New York

On Friday (6-24) I started hiking at 7 AM on a very misty and foggy morning.  The trail had lots of swells, meaning the ascents and descents were not steep but there was one right after another.  There were almost no straight or level areas on the trails for even a short time until late in the afternoon.  I had a late lunch at Annabel's Pizza in Unionville.  I set up my tent at Pochuck Shelter at 6:30 PM after hiking 16.6 miles.  I had the shelter to myself so I set up my tent inside the shelter to keep the pesky mosquitoes away from me.  On Saturday (6-25) I got going at 8:50 AM.  I had planned to hike 14 miles for the day but I changed my mind along the way.  When I came to a road that would take me to Vernon, NJ, I decided to go to the St. Thomas Episcopal Church Hostel to rest my feet, use the computer, do laundry, dry out my boots, eat at a restaurant, shower, and enjoy a really nice indoor facility.  This hostel was one of the nicest on the trail to date.  There were about a dozen hikers there.  I ended up only hiking 6.5 miles which was largely through wetlands.  I walked on boardwalks for more than a mile and side by side planks for another mile.  After church on Sunday (6-26) at 8 AM, I was driven by a church member with Pilgrim back to the AT.  We began hiking at 9:30 AM and ate lunch at Wawayanda Mountain Shelter.  There was a 1,000 foot climb to reach the top of the mountain and shelter.  There were many difficult climbs and rock scrambles during the day.  We climbed over Prospect Rock (elevation 1,433 feet) which is the highest point in NY on the trail.  Here I am straddling the NY/NJ line.

We camped at Wildcat Shelter and hiked 17.2 miles.  On Monday (6-27) Pilgrim and I started our day at 8:25 AM.  About ten times we faced a rock scramble up the side of a small mountain.  There were very few flat areas during our hike.  We were repeatedly climbing and then descending over and over and over again.  It was a very challenging and tiring day of climbing.  We took six breaks of 5-10 minutes each time and they were absolutely needed or we wouldn't have made it.  We reached Fingerboard Shelter at 5:45 PM after hiking 14.3 miles.  After 98 days (14 weeks) I have gone 1,378.3 miles for an average of 14.1 miles per day.  This includes 5 zero days of hiking so I have hiked 93 out of the last 98 days.