Day 101: 16.5 miles hiked (trail mile 1295.9)
Mountain Laurel everywhere, ranging from shades of white to pink
We broke down camp and hiked out by 6:30am, hiking strong all morning despite the rocky trail. Something about knowing we’re heading into town (and entering another state tomorrow) enables us to power through anything.
Today was another day of drinking from water caches. We saw many efts on trail. Perhaps they are anticipating the coming rain. They are so cute and clumsy, and it has become customary that whoever is in the lead shouts out an alert at each eft sighting, so they won’t get stepped on.
We ran into AZ at a shelter six miles outside of the Delaware Water Gap and joined him for lunch. Meta and Grasshopper arrived with Baked Potato and we all ate together around the picnic table. AZ’s original plan had been to come out and hike a section of the AT, which he thruhiked in 2014. However, he soon shifted gears, deciding he felt more called to trail magic – and has taken Meta, Grasshopper, and Baked Potato under his wing.
Baked Potato, AZ, Grasshopper, Meta, Ranger
Within a mile of leaving the shelter and with more than five miles left to town we got caught in a heavy thunderstorm. We hiked amidst giant claps of lightning, roaring thunder, and shin-deep water on parts of the trail. The last couple miles were like hiking down an actual waterfall to town. In the deluge we saw a big salamander… newt?
We also saw a deer with a tiny, speckled fawn that took off in separate direction from its mama in a big clap of lightning. I really hope they found each other again later.
The rain was so heavy that we became utterly drenched within mere minutes despite our raincoats. Ranger and Whistler’s “waterproof” boots were quickly rendered entirely useless by the ankle-height waterfalls pouring down the trail. Yet another reminder why people are adamant about not using waterproof footwear on the AT. When it rains it pours, and all that waterproof boots will do is trap the water inside with your feet and take an eternity to dry out.
Perhaps needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed our last few miles of the day! It was something different and quite exhilarating.
When we got to the trailhead we were picked up by Rewind, one of Whistler’s buddies who was his original inspiration for hiking the AT. Once at the hotel, we had to wait while they rebooted their systems which had crashed in a big power outage during the storm. We resupplied at Walmart in Stroudsberg and ate at Thai Orchid for dinner.
Back at the hotel I repaired a slow-leak hole in my sleeping pad while Chris sprayed our shoes and socks with permethrin and let them dry on the balcony overnight to prevent ticks.
Day 102: 15.5 miles hiked (trail mile 1313.4)
First breakfast took place in our hotel room: microwaved breakfast burritos from the Walmart, with chips and salsa. Second breakfast occurred just down the street at a bakery a couple blocks from the hotel, right on the road back to the trail. The bakery had a spacious garden patio which was packed with hikers. We ordered apple cider donuts and an apple turnover, and ate outside with Spots and Snapshot, Whistler, and Gadget.
Spots and Snapshot, packing out an apple turnover
From there we picked back up where we left off on trail the day before, crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey! A few cars honked in celebration with us as we crossed the bridge.
We hiked past a big pond where we spotted a snake and some large tadpoles. While the rocks are certainly not as bad as the jagged rocks of PA, NJ is still pretty rocky and we had to hike more slowly than we would have liked to. We caught up to Spots and Snapshot and took a break at a spring with a beautiful frog in it.
As the day wore on it became increasingly hot, and although we had caught word that AZ was going to be doing trail magic at a road crossing 7 miles ahead, we took a necessary break to soak our feet in an ice-cold creek. Sweet relief! Whistler got a leech.
Whistler, Gadget, Sticks
From there we hiked as fast as we could to the parking lot where AZ and another trail angel called Hungus were both set up to give trail magic! Hungus has completed two thruhikes of the AT, and between him and the AZ/Meta/Grasshopper/Baked Potato crew many hikers were well fed. We hung out in a semicircle around Hungus’ grill for a couple hours just enjoying the trail community.
We love trail magic!
Gadget hiked out about a half hour before the rest of our group and found a great campsite 3.5 miles ahead where everyone was able to fit. Our campsite that evening consisted of me and Ranger, Whistler, Gadget, Spots and Snapshot, and Trippin’ and Deepfried.
We found a few ticks today although fortunately none embedded. We hung out with everyone and chatted until sunset. New Jersey has been awesome so far.
Day 103: 14.3 miles hiked (trail mile 1327.7)
Leaf tannins in the water tint the water red (and clog up our filter)
When we broke down our tent this morning, we saw a mama spider carrying a few dozen newly-hatched spider babies on her back. Then, later we encountered a large porcupine, right off trail! It turned to look at us for a moment then ambled off.
Can you spot mama spider and baby spiders?
Today was a grueling and hot day, so when we saw the option to hike off trail a short way for a hiker-friendly tavern situated right on a small lake, we knew we had to stop. We ended up there with our whole crew from camp last night plus Meta, Grasshopper, Baked Potato, and AZ.
Deep Fried, Gadget, Snapshot, Spots, Sticks, Ranger, Trippin’
When we finally arrived at Gren Anderson shelter we were exhausted and overheated. We decided to call it a day and took an hour-long nap in our tent before walking down to the picnic table to eat dinner. Here we met Skirt (a ridge runner aka trail caretaker), and 3 section hikers: KJ, Shoelace, and Woodchuck. They were a hilarious bunch and shared trail stories with us – they had us rolling about an oblivious hiker who actually took down their bear bag (after they had worked really hard to hang it) and walked into camp to scold the dumbfounded section hikers for “feeding the bears” – the actual opposite of a bear bag’s purpose.
Day 104: 18.3 miles hiked (trail mile 1346)
A few miles into our hike we ran into Meta, Grasshopper and Baked Potato taking a break at the next shelter. They were slackpacking today and told us that there would be more trail magic today for dinner! We hiked until High Point State Park where we braked for lunch. It was unbearably hot out by this point—in the low 90s—so we piled onto the floor of the air-conditioned park headquarters to eat lunch.
When we hiked past a blue blaze to a monument Ranger and Gadget went uphill to see it while Whistler, Trippin’, Deep Fried, and I chose to wait with the packs to cool off.
From there we hiked all the way to the trail magic. Just before arriving at the parking lot where AZ had set up, we saw a perfect bear print in the mud on trail!
When we reached AZ’s trail magic set up, we hung out for about an hour, eating hummus, Oreos, and watermelon before pushing on to the Secret Shelter.
AZ cooking up some hot dogs and burgers
The Secret Shelter is an unofficial shelter that is not managed by the AT. It’s less than .1 off trail on someone’s private property. The owner supports hikers and leaves a small shack on the property available to hikers for use as a shelter. The spot is complete with a bunkhouse with a covered patio, an electrical outlet, potable well water with a pump, a privy, and plenty of camping space. Best of all, a friendly, free ranging miniature donkey named Jake spends all his time here! He roams from tent to tent to pilfer unattended bear bags or stands in front of the shelter patio watching people eat.
Baked Potato found a four leaf clover!
Before bed we took turns bathing in the cold, thin stream of water that poured from the well pump and went to bed happily free of sweat and grime.
Day 105: 13.6 miles hiked (trail mile 1359.6)
We left the Secret Shelter around 7am and encountered Meta, Grasshopper, and Baked Potato during a pasture crossing. In the pastures were wild strawberries! They were about the size of a thumbnail and not quite ripe yet, but oh so beautiful.
In mid-morning we crossed over some manmade ponds supporting migrating waterfowl. Here we witnessed a young snapping turtle scuttling across the trail toward a pond. As we hiked on the temperatures began to rise so that it became super-hot and muggy. Many of us peeled off our hiking shirts and enjoyed the cool breeze on our sweaty skin.
Snapping turtle
Mayapples are fruiting!
As we were hiking along a pretty boardwalk that spans a little under a mile of the trail, a big storm began to roll in. The first wave of rain got us a bit wet but was mild.
Just after crossing a large suspension foot bridge, tree line within eyesight, we noticed a dark wall of heavy rain racing across the marshlands toward us, accompanied by chest-rattling thunder and lightning. Someone shouted “Run!” and we sprinted for the tree line getting smacked with the downpour just as we leapt beneath the canopy.
Whistler on the suspension bridge after the first drenching
Once the storm has swallowed us whole, the trail almost immediately turned into a river, and we became entirely drenched. I didn’t even bother putting on my rain jacket and the cool water felt nice. I felt it washing away the salt that had crusted on my skin over the course of the day. We hiked in the thunderstorm for about an hour before it began to subside.
Finally, a last pasture crossing with a few cows and a flock of Canadian geese that must have made an emergency landing when the storm hit.
Canadian Geese waiting out the storm with an unconcerned cow
On the opposite side of the pasture, we turned onto a road and hiked about 100 yards to a roadside garden supply shop that sold baked goods, produce, ice cream. The owners are very hiker-friendly and allowed everyone to take shelter from the rain in one of the covered shopping isles outdoors—between the terra cotta pots and the fertilizers—as we munched on goodies from the store and watched the storm calm into a steady rain outside. The owners later offered for anyone who wanted to set up their tent out of the rain to go ahead and sleep overnight!
By then we had already taken Baked Potato, Meta, Grasshopper and AZ up on their offer to sleep in their Airbnb a few miles away. AZ picked us up once the decision was made to seek dry shelter for the night and we dropped Spots and Snapshot, Whistler, and Gadget at a motel on the way to the Airbnb. We were a bit sad to miss out on the chance to camp at the drive-in movie theater in Warwick, but ultimately the siren-call of showers and laundry won out over the movies.
How many thruhikers can fit in a back seat? At least 5
At the condo, we all ordered Chinese food for dinner. AZ generously drove us to an ACME for a quick resupply and then we called it a night. Ranger and I slept foot-to-foot on a big comfy corner couch.
Day 106: 17.2 miles hiked (trail mile 1376.8)
Since this crew was going to be slackpacking again today, they invited us to leave one of our packs in the car and slack with them. We would be able to hike about 15 miles with one very light pack and then pick up the rest of our gear and keep going northbound from there. We set off from Vernon and began an immediate climb to the ridge, setting our sights on the creamery 15 miles up trail for a late lunch. We eventually caught up to Whistler and Gadget and hiked as one big group for a while, navigating the big boulder scrambles together and feeling grateful that we weren’t having to inch through this section in the recent rain, which was sure to make these boulders dangerously slick.
On our trek we saw two young copperhead snakes, then mid-way through the day we crossed from New Jersey into New York!
When we reached the Belleville Creamery, we had strawberry sorbet with sour gummies on top and ate pb&js from our packs. Whistler turned 59 today so we all sang him Happy Birthday over a banana split and he blew out Gadget’s lighter for a candle.
In other news, Ranger got his first blister on trail. The shoes he purchased last minute at the Cabelas in Unionville did the trick for getting him over the jagged rocks of northern Pennsylvania, but waterproof/heavy-duty shoes are not so good for warmer weather and normal trail.
We set up camp at the Wildcat shelter and got our tent up just before the rain arrived. We must have gotten just the edge of the thunderstorm because we could hear a lot of thunder but only got a little bit of rain.
Gadget pointed out this anvil cloud which is a sign of a brewing storm
Day 107: 14.5 miles hiked (trail mile 1391.3)
7:15am start. We climbed some rock stairs past a cascading waterfall.
There were lots of rock scrambles and big boulders to scale, in addition to a lot more classic AT PUDs (Pointless Ups and Downs) than we have become accustomed to over the last few hundred miles, so we were moving slowly. Sweet AZ passed us in the morning and gave us a clementine and a banana.
Then, when we braked for lunch on the ridge just before the Agony Grind (a very steep downhill—or uphill if SOBO) Ranger found a newborn baby bird that had fallen from its nest.
A trail angel named Fred was parked at the bottom of Agony Grind, set up on the side of the road with a cooler of extra-large Gatorade bottles (a real treat!) and fresh baked sweets in his car trunk!
Fred, serving homemade baked goods at the base of Agony Grind
A short distance later we hiked past Island Pond. Ranger, Whistler and Gadget dipped their feet in a while.
Gadget and Whistler
Next came the “Lemon Squeezer,” a 20 foot or so section of trail that narrowly cuts through a large boulder. So narrowly in fact that we had to shuffle through slowly, maneuvering this way and that, scraping our packs and bodies against the crevasse until emerging on the other side and then bouldering up the steep rock face that led back up to the trail. While these types of things slow us down significantly, they add a fun additional layer of challenge to the trail—we think of them as mini side-quests!
This deer was contentedly nibbling fallen flower petals off the forest floor, unconcerned by our presence.
That evening we ended the hike a little sooner than usual at the Fingerboard Shelter. Right after arriving we saw a couple deer that seemed unafraid of people and a very young fawn that followed its mama, happily wiggling its tail. This shelter has had lots of bear activity in the past, so the ATC has installed bear cables. Most shelters in New York have had no food storage options so this was a treat.
Gadget joked that so many deer seem like a pretty good sign that there aren’t too many bears around. Then, as we perched on the big rock outcropping making dinner, Whistler spotted a bear walking only a stone's throw away from where we were sitting! The bear walked right past the bear cables and kept moving in an arc around the shelter until it was out of sight. Our first bear sighting! It was impressive how quickly and silently it moved through the undergrowth.
Can you spy the black bear?
Shortly after, Trippin and Deep Fried showed up, then about six others we hadn’t met yet. Three hikers slept in the shelter and the rest of us tented, tent to tent, at the one available tenting site down the hill from the shelter. We spent a little time stargazing on the rock outcropping next to the shelter while Whistler’s stargazing app provided ambiance with soothing music that I can only describe as galactic.
Another good day.