Stretch—Days 82 through 95

Starting July 5

Day 82: 5.6 mi (1257.7)

After a great weekend my friend took us back to the trail. The group of us decided to do a short day, tent at a resort nearby, and do some food and booze. Another great night.
$28 tenting, $40 alcohol

Day 83: 20.1 mi (1277.8)

We hiked through hangovers today and made it 20 miles to town to camp at a bar. After being told that they could no longer let hikers camp, we decided to stealth camp way too obviously next to the road in town.
$18 food

Day 84: 24.2 (1302)

It was an exciting day to finally make my way to my home state, Jersey!!! It was disappointing to reach Sunfish Pond in the rain but at least the rain let up for us to see the sunset on the ridge we camped at.
$6.50 fuel

Day 85: 21.7 mi (1323.7)

I had a visitor today, a friend’s boyfriend, Dave. He had a day pack but still surprised me by keeping a fast pace and by doing a few more miles than me. He’ll rock his first trail ultra. Also, big thanks for the sandwich!! I made it to the Culver’s Fire Tower to camp with a great view.

Day 86: 19.5 mi (1343.2)

I had a great day hiking home. The day had Walkill Reserve, the boardwalk and stairway to heaven. I was able to walk the boardwalk with my aunt which was nice. After hiking, my parents picked a group of us up to stay there.
$28 resupply, $10 beer, $75 new shoes

Day 87: 9.5 mi (1362.2)

We slackpacked a few miles to not lose a whole day. There was a bunch of people and food at my parents place. It was a bit stressful but I was grateful for all of it.

Day 88: 16.4 mi (1388.1)

We planned a short day in order to hang out at the lake but it turned out that the side trail from the shelter didn’t take us near a beach area. Today was still good, lots of small but awesome trail magic and I am winner of the cherry seed spitting competition.

Day 89: 21.9 mi (1410)

It feels odd to do the same trail again that I did last year. The feeling is almost as if my journey is ending after I reach the last portion of New York or that maybe for me, home is my halfway point. I guess I’ll have to expect it to be a new adventure for Connecticut.
$2.50 powerade

Day 90: 23.9 mi (1433.9)

We’ve managed to keep a big group of us together for a while: The Fonz, J-Rock, Backtrack, Artichoke, Flamethrower and Wilderness. I know all good things must come to an end eventually and I’ve been getting pre-depressed about separating already. For now, it’s definitely fun.
$12 food

Day 91: 24.5 (1458.4)

Today is my 3-month trailaversarry (sp?) Real life is now approaching fast and we’re in New England.

Day 92: 15.7 (1474.1)

Took a short day to resupply in Kent. It turned into the day of reunions. Artichoke and Flamethrower found some of their old group and we found Meatstick again. Smiles, Backtrack, Meatstick, J-Rock and I decided to do a drinking challenge on our 7 miles back to the shelter and it ended up being really fun.
$25 resupply $13 food $13 beer

Day 93: 21.4 (1495.5)

I had a lazy and standard day today where I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. As I predicted though, our bubble is dissipating. At least there were plenty of wild raspberries today.

Day 94: 31.9 mi (1527.4)

Longest day so far. In the morning Backtrack challenged me to do that 50k I’ve been talking about since Shenondoah. I’m surprised to say that physically it didn’t hurt too bad. Mentally it was a different story. I didn’t realize I picked such a hard day to attempt it; Mt. Everett after the rain. I fell a ton of times and got completely destroyed by mosquitoes. I would have camped 4 miles from the shelter but Backtrack told me that the trail ahead wasn’t too bad. He was a liar. I did some more slick wet rocks in the rain with a headlamp. I got to the shelter at 10 PM.

Day 95: 21.1 (1548.5)

I woke up really crabby because I skipped dinner the night before to escape the mosquitoes and wasn’t able to sleep that night. I was able to get out my miles pretty easily though to make it to Upper Goose Pond Cabin.

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Comments 1

  • Claude Thefourth : Jul 21st

    HEYYY, I know some of those spots lol

    Reply

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