AT-bound train from Grand Central Station this morning. When I went down the steps onto the platform at the trail I thought “back to reality.” How interesting that was because my life is usually quite the opposite, and leaving the trail is going back to reality. I will admit I was a little salty to be leaving NYC and it’s AC and endless hot food…but as soon as I got off the train, I was swarmed by Boy Scouts and other volunteers working on a survey for the ATC and offering trail magic. ”Twas a wonderful welcome back!I met back up with some hikers I’d seen before my trip and several new ones too. Now that I’ve been on trail for a month, I feel much more at home in the hiking community.

Later in the afternoon, I crossed into my 4th state-Connecticut!Not even a half mile later, I hit the second trail magic setup of the day! It’s hard to keep having a bad day when there’s endless free hamburgers to eat. Here’s a pic of the trail angels (former thru hikers themselves) who were kind enough to set up for us!Because of my late start and two hamburgers, I hiked into the night where I got caught in a pretty bad storm. It was definitely scary, but thankfully there was plenty of room in the shelter when I finally arrived (and other hikers who were sympathetic to my situation).

Today was technically a zero day, but it was a far cry from my previous, very relaxing zero days. Today was high time to explore NYC!

This morning Tripod commuted back from the Poconos and accompanied me on some hiker errands to resupply and investigate new shoes at REI. New York is full of culinary treasures–sure can’t get falafel on the trail! This afternoon we wandered uptown to the Met and saw some beautiful art. There were almost a dozen Monet paintings that I studied in my French classes at Vanderbilt just casually hanging in one of the galleries.

I also found this awesome water source (or fountain if you’re not a hiker) outside!While I still haven’t seen a bear on the trail, I found these three hanging out in the Met.The final excitement of the day was journeying out to Brooklyn to eat with Tripod’s grandparents. I really enjoyed meeting them and their dog. Thank you for all the hospitality!

This morning began as day 28 of living in the woods. It ended with a Broadway show. With easy access via rail, a trip to NYC is a popular tradition among the AT community and today was my day to make the trek!

This was my view from the shelter where I woke up this morning:This was the view just a short 1.5 hour train commute later:First things first was a much needed shower and laundry (it’s been 8-9 days) at Tripod’s wonderful sister’s apartment-thanks Sarah! Then it was off to explore the city…while Roo and Naps went to a movie I made a run towards the only wilderness NYC has to offer: Central Park.Next was catching up on the civilized eateries I’ve been craving-Starbucks and Chipotle. Final event of the evening was a real treat-seeing The Lion King on Broadway (yes, in my hiking shoes). I’ve been a musician since I was 6, so I especially enjoyed seeing the pros make magic on Broadway. Thanks to my Papa Dick for help snagging that ticket! There are no stars here, but goodnight from Times Square (even though it’s really a polygon).

Today was another deli-hopping day. The terrain was pretty gentle which was a nice break on my legs and the sun wasn’t nearly as hot.

Check out this flag I found painted on a mountain this morning. It’s a 9/11 memorial.I spent most of the day with the other 3 hikers I’ve been hanging around for the last 50 or so miles.

We found yet another New York deli where we downed massive sandwiches. This week has been the first one where I’ve felt like I have true “hiker hunger.” I’d guess I’m eating well over 3,000 calories a day and feel like I can barely keep full.The deli caused a bit of a “food coma,” so we napped for a bit before cranking out 12 more miles after 4 pm. Accidentally hiking late is becoming a bit of a habit, but I’d say it’s worth it if it means I can spend more time with hikers.On my evening walk to the shelter I did pass this cool lake.New York City tomorrow!

Today was spent in what I was taught by a trail friend to call the long green tunnel–20 miles over thickly forested mountains. This can wear on the morale, and today was certainly one of those days. However, while every day on the trail has its challenges, it also has its sweet moments.

This morning my friend Killjoy and I destroyed breakfast platters and grilled cheese at the Appalachian Deli. One of the highlights of hiking through New York is what hikers call deli-hopping. If you hike 15-20 miles a day, you can hit one of these establishments essentially for every lunch. I was too distracted by the food to take pictures.

After the deli was a long 15 miles where I saw only one other hiker and no views. With the heat back, it was a bit of a rough time, but I made it through!This evening Killjoy, Roo, Naps, and I have crashed at a state park with a beach.I’ve bonded a lot with this group over the past few days and look forward to getting to know them better and sharing my ministry. For now, we’ve decided to cowboy camp outside the state park bath house. Oh, and I can’t believe it but I hit mile 400 today!

As far as trail days go, today was pretty eventful. This morning I started walking early to catch up to my friends after staying with Half Slow. First up was the Lemon Squeezer, a very narrow section of trail that a hiker/pack can barely fit through. I went to resupply while I was hungry yesterday, which meant I accidentally bought way too much food and payed the price in extra weight today. However, I eventually made it up to Fingerboard Mountain where I ran into these two bucks.On top of the ridges in this section, you can see New York City only 40 miles in the distance.

Today’s main attraction was Bear Mountain, a popular tourist spot with a road and a perfectly manicured trail to the top.I also saw my first bear of the AT at the zoo that the trail passes through. Yes, a real live zoo. The fun was nowhere near over as there was also a public pool next to the zoo with free admission for hikers-what a blast it was to go swimming in chlorinated water. I’m calling it a shower! On my way back to the woods, I crossed the Hudson River-will be going to NYC with some other hikers in just a few days!Relationships are forming quickly–can’t wait to see what’s to come.

When I woke up at Wildcat Mtn shelter this morning, I had plans to hike 19.6 miles. That obviously didn’t happen, but I can’t complain!

First off, I ran back into Killjoy, one of the other single girls hiking in my bubble right now. We had a grand time filtering water out of a puddle until we got to the first road where the locals had cached some jugs-New York is dry, but the locals rock!Eventually lunch rolled around and 7 other hikers shows up and started talking about going into town. Running low on food, I couldn’t resist the temptation and illegally hitched with three others to Walmart (you can get ticketed in NY, so we waved instead of sticking out thumbs). Once at Walmart, we got plenty of stares pushing packs around.After the resupply, what hikers call the vortex kicked in (insatiable desire to stay in one place, especially when that place has chargers and running water) at Wendy’s.

When I did finally get dropped off at the trail, I planned to hike 5 more miles but only accomplished .5 before I met Half Slow again, my favorite Vietnamese friend. The second vortex quickly kicked in and I spent the rest of the evening doctoring his blisters and learning more about his story.I’m camped in the parking lot next to his RV with big miles to walk tomorrow, but it was a day well spent!

Today began with the last leg of my march to the post office. I left camp with what I thought would be plenty of time to get down to Greenwood Lake by 11, but encountered some unexpected terrain that put me racing to the window at 11:57 before the noon closing. Let’s just say the residents of Greenwood Lake had the pleasure of watching a hiker sprint through their streets (with a pack of course).

I did get my packages and rewarded my efforts with a cheeseburger.While I couldn’t stop for long due to my postal commitments, I also crossed the NY/NJ border (pictured below) this morning and caught a glimpse of the NYC skyline-kind of amazing to be in the wilderness but still see one of the world’s largest cities.Cranking out such big miles so fast on still somewhat young trail legs left me pretty tired, so I spent the better part of the afternoon talking to people and eating ice cream at Bellville Farms Creamery–it’s obviously a popular spot!I’m hoping for rejuvenated legs in the morning because New York is beautiful so far!