New York Isn’t For Thru Hikers: AT Flip Flop Days 40-44

Day 40

Today was our last day in New Jersey. We were only planning to go 10 miles into town, but it was a rough day. I woke up feeling off and struggled with all of my morning camp chores. As we started walking, I developed a headache and realized I had a migraine.

The last few miles of New Jersey were a little strenuous, but New York was an ass kicker right away. There were a lot of rock scrambles and traverses, but some good views as well.

We expected to be done with the 10 miles by noon for a nero, but all three of us struggled today. We got a ride into Greenwood Lake around 3pm. We tried to check into the motel, but there was a mix-up with our reservation and they only had one room available. We called around and Jingle and Subtitles were able to get a room at a hostel nearby while I took the motel room.

After getting settled and doing laundry, we met back up and went into town for dinner. I had been craving Mexican food, which has been surprisingly difficult to find in the trail towns so far. After a disappointingly mediocre meal, we went down the street for a drink. Then we stopped to resupply at CVS, which did not have a good selection for hikers. 

Day 41

I slept great in the motel, but wasn’t able to sleep for as long as I wanted. I finished packing and walked over to Dunkin for breakfast. Another customer took my order, so I had to wait extra long for them to remake my food. Fortunately I got to take the other customer’s food too, so I had extra sandwiches to supplement my sad CVS resupply.

The motel owner took me back to trail. I was 3 hours behind my friends, but the first 8 miles of the day were easy and I cruised through them easily and quickly. I was motivated to catch up and by the prospect of trail magic. The last half mile before the trail magic was a difficult climb and steep descent, and it had started to rain steadily, but I could smell the grill. On the descent, just as I could see and hear everyone waiting for me, my foot started to slide and I fell on trail for the first time. I hurried down and cleaned off the mud from my fall. No harm done. 

The trail magic was amazing! We sat out a downpour and ate delicious burgers, hot dogs, fruit, and salad. They also had postcards that they offered to mail out for us. After the rain cleared and we were done eating, we got up to continue hiking. 

The trail was really tough after the break, and the rain had made the rocks dangerously slippery. I wanted to find a campsite and tackle the difficult conditions with a clearer head and fresher legs in the morning, but the others wanted to push on. I decided it was safer to go with them than to hike the dangerous conditions alone in the morning.

The long, steep descent down to I-87 was very difficult; my face hurt at the end, because I was clenching my jaw the whole way down for fear of falling. We walked across the bridge and entered Harriman State Park where we could stop and get water. 

I was still trying to calm down from the scary descent when I got a notification on my phone. Thinking positively, I thought it was going to be a nice, encouraging text message, but instead it was a severe thunderstorm warning alert. At least it made me laugh. We got up to keep walking to the next campsite we could find. It started raining and thundering almost immediately, so we pulled off the trail and set up camp. 

Since I was in a hurry, I only set up my tarp at first. I sat on the ground, soaked, and ate dinner. During a break in the rain, I hung my bear bag, set up my hammock, and dried off as best as I could. 

Despite a great start to the day and staying in town the night before, I seriously thought about getting off trail for a longer break for the first time. I went so far as to look at flights. Ultimately I decided that it would be a mistake to lose momentum. 

Day 42

I didn’t sleep well overnight, so I decided to make a plan for the week with a heatwave coming in a few days. After sunrise, I slowly began to pack my wet gear and put on my still soaking wet clothes. Each piece of wet clothing was more and more demoralizing. As we started walking, I had no energy, and my legs felt like they hadn’t recovered at all.

Despite the poor start to the day, I resolved to get my head right to tackle a big day. The first thing we came to in the morning was the famous Lemon Squeezer. I was surprised I was able to fit through it with little trouble. It was more like a lemon zester with how rough the rock surfaces were. 

We took a break at the first shelter we came to in the morning. I set all my wet gear and most of my clothes out to dry in the morning sun. It felt amazing to put on dry clothes and shoes. Drying out my gear also helped lighten my pack by shedding the water weight. 

We took lunch at the second shelter. I didn’t think I could walk any further for the day. Rehydrating, eating, and resting got me back on my feet for another 5 miles to the shelter I wanted to reach.

To get to the shelter, I took the old Appalachian Trail. The trail was rerouted in recent years to avoid a busy road crossing. Since it was a Saturday evening, the crossing wasn’t bad at all. The old trail also had the best stream water I had had in New York so far. 

The shelter and camping around it were incredible. There was an amazing view of the Hudson and New York City from the front of the shelter. I set up my hammock near the bear cables, the first I’ve seen so far. I wasn’t worried about bears because there were so many people around the shelter and the mulberry trees were ready for grazing. I slept without my rain fly and had a great view of the night sky. 

Day 43

I had the absolute best night of sleep in my hammock last night. I woke up feeling very refreshed, if not fully recovered in my legs. There were not many people left in camp when I finally got out of my hammock. 

Jingle, Subtitles, and I decided to make the day easier on ourselves and take a side trail shortcut around Bear Mountain. 

We shaved 3.5 miles off of the hike and cut off a big climb and descent by taking the well blazed Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail (because we were suffer’n enough in New York). It was much better marked and maintained than the actual AT has been for most of New York. Purists will scoff, but I’m not against making the trek easier on myself. I am doing a “corridor” hike, which means I can take alternates as long as I am walking it.

We arrived at a really nice lakeside park after coming out of the woods. Hundreds of people were out for the day grilling by the lake. It smelled heavenly, but we didn’t get any food from anyone.

Next up was the Trailside Zoo. Yes, the Appalachian Trail actually goes through a zoo. We didn’t see anything that we hadn’t already seen on trail though. After the zoo, we crossed a bridge over the Hudson River. 

After the river, we climbed a rocky and steep hill that’s popular with day hikers despite not having a view at the top. After the climb, the next several miles were not maintained at all and the trail was very difficult to follow. Blazes were rare and faded, and there were tons of dead end offshoots indistinguishable from the actual trail. I thought Pennsylvania was overgrown, but New York is way worse. There have been several areas where you can’t see your feet and untrimmed bushes scratch your legs. At least Pennsylvania tries to maintain their trail. 

We finally made it to the Appalachian Market, where we hoped to get a sandwich and resupply. The sandwich was great, but the resupply was mid.

Jingle got an Uber into Peekskill to pick up a package and was planning to meet Subtitles and I a mile up trail at the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center. The Franciscan friars there let hikers camp at their baseball field. I wanted to see some of their landmarks and chapels, so we walked through their campus. A very kind friar welcomed us to look around and gave us some directions. 

We got to the ballfield and set up our camp with the other hikers. Jingle was having no luck getting an Uber, taxi, or sympathy ride from town, so Subtitles and I walked back up to the center to see if we could find a friar who could help. We found one almost immediately with a car and he graciously helped out. Subtitles went with him to get Jingle, and I walked around the campus some more.

Day 44

Subtitles woke up not feeling well. He was dizzy and didn’t think he would be able to hike at all. Pain in my ankles limited my sleep, so I was exhausted and would not have minded a day off at the ball field. However, Subtitles threw up during a trip to the porta potty (it desperately needed cleaning) and felt much better, so we hiked on.

The temperature was starting to rise ahead of the heat wave arriving tomorrow. The elevation change was mercifully mild and there was plenty of water today. We took several breaks. There wasn’t much to see today. We set up camp near a beaver pond outlet with great campsites for an easy 10 mile day.

Lack-of-Shower Thoughts 

The New York section of the AT sucks. Every hiker we’ve talked to has agreed that this is the worst section, worse even than Pennsylvania. At least Pennsylvania tries to maintain the trail, even if they can’t help their unfortunate (for hikers) geology. We heard in Jersey that New York did not have any ridgerunners, and it doesn’t seem like they have many trail maintainers either. The towns are not convenient for hikers, and resupply options are scarce. This does not mean the trail is more wild here though. There are road crossings constantly and day hikers and weekenders everywhere. It just seems like New York forgot the trail went through it or simply doesn’t care that it goes through it. I hate to be so negative about it, but this section is not enjoyable. The lone bright spot is the people. All of the New Yorkers we’ve met have been very kind and generous.