NY Frustration - June 30

Hawkeye is fed up with the trail in New York. He found himself cursing the rocks, the trail, and the sadists that built it. His spontaneous outburst surprised him. Then he found another hiker with the same experience of spontaneous foul outbursts and felt relief that it wasn't just him.  

Don's Brother blogs about several frustrating days of rock scrambles, invisible trail and tumbles. 

Spirit is very eager to be done with New York, where so many roads and state parks prohibit RVs, even our little 23 footer.

Frustration seems rampant in this section.

Competence and Conditions - June 29

On June 18, I blogged about Confidence and Optimism.

I don't want any readers to think confidence and optimism are all you need and then get into trouble with overconfidence and blind optimism. Given that worry I feel obligated to add a bit more.

There is another important safety aspect: Competence and Conditions.

NYC in the Distance - June 28

This section is deceptively challenging. Nominally flat elevation, it consists of numerous stretches of boulder hopping and small but steep climbs and descents. I'm on the trail from 6:45 am until 6:45 pm.

A tower at the top of the mountain promises a view of the NYC skyline, 34 miles away. I peer into the distance as ridge after ridge fades into soft blue-gray traces on the horizon. With the help of an interpretive photo display, patience, and maybe a little imagination, I pick out one little sliver of faint blue ridge that seems to have the sharp rectangular shapes of a skyline. 

New York has established a plethora of State Parks just west of the Hudson River.

Bears - June 26

Wednesday is a fun but hard day. As the trail enters New York, it scrambles along a rocky ridge for miles, much of it more like rock climbing than hiking. It's lots of fun, but I'm tired. (And yes, did you catch that we leave another state behind!)

The trail here is much closer to human population. I always hear a car, plane, lawnmower or some internal combustion engine. 

Nonetheless, I've seen bears three days in a row.

The Murray Place - June 25

Tuesday serves up the most challenging heat, humidity and mosquitoes yet. I'm dripping all day, and even with DEET the mosquitoes just pile one welt on top of another. 

Part way through the day we come across The Murphy Place, and I get to meet Jim Murphy. An '89 AT thru hiker, Jim bought a farm along the trail and built a cabin and shower for hikers to use as they go by. I take him up on some water.  There is something magical about long distance trails that brings out compassion and generosity and service to others. Amazing stuff.

Learning Lessons - June 24

Monday is a hard walk. My feet hurt, the trail is rocky and slow, the air hot and sticky. It's a perfect day for the swarms of mosquitoes, and the shelter last night was located in a mosquito bog. It's a good day to turn the mind to something else. 

A week ago I noticed that I can swat the gnats buzzing my face and hit them in mid-air. Some gnats learn that they almost got killed and fly away, leaving me alone. Other gnats learn that they don't get injured even if I hit them and fly right back in my face.

Humor lifts the day - June 23

Sunday is a fun, light day. As I ready to exit the RV to resume hiking, Don's Brother comes walking by with Speck. I'd walked with DB one day in the Shenandoahs and had hoped to pair up again. I pull on my pack and join them. The day is filled with light humor, an easy trail, and nice weather. The self-deprecating humor reminds me of a quote.

Trans Canada Trail planning

We were going to meet Daniel Alvarez today but that will get delayed a day. Instead I'll put some time into planning the Canadian segment of the trail. I know the general route but that's about it.

I'll follow the Trans Canada Trail from near the border crossing to Halifax. Or at least I'll follow it where it exists. The TCT is the longest proposed trail in the world. With about 15 years of development done, much of it is in place. But ,any other parts are still just lines on paper. 

I spend hours pouring over the trail route, adding each leg into a spreadsheet. It provides my first glimpse of the hike.

New Jersey

I am ready to be done with the rocks. My feet hurt. Supposedly they diminish about ten miles into New Jersey, so that's today's target. 

Pennsylvania has been a good state for wildlife. I've seen tons of frogs of all sorts sizes, bright orange newts, frogs, turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, a couple of turtles, rabbits, snakes, porcupine, deer and a bear. My biggest surprise was a peacock.

I hike 8.1 miles to cross into New Jersey at Dunfield Trailhead. I've completed 7 of 14 AT states, 8 of the 17 for full trip from Key West to Halifax. About 2350 miles are done, with 1650 to go.

We plan to take a zero tomorrow to visit people, and I decided to stop early once I enter New Jersey. I'll have to do those last ten miles of rocks another day. 

Rocky Trail

Pennsylvania's Appalachian Trail is notorious for being rocky. Sure, the whole AT has rocks, and there's rocks in the Sierras on the PCT and in the Rocky Mountains of the CDT. But Pennsylvania rocks have shifted over the eons so they all point up. Wildcat jokes that the trail maintainers rotate all the pointy ends of the rocks upward and then sharpen them.
 

Morning finds me scrambling along the Knife Edge, which is slabs of granite pointing skyward. The scramble is fun and the views open, a rare treat.

Snakes

Three days ago, I encountered a big four foot black snake in the trail. 

I'm not aware of any big black venomous snakes, and assume it is a rat snake or something innocuous. But it has the wide triangular had of a viper so I give it a wide berth. 

Yesterday I saw another one.

Whining

My feet hurt. Even the triple zero did not eliminate the aching. Both big toes hurt on the outer edge. A sharp nerve pain rises from the base of the metatarsals on the left foot. The right little toe hurts constantly. Several toes remain numb. The pads of the forefeet feel like they went a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson.

I can hear my son: "Nobody is forcing you to hike. Either stop hiking or stop whining."

Okay, I'll stop whining. I just wish my feet would stop hurting. 

20.9 Miles to Blue Mountain Summit

Silence

Sometimes people ask me if a long hike is meditative. 

I've met one thru hiker who has kept his practice going on the trail, and another out for a weeklong meditation away from his city life. But it is rare. 

Someone recently posted this quote from Mother Teresa:

"The fruit of Silence is prayer.

The fruit of Prayer is faith. 

The fruit of Faith is love.

The fruit of Love is service. 

The fruit of service is peace."

Easy

It took a while to figure out. I'd hear rain dripping on the dry leaves as I walked past. But there was no rain.  I could even see the leaves move as the drops hit them. The rain traveled in a wave with me, never striking far away.

Eviscerating Creativity

The lady at the cell phone store tried to be helpful, but the Wi-Fi was very slow because it was on the same channel as a more powerful Wi-Fi router next door. She was prohibited from picking a different channel. She explained that everything is controlled by the head office. She was told could get fired if she moves a USB scanner from one PC to another. Even the radio volume is controlled centrally. She has adopted the strategy of letting problems fester and keeping her head down. 

The hiker used to enjoy his package delivery job.

Cicada

Derecho

I learned a new word today: derecho. It refers to a long narrow weather front with lots of rain and wind. On the radar, it showed up as a narrow red line running several hundred miles north-south and moving east. At 7:30am the weather was fine.  By 8:00am it was stormy, and by 9:00 am it was clear again. 

A second derecho was about six hours west, threatening a repeat from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm.

Snorting Gnats: Duncannon PA

I have fallen into a pattern. I pack up with three days of food, and then end up at the RV that first night out. Typically it just turned out that the day ended at a State Park or town, so we might as well get together. I have some dinners I've carried a hundred miles now!

Wednesday day is no exception as I make better time that expected (27.6 miles) and meet Spirit north of Duncannon PA.

Along the way I discover a new challenge. The gnats are getting thick enough that I breath through my nose instead of mouth whenever possible. But three times today a gnat got sucked in. I could feel it trying to get out but invariably it crawled upward. I tried to blow my nose but it was too dry to free the critter. I'd have to wait until the bug triggered a release of moisture from the sinuses to blow it out. Judging from all the squirming, the gnat didn't like it any more than I did. After three gnats, I put on my headnet, even though it was too hot.

Hiking Again: Boiling Springs PA

After three days off of the trail, I'm ready to get back on. We drive back to Pen Mar county park and I again cross the Mason-Dixon line and enter Pennsylvania. I soon pass a Southbound hiker who reports seeing 30 northbound thru hikers in the past 24 hours. It may be that the front of the main wave of hikers is catching up. 

Town Chores

I woke up Thursday and just didn't feel like hiking. After sitting around in the RV a while I remembered a town chore I needed to do. My phone still just had the original SD storage card in it, so I spent the day getting a larger one, transferring my stuff over, and then downloading all of the test of the topo maps I'll need too get to Maine. Spirit was wanting a new phone so we did that too. 

On Friday I still just didn't feel like hiking. It became RV chore day, restringing a failed pleated curtain and washing bugs of the front of the rig.

Mason-Dixon

So many milestones:  2000 miles a few days ago, then 1000 miles on the AT itself, then the West Virginia and Maryland state borders.

I can see hikers responding to these artificial but still real milestones. "I just want to be done with Virginia", "I'll get to Harper's Ferry and then decide what's next", "I want to do the four state challenge".

I'm goal driven by nature. Very goal driven. It is such a prevalent strength that in excess it sometimes it becomes a weakness.

States, Memorials and Witches

After hiking over a month in Virginia, today I entered a new state, West Virginia!

Home of Harper's Ferry and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, this stretch generates disproportionate importance to hikers. Many hikers use this as a dividing line between the north and south halves of the trail, and complete the hike in two years. Many others start here and hike south, then flip flop up to Maine and hike back to here. 

It is also the dividing line between the "Appalatchian" Trail to the south and the "Appalashun" Trail to the north.

Thunderstorms and Songs

National Hiking Day (June 1) falls on a Saturday this year.  I see lots of day hikers all weekend. In the final stretch of Virginia, there's a13.5 mile segment called the Rollercoaster, named for the closely packed descents and accents. This appears to be a favorite section for many local trail runners and day hikers. 

Whenever I hike there is a song blaring away in my brain. I guess it is triggered by the pounding rhythm of the feet. Some folks hike or exercise with music ear buds and that apparently helps maintain a tempo. For me the tempo picks the song. "Sheela Sheela That's my little Sheela..."

I have a bunch of minor cuts and welts on my legs from the grass yesterday. Skin is amazing; it will patch itself up just fine. I wish my gear could repair itself. I'm glad the weather allows me to just wear shorts and a t-shirt so that most often the scrapes are on my arms and legs so do not require repairs. "Gloria G L O R I A Gloria..." 

Today is hot and muggy so I'm looking forward to the forecasted thunderstorm.