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Northern NJ with Pole Runner and Claire (trail name Fomo (?))

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Some Tumblr issues

Hi all. I've been struggling to post pictures on Tumblr for some reason. I'll keep trying, but in the meantime check out my Instagram @arluthin where I seem to have a bit more luck at uploading!

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New York! Included in this set are funky mushrooms, the most beautiful camping spot next to Island Pond, and some challenging sections of trail including the famous lemon squeezer! Even the ‘easy way’ looked difficult!

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First part of NJ! Ponds and pretty views. The picture with the obelisk is High Point, NJ! We also often enjoyed stopping in the many towns along the way, especially if they had AC in the oppressing heat!

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The crew that joined me for a day hike in NJ! Thanks for coming out!

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July 5th Update - NJ to Manchester Center, Vermont

Greetings all and Happy (belated) Fourth of July!

It’s been a while since my last posting spree and a lot has happened, but I’ll try to be concise (ha!) and hopefully let some pictures and videos do most of the talking. Just kidding. This post is super duper long.

Since I’ve been through four and a half states since my last update, that seems like the logical way to break up this post!

New Jersey: After taking about three days off in NJ for some R&R and to visit with friends, I was extremely fortunate to have some friends come out and hike for a day with me as I entered NJ over the Delaware River on the I-80 bridge. It was refreshing to get the outside perspective of people as it really brings back the novelty of this journey. Speaking of refreshing and renewing the novelty, I was also fortunate enough to be joined by Claire for the entire state of New Jersey! Although she had countless experiences with camping, this was her first real backpacking trip! That being so, I felt pressured to try to make sure her first impression was a good one. Overall, with (fairly) cooperative weather, I think we managed to have a great experience! 

Some of the highlights included going near High Point (the aptly named highest point in NJ), meeting a guy named Influx that had 8 ticks on him at one time, meeting up with my friend Pole-Runner whom I hadn’t seen for about 500 miles, walking on the beautiful boardwalk between the Pochuck and Wawayanda Mountains, climbing the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and enjoying the views down on the valley below, drinking beer at a few taverns along the way, and finishing up the hike crossing into NY and enjoying ice cream at the Bellvale Creamery. I think the highlight that takes the cake, however was when we heard the sounds of large animals outside of our tent. Since our vestibule was open, we could see outside and just make out the profile of two extremely large and fearless creatures that, in my mind, were the biggest bears I had ever seen. We started making noise trying to drive them off to absolutely no avail. The level of fear rose with each step the bears took towards us. I didn’t know what to do, but was beginning to mentally prepare for the worst. As the creatures stepped out of the shadows and into the dim moonlight, their large pointy ears began to reveal themselves. Very large and pointy ears. Of no bear I had ever seen before. Slowly, I began to realize that these bears were, in fact, donkeys. We were camped out at a donkey farm so I suppose that makes sense. That was definitely an experience that I (and Claire) will be unlikely to forget.

New York: After leaving NJ, Pole-Runner (Pole) and I began to hike together through New York. A lot of people say that NY is a tough state to hike through, and I agree with that sentiment. One issue is that there are a lot of ups and downs with seemingly no reward. Down south, we would go up mountains, but were treated to incredible vistas of the surrounding mountains in valleys. That, unfortunately, was not the case in NY. In addition, the trail was poorly marked and I would constantly get ‘lost.’ Some things that made up for these downsides were the availability of delis and gas stations very near the trail where Pole and I would often spend hours relaxing and eating sandwiches in the middle of the day. In addition, the trail goes straight through the Bear Mountain Zoo and on the Bear Mountain Bridge over the mighty Hudson, both of which were fun detours from the normal Green Tunnel. 

Connecticut: The Gateway to New England! The first day in Connecticut was actually my birthday! I believe I had a true AT version of a birthday and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The weather turned out to be absolutely beautiful, which was super fortunate considering the day before had the heaviest rains of my entire journey thus far. We hiked past the largest tree on the AT (over 300 years old!), ate snacks and filled up water at a hiker-friendly garden center, happened upon an awesome food truck, had a great hike though some corn fields and along the Housatonic River, and then finishing up the night drinking beers outside of a gas station with Pole and two people I had met earlier in the day named Ishmael and Detour. Pretty fantastic day if you ask me. Connecticut was a relatively short state (40 miles) and was very similar to NY in that there were few views, but lots of fun delis to stop by!

Massachusetts: Ah... Mass. It’s really starting to feel like we are getting in the mountains again! We entered Massachusetts going up Race Mountain which offered some of the best vistas we have had since Virginia. It was quite refreshing to see these sights again and got me quite excited for what is yet to come! The first night in Massachusetts, I ended up falling and shattering my phone screen - definitely a major disappointment. After having a few falls, it was definitely a difficult climb and descent the next morning over wet, slippery rocks and with worn down shoes going into Great Barrington, MA. However, I made it there unscathed and was able to meet up with my friends Peter and Ali! It was so good seeing them and they treated Pole and myself to an awesome pizza lunch! The final climb in Massachusetts was over the extremely scenic Mount Greylock. At the top of Greylock, there is a nice lodge where I ate a big breakfast that helped me appreciate the Mountain just a little bit more. From the top of Greylock, we could see into New York, Vermont, and even New Hampshire. 

Vermont: Shortly into Vermont, I made it to the town of Bennington. Here I said good bye to some of my friends (Uncle Pyro, Pole, Pogo, and Nav) as it is unlikely I would ever see them again. Jay and Kathleen picked me up and brought me to Kathleen’s parents home in Wilmington, VT where her parents joined us later that night. I took two zeros (zero mileage) days with them as we hit up a few breweries, did an awesome yoga class, canoed in the local lake, hung out with Penny the dog, and pretty much just relaxed. I was very grateful to their awesome hospitality and friendship and it was a great break from the trail. After I left them, I only had 40 miles to Manchester Center, VT where I am currently taking another zero as I wait for my friend Kyle to arrive and hike the rest of the way to ME with me! More on that later. In between Bennington and Manchester, I passed over the beautiful Mt Stratton, on top of which is where Benton MacKaye first had the idea of the creation of the Appalachian Trail!

Whew. That was a long post. I guess that’s all I have to say about that. I commend you if you made it this far!

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I loved walking through Cumberland Valley in PA. The open fields were a nice change from the covered canopies of the mountains. We camped outside of the town of Boiling Springs (about 100 feet from a very active train track...) and enjoyed some coffee and breakfast in the morning.

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Hiking is fun. I can't decide which one I like better!

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Trail angel! This is Fly Girl and she drove us to a grocery store and let us repack everything in her house! She so had a neat, bear-themed, bathroom.

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Walking across the Lehigh River with a fellow hiker named Calves-So-Smooth. We also ended up going to a drive-in theater where they let us camp out after the films! So cool.

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I was briefly reunited with my friend, Frog, whom I was hiking with from about mile 50 to mile 730. I didn't see him for about 500 miles until we met up at about mile 1250! It's always great to hike with people you haven't seen in a while! Here he is pictured at the top of a very rocky climb in the Superfund site outside if Palmerton, PA.

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My friend (and former coworker) Justin did a section hike to meet me on the trail on the way to Delaware Water Gap. Thanks for coming out!

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Some of the smaller wildlife seen in PA. The red spotted newts were everywhere after the rain storm.

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The PA / NJ border on I-80 over the beautiful Delaware River.

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June 7th update - Rocksylvania!

Hi all!

I’m currently writing this post from a coffee shop in Highland Park, NJ (thanks Sarah)! I’m on day one of three (yes, three!) days off in NJ and am happy to be back with friends!

That means I’ve made it through the great, rocky state of PA. Pennsylvania is infamous for being the worst of the fourteen states we travel through on the AT. While it definitely had its challenges, I actually greatly enjoyed most of its 230 miles. The southern part of the state is actually very flat and has well maintained trails and shelters along the way. Walking through the agrarian Cumberland Valley was such a welcome change from being up in the mountains in the covered forest. In addition, there were many towns along the way that were easy to stop in and grab a bite to eat - always nice to not eat trail food. Pennsylvania was also home to some of the nicest and most welcoming people I’ve met along the trail! Random people would just come by and offer us assistance even if we weren’t asking. A few examples of this include offering us rides to and from town before I even had a chance to stick out my thumb, opening their home to us to repack our packs after giving us a lift to a grocery store, giving us free donuts, paying for our shakes, and letting us camp out on their private property with no questions asked. Absolutely amazing people and I hope I can someday pay forward their friendly actions.

However, Pennsylvania definitely did live up to its infamy. Northern PA is known for its rockiness and for very good reason. Some of the sketchiest terrain over the entire AT was in the last 60 miles before Delaware Water Gap as we walked over slick fields of rock. Had the rocks been dry and I didn’t have a pack, I don’t think it would be quite so bad, but it always seemed to rain when I had to go over the roughest terrain. I’m glad to be beyond the worst of it with only a few scratches! In addition, water in northern PA is a bit more scarce than most of the rest of the trail. Along most of the AT that I’ve hiked so far, streama or springs seem to cross the trail every few miles. In northern PA, however, it could be 12 or so miles before you’d come to a water source and it might be as far as 0.6 miles off trail down steep, slippery, rocky terrain. Since PA is relatively low elevation (normally around 1200-1400 feet), it can be known to get very hot and buggy. Luckily, we seemed to get through relatively unscathed on that front!

One thing that helped me through the Northern portion of the state was that I was looking forward to coming to NJ and hanging out with friends! Also, my friend Justin came out and hiked South bound and met me about a day and a half out from Delaware Water Gap. It was nice to see a familiar face and hike with him back to the gap. He and his wife, Laura, were extremely hospitable and brought me back to central Jersey.

I’d be remiss to exclude Maryland from this post! Maryland was a very fun, albeit short, state to hike through. It seems that they have invested a lot of money and time in the maintenance of the trail and shelters. In addition, we happen to walk through a lot of places that are rich with history! Maryland does a great job of actually having signs that describe the historical events that occurred on the lands we walked over. There were quite a few pivotal Civil War battles that took place near the trail (battle of South Mountain, Harpers Ferry, and Antietam to name a few). Some of my friends completed something known as the Maryland Challenge, which is hiking all 42 miles in less than 24 hours! That was not something that appealed to me as the memories of my aching body after my last big mileage day were all too vivid.

I’ll hit the trail again on Saturday, June 10th and will be hiking with my friend, Claire, through the state of NJ!

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Halfway point! 1094.9 miles down, 1094.9 miles to go.