Author Archives: atsioneva

Oh, yeah. My feet are letting me know they don’t like hiking in New York. I don’t much like it either!

Pennsylvania waited a week or so to make me cry. New York darn near managed it on the first day! The trail led over massive hunks of bedrock, gigantic boulders that were the size of trailers at times. Navigating these was a serious challenge for anyone with short legs, hiking alone. Fortunately, I was not hiking alone – both Morning Song and thru-hiker Packs helped me out by literally giving me a hand at points. I really don’t think I could have done it alone.

It was a very tough day, 12 miles, and these bedrock boulders popped up for literally miles once I entered NY. From the NJ/NY border to NY 17a was a five mile stretch, and I felt it all.

We were too late to get hot dogs, the place closed at 3, but .3 miles from where the trail crossed the road at 17a, there was a most excellent ice cream place which also provided a charging station for phones and a spigot for water. Hiker mecca! We enjoyed it all – only 2.1 miles to the shelter, so we and our aching feet stayed until 5:15 and rested.

Confession to make: I started out a purist, resolved to walk every mile of white blazed trail. That, also, changed.  That last 2.1 mile stretch, I took two blue-blaze bypass trails that cut around two sections of more rock formations. I just couldn’t face more rocks that late in the day, and this time, I was alone. I reached the shelter around 6:15, I think; it was full, so I pitched the tent, though it is supposed to rain tomorrow.

And now I am feeling quite mellow. A campfire and some red wine (provided by a group of section hikers, carrying too much food and drink) will do that to you! I was not feeling like cooking tonight, so dinner was a tuna tortilla, cheese, and pepperoni. And red wine.

Tomorrow a planned 10 mile day, instead of 14. The terrain is supposed to be tough again, and we don’t feel like starting out at 6 am to get through it. Still making distance. Fort Montgomery by or on Sunday.

I think I will sleep okay tonight. It is well past hiker midnight, and my feet have stopped complaining.

I hike on.

Unexpected zero day! But one of the best, if not the best.

After helping vacuum the hostel as my self-assigned chore, I caught a ride back to the State Park. My plan was to set up the tent at the shelter, sleep a bit, and then hike five or six miles and stealth-camp along the trail.

Well… I didn’t sleep very well last night, for some reason my feet were hurting, so once my head hit the stuff-sack full of clothes, I was out like a headlamp. I slept a good three hours, at least, it was so shaded, but free, and cool. I knew Morning Song would be coming about an hour later, so I just decided to stay put. Best zero day ever. No scurrying around a town doing laundry, resupply, or post office, no spending money, just lying still and relaxing. My feet needed the break, too.

There’s about six other hikers clustered at the picnic table nearby, Morning Song went to get water, and I am again relaxing in my tent. Predictable, no? Even when I don’t feel social, I like listening.

Tomorrow we start cranking out miles again, 12, 14, 8.5, then the far side of Fort Montgomery, NY. The post office will be closed Sunday, of course, so we’ll camp a few miles away, and catch a ride into town to get my packages on Monday. It’s about 120 miles to Kent, CT, where Morning Song leaves the trail. That will be my next full zero – approx. 10 days.

It was a very peaceful day.

I hike on.

Musical interlude: Stairway to Heaven

Today was a good day. No, a great day. I slept in, hit Dunkin Donuts, then went out and hiked five miles, from the trailhead outside Vernon to Wawayanda State Park in Jersey. I absolutely loved the climb. It was steep, it was rocky, it was challenging, it was perfect. The rocks were New Jersey potato rocks, not Pennsylvania knife rocks. That mattered so much. After the climb, the rest of the trail was pretty easy, if very buggy. It gave me a lot of time to think. Yes, a lot of thinking.

Sometimes, on the trail, you have to look behind you to see a white blaze, to make sure you are still on the right path. It has been six weeks (and two days), and tonight I am going to look behind me to check the path. Let’s meander.

I’ve changed/am changing. I can tell that, and I don’t mean just physically, though I am seriously enjoying the fact I’ve lost about 20 pounds. Stepping out of my usual orbit has been wonderful. With every act of kindness from total strangers, some of who I get to meet, some of who I never will, some of the shell of bitter cynicism I’ve been carrying dissolves. That’s the weight loss you can’t see, but I feel it. Cliched as it is, it is slowly restoring my faith.

The focus of the hike has changed, too. At the beginning, I was all ‘miles, miles, miles’. That was all I was thinking about and fretting over – why am I not making more miles, will I be able to finish the hike, etc. I still want to finish, of course, but it doesn’t bother me anymore if I cut a day short to enjoy the company of other hikers, or if I spend a long time at a good view to take it in, or if I take an unexpected zero day. I am enjoying myself much more now since I got out of PA and let myself relax.

So. The path has been twisty and turny, and I can’t see where it ends. It’s taken me through five states – tomorrow I’ll leave NJ for real and move into NY. Right now I am lying on a futon at the hostel, updating my blog while five other hikers are watching some crazy movie in the background.

Did I mention how much I love having lost all this weight? Living the dream!

I hike on.

Today was the earliest of early days. I was awake at first light as usual, about 5 am, but the fact that I had no breakfasts left meant no time was spent making breakfast. I was packed and on my way by 6 am… into a driving rainstorm.

My goal for the day was the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Vernon, NJ – they run a full hostel in the basement/fellowship halls that is as well equipped as any I’ve seen yet… Including a full kitchen. More on that later.

So, six mile dreary slog. Up Mt. Pochunka, all slick, wet, treacherous rocks, the view was all gray cloud and fog, down Mt. Pochunka. I was still breaking in new boots. My feet were screaming. Swamp, fend off mosquitoes, walk over double boards, cross another highway. Onwards. At some point the rain stopped. The last 2.3 miles were over a raised boardwalk, with beautiful plants and flowers on either side, then a final push along a muddy path and then walking more boards through a pasture. A couple I met along the raised boardwalk trail kindly gave another thru-hiker (Magic) and me a ride to the hostel. It was about 11 When we arrived.

Morning Song was out watching the Memorial Day Parade a block away, but it was just about over. I got my shower, then we went to the VFW for a beer and some hot dogs, and witnessed a brief, but moving ceremony to the veterans and MIAs that included a 21 gun salute. I’d almost forgotten it was Memorial Day. That brought it home.

The rest of the afternoon was a much needed nap, and the usual nearo chores: laundry, food inventory, food restocking. We walked 1.5 miles to Smokie’s Brick Oven, which also had our long coveted steaks. I wore camp shoes for that walk though; my feet do still hurt.

Tomorrow starts with a 900 foot climb straight up – they call it the “stairway to heaven”. Assuming I survive that climb, I will probably walk as far as I think I can, then pitch a tent along the trail in a likely spot. The next shelter is pretty close, I don’t want another short day. Assuming I survive the climb.

Morning Song has to stay in town another day to take care of some business. He’s also kindly mailing home my cold weather clothes for me; I won’t need them again until the Whites. I hope he catches up with me again – I’m pretty sure he will though.

My feet still hurt.I think some Vitamin I, then sleep. I suspect I will have a relatively late start tomorrow!

I hike on.

Today was a near perfect day. Seriously. A late start to the day (9 am); it was already getting hot, but a nice breeze today, for which I was very grateful – the temp hit 91. I had only 5 and a bit miles to go before the shelter I was aiming for tonight – Pochunk Mountain Shelter. So I was taking it easy, and ran into…

… Section hiker and trail angel Dee, aka TreeSniffer. And she was indeed a true angel! We hiked together, chatting along the way, and she and her husband Mike offered me a ride from a trailhead into a nearby town with a boot outfitter. So grateful, I did not realize just how much my feet had swelled and how cramped my toes truly were until I tried on a pair of Keens the next half-size up. Pure bliss. I left the old boots at the store. Then Mike and Dee treated me to lunch, though I wanted to treat them! Dee, if you are reading this – thank you again! The AT turn we were searching for was the barred gate we passed on the right hand side of the road from the parking lot. And I found your boy scouts at this shelter.

Then, back on the trail for 2.8 more miles, hot, sunny, breezy. An easy, if pointlessly long, walk around a swamp… Why is God’s name lay out a trail with 3 right angle turns and a lot of walking, when one left hand turn and a lot less walking would have reached the exact same point?

Swamp, a lot of boardwalks, and a hard climb up part of Pochunk Mountain. It rose 300 feet in a quarter of a mile. Steep, and I felt dizzy, but made it to the shelter. Lying down now, listening to troop leaders and Boy Scouts chatting outside.

My hiking partner went ahead to Vernon, which I will reach tomorrow for my nearo, about 6 miles away. He sent me a picture of free ice cream, watermelon, cake, I am drooling. Very hot, but cooling down. It is supposed to storm tonight, that will cook it down a lot.

These kids are pretty …. Um, boisterous. They’re kids. 🙂

I hike on.

My feet hurteth. They hurteth as bad as a typical day in upper Pennsylvania, and for much the same reason… the 12 mile stretch we covered today had many ups and downs, all steep and rocky. My feet took a beating, and I am honestly not sure how long my boots will hold up.

Tomorrow will be a short day, only 8 miles or so, but since the AT wanders around like a drunkard along the NJ/NY border, part of the day will be in NY, and part will be in NJ. Hoping to get to Mass in Uniontown, NY, if at all possible. Monday I will do a nearo in Vernon, NJ, where there is both a boot outfitter and a very good and very cheap hostel. I will also resupply necessities such as food, ibuprofen, toilet paper, etc. If I can’t find a good boot at the outfitter, I’ll have a pair shipped from Zappos to my next zero in Fort Montgomery, but I would rather not do that. Not sure the current boots will last that long.

Ah, I hear Memorial Day fireworks from somewhere – probably Uniontown, it is only 2 miles away. Tonight we are staying at the “secret shelter”, a cabin on the farm of a former thruhiker. After four days of long hikes in 85+ degree weather, it did not faze me one bit that the shower was outdoors and had extremely hot water. Everyone was polite and we all stayed away when someone else was showering. We all stank. Really, really stank.

Speaking of the heat, I was close to being heatsick today – it hit 90. We were close enough to a shelter that I made it there, drank a ton of water, and lay down for 45 minutes in the shade. The sky became overcast, mercifully, and I was able to do the last five miles after all. But my feet still hurt.

Oh! Forgot to mention that I gave a mother and daughter hiking duo their official trail names! The mother became Brandy (she was the one with blackberry brandy yesterday), and the daughter is now Marvel, for her Captain America socks. I feel like a trail guru now!

I hike on.

Compared to yesterday, a short, uneventful day today. Only 5.8 miles, and I was lucky to make it to a shelter before the thunderstorms and downpours began. Morning Song did not, and got wet – he slept in, I did not. We ended up staying, and sharing a bottle of blackberry brandy with some other hikers. There are days for serious hiking and days for being social. Today was definitely a social day.

I have noticed that my stomach has become concave when I lie down, not convex. I like this. I have also noticed that my feet have increased in size. I do not like this, since my toes feel cramped and frequently hit the toebox, particularly on the downhill. Pennsylvania tore these boots up pretty good anyway, so I needed to buy new boots in any case, so I will just order up a half-size.

Reception is pretty bad, so that is all I have to say tonight! 12 miles and hopefully a shower tomorrow…

I hike on.

This will be a long one, now that I have decent reception.

So. We crossed the Delaware into New Jersey on the I-80 bridge (that’s right, I can’t get away from I-80), and I bet Washington had more fun crossing that river than I did! Rigid concrete bridge over water, and I could still feel it move every time a big truck went by. Vertigo to the nth!

The first chunk of NJ, once into the trees, was like a dream. Aromatic pine forest, gently sloping path, rushing and bubbling stream… Enough that I almost broke out singing. It was easily the most serene bit of trail yet!

It didn’t last, unfortunately; our goal that day was the Mohican Outdoor Center, about 10 miles in, and from Sunfish Pond to the Center, the rocks rivalled that in PA, to the point I just about quit by the time I arrived. (I didn’t.)

The next day was full of surprises. It was the strangest day I have had yet! Terrain-wise, much kinder than PA. But much buggier. So many bugs, and they like to get in your face. Sometimes even use your face as a landing pad. I hate that. I’ve taken to using a bug net – it looks dorky, but it works! Also, there are different birds. Like the whipporwill, that likes to call at 3am and wake you up. The section of NJ I am in is very much woodsier than PA, and dotted with youth camps, now currently full of kids – mostly from New York.

So, back to May 25. I was about 15 minutes ahead of Morning Song, on a small ledge on the path, and about to step down, when I heard this completely unmistakable rattling sound. Even when you have never heard one before, you know instantly what it is. When I looked down, sure enough, rattlesnake, in the middle of the path, 20 feet away, sunning itself. It was coiled up and the rattle sticking up in the air in the middle of a coil, going like sixty.

So… What to do? There was no path around it, it was right on the middle. I gathered a few small rocks, but decided to wait for MS before trying to drive the snake off the trail. Then I heard some people approaching from the other side, and called out to warn them. After they got a good look at it and everyone agreed it was a rattlesnake, they told me about sixty kids were headed this way in about an hour…  Something has to be done to get the snake off the path.

Throwing rocks near it didn’t make it budge. MS found a long stick, but it was rotten; it broke open and suddenly there were ants everywhere. Ah, no. I went back and found a long, non-rotten stick, and carefully stepped off the ledge as far from the snake as I could get. Using the stick, I was able to first shove the snake off the path, then actually lift and sort of fling it. A couple times. The thing was mad, but it tried to sting the stick, not me. I got it far enough away that people were able to use the path without being in striking range, about 20 feet, and we all went on our way. Shortly after, we started running into the groups of kids interspersed throughout the trail, and warned their leaders about the snake; it was all we could do.

The day’s oddities were not ever yet though… As we approached a road crossing (the path was an overgrown road at this point), a vehicle came driving toward us, on this track barely wide enough for it! Quick, get off the road! It was a ranger, who had a report about a crashed glider plane, and was looking for it. We couldn’t help him, we’d not seen it. He went his way, we continued on, but he caught up with us again later; they’d found it, but it was in another mountain outside the park.

We ended the day near Crater Lake; beautiful lake, and I soaked my feet in cool water. Bonus! The bugs were really bad though, and I did a very sloppy job of setting up the tent. I just wanted in! So did they, but they were disappointed.

May 26 was pretty uneventful, except that we hit the 300 mile mark. Stokes Steakhouse was listed as being located right where the trail crosses Culver’s Gap, and the thought of a thick steak kept us going for 8.5 miles – but when we got there, it was closed! So was the deli next to it… We consoled ourselves at Gyp’s Tavern, which had wonderful lakeside seating and a cool breeze. Then three more miles, climbing up out of the Gap, to this shelter. A long day!

It’s getting hot -85 degree temps. Drinking a lot more water to compensate, but I have run out of the quick purifying tablets Doug sent, so I am using the 4 hour ones now, requires more strategizing. As I type this, it is raining, which will either cool it down, or add humidity. We will see. Planning 13 miles today, to High Point Shelter… Right now I am lying in the shelter, listening to the birds and the rain.

And thinking. The last two days have been full of trail magic – it is beginning to restore my faith in people. Seriously. At Sunfish Pond, I was chatting with a dayhiker who was awed by thruhikers (“you guys are so hardcore!”), and a woman who was sunbathing came up and gave me half a turkey sub, oatmeal squares, and chips-a-hoy cookies. I saved the cookies for MS, but the rest disappeared pretty quickly! Then, at Culver’s Gsp, a cold can of cranberry apple juice was gifted each of us, and later at the tavern, a couple bought us each a drink. People can be so kind, it is wonderful to see! And I promise not to let my hardcore status swell my ego.

Well, it is 6:15. About time to pack up, and eat breakfast, move on before the heat starts. So far – loving New Jersey!

I hike on.

My next planned maildrop location is in Fort Montgomery, NY, about 110 miles uptrail.

General Delivery

C/O Elisabeth Hagen

Fort Montgomery Post Office

Fort Montgomery, NY 10922

I wish my brother and sister in law still lived there!

Today’s intense and incredibly dangerous hiking took me from a post office to a laundry room to a bakery to a movie theater to a supermarket. Cake featured heavily and very tastily. The last day in Pennsylvania was a very good one! And not just for me, as a large number of hikers have shown up, and as my brother Tom ensured, they all ate cake! The movie theater was part of an indoor mall, and so a raid on Auntie Anne’s for a pretzel dog was accomplished, and later, some food court Chinese.

The hostel I am staying at is a wonderful one run by the Presbyterian Church in Delaware Water Gap. They only ask a donation of $3 a night, which is quite amazing! I slipped more that that into the donation box, the services they render us are worth at least ten times that amount! There are two main rooms – the inner bunkroom, with wooden bunk beds covered with carpeting, and the outer lounge area with couches to sit on, outlets for phone charging, a table and bulletin board with useful information, and a table that is currently holding this big white cake box…

And there is a flush toilet and running water. After five weeks on the trail, you learn not to take those wonderful inventions for granted.

Tomorrow I set back out, with Morning Song prepped to physically push me over the bridge over the river, if necessary. 10 miles tomorrow, to the Mohican Outdoor Center in NJ. My feet were very grateful for the respite today, but time to move on. I have it on good information those 10 miles may be rocky, but not to PA standards, and after that, the trail surfaces are much easier on the feet. Until the Whites in NH anyway… Long way off.

It is getting pretty late here. I don’t think I’ll need Advil tonight.

I hike on.