I’m writing this while riding the train back toward Ohio, where I’ll be taking a week or two off at home before heading back to the trail.

The last few days of hiking allowed me to complete NJ, so we now have all of MD, PA, and NJ done! When we woke up at Lake Lodging motel in Greenwood Lake, NY to heavy snowfall on April 12 we decided it was time to take a break and head home for a week or two.

Morning snowfall in Greenwood Lake, NY on April 12th

I had planned on leaving the trail by the 17th anyway, as I wanted to be home for Easter and for my new grand baby’s due date later in April, so pushing for 20 extra miles through snow and extra slippery rocks just didn’t make sense.

Our last few days of hiking brought us through the Walkill River National Wildlife Refuge, over the 0.9 mile Pochuck boardwalk and suspension bridge, up the Stairway to Heaven, and across the final NJ/NY border on the ridge above Greenwood Lake, NY.

We also met a hiker named Trail Marshall and helped him get headed back in the right direction; he had gotten turned around when he took a break at a road crossing and had redone a few miles heading south unintentionally. He is a bit of a trail town celebrity and had some interesting stories to tell! We spent a little time talking while eating ice cream (mine was pumpkin pie – yummm!) at Heaven Hill Farm, as we both got there just before it closed for the day.

Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge – a sweet, flat section of trail straddling the NY/NJ border

A view of the refuge from the mountain that came after it, with High Point monument visible on the mountain in the distance

The lovely boardwalk section of the AT near Vernon, NJ

Suspension bridge at the end of the boardwalk- good thing we didn’t have 19 friends with us!

The day we hiked through the wildlife refuge and across the boardwalk, we also saw a tree fall about 40 feet behind us as we left the woods. It was a beautiful sunny day with almost no wind, so it surprised me; the next day I was saddened to read that a hiker had been killed by a falling tree in Georgia. I felt more anxious during the next few days that we hiked whenever I heard a tree creak, and there are a lot of trees that creak anytime the wind picks up even a little bit! 

The climb up the Stairway to Heaven on April 10th was tough but not too crazy; either that or I’ve gotten a lot stronger!

Enjoying my tea before climbing the Stairway to Heaven across the street from Heaven Hill Farm

The rocky start to the stairway

View from the Pinwheel vista – hey I drank my tea down there this morning!

We took in the beautiful view from Pinwheel Vista and then continued on, planning to stop at the Wawayanda shelter for the night. As the day went on it got colder and windier, and I couldn’t get the falling tree out of my mind. 

We got to the shelter with plenty of daylight left, and decided to do some extra miles and get to a motel for the night instead. The shelter area had a lot of dead and downed trees around, and it was supposed to windier the next day. 

Jim, from Lake Lodging motel in Greenwood Lake, came to pick us up from the trailhead and we decided to stay the next 2 nights as well. It’s a great little motel, and the hot shower felt fantastic. The owners will do laundry for an extra $10, and offer free drop off and pickup from the area trailheads. 

We slackpacked the next day which was a very good thing. I slipped and fell three times throughout the day, more than I have the entire previous 340 or so miles!

Luckily nothing really hurt and I was able to laugh, dust myself off, and keep going. The first two falls were completely my own fault – I kept looking up to look for bears (the comments on FarOut made me think we had an good chance of seeing one in the area) and didn’t pay enough attention to what was underfoot! No, I didn’t actually see a bear either. 

An interesting set of tree burls…

We had to go down into the wash between two vertical rock slabs and climb out again

The rebar ladder

Another rock scramble up

I almost fell into a creek at one point in the day too, but made it across still dry. There were a lot of rocks and creeks to get over that day, as well as a rebar ladder and some sketchy little climbs and descents. We also had a great view near the flag by the border.

Looking down onto Greenwood Lake

“… o’er the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave…”

Crossing the NJ/NY border for the final time felt good, and I looked at everything past that point as icing on the cake.

I got a weather alert on my phone shortly after crossing into NY that warned of rain, a wintry mix, and then snow for the late afternoon and evening. We decided to get off the mountain a little sooner than we had planned, so we took the Vista trail back down into Greenwood Lake, cutting 2 miles off the day’s hike. 

Only 819 miles to go for the NOBO portion of our Flip-Flop!

I grew up in northeastern NJ, and some of my extended NJ family had planned to come up and get dinner with me on Saturday, the 12th, but the snow that day cancelled those plans. The snow was very pretty, but the roads were sketchy. Bamboo was kind enough to get our breakfast from the Dunkin just up the road from the motel that morning, and we enjoyed a warm and cozy zero day at the motel while we finalized our decision to hit the pause button on our hike.

We arranged a ride to a train station for Sunday, and in 4 hours we were at Bamboo’s house in CT.  I decided to leave my backpack and trail clothes there, since we want to treat our clothes with permethrin at his house before we get back on trail. 

I booked my trains to get back to Ohio for Tuesday, so we had time on Monday to go for a little hike near his house.

View from East Rock with Sleeping Giant State Park on the right in the distance

View of New Haven and the coast from East Rock

Beautiful day for a short non-AT hike!

The hike took us through a little wetland nature preserve and up East Rock near New Haven, where we had a good view of the city and the coast. The bird watching opportunities in the area are great, and we got to see Osprey, hawks, blackbirds, herons, ducks, and other small birds and wildlife during our walk.

As I finish this blog post I am home again with my dog laying next to me. I am happy to see my family again, and I’m looking forward to spending time together over the next week. The trail is not far from my thoughts, though, and I can’t wait to get back to it. Back to the chilly, quiet mornings, back to the talks and laughs with Bamboo, back to following the white blazes guiding us north.  I’ll see you again soon!