The swamps in New Jersey have been overtaken by Mosquitos. Paddy Cakes & I have used three bottles of bug spray in the last 4 days.
We did make it to New York & were happy to step over that state line. Happy to see the terrain was changing from smaller bolder fields to large rocks you can walk on to of. The only problem was it rained the night before. The combination of the slippery rocks & our beat up sneakers was a humorous time.
For the first time on the trail they had to put in a ladder to get up & over some of these boulders. But we conquered them & made it to the highest point in New York, but at a steep cost. Total for the day the group had 8 slip & falls. Two for each of us. Only a little blood was shed.
View from highest point along the AT in New York
One of the problems we have been running into is water. We have been pretty lucky since we have had a rainy season but even then we have had some pretty sketchy streams to drink from.
We have run into some greatly appreciated trail magic of water. We just hope it was filtered. If not we all may be sick in about 10 days.
The trail has also had some great old growth that we have been going through. It's been a nice change from the rocks.
The next morning was July 4th. We hiked 12 miles to the top of Bear Mountain where we waited and saw about 20 different fireworks shows at once. We could even see the fireworks from New York City in the distance. The best part was a few guys started setting off fireworks on the mountain and since we were in a state park the ranger came up & told everyone they had to leave because he was going to lock the gate and they wouldn't be able to drive down the mountain. Since we were on foot we got to stay & had the whole mountain to ourselves. After all the excitement of the fireworks we started to look for a place to camp & saw that the observation tower was unlocked so we all climbed to the top & camped in the tower. It was awesome. We did get up early to enjoy the sun rise, & to avoid a potential trespassing ticket.
Fitzgerald Falls
Steps leading up to the top of the falls
Some of the trees root systems are looking pretty gnarly. The picture below is of some roots we had to climb up.
The butterfly's have been really pretty lately.
Sleepy B & Spanky heading up another boulder climb.
We have been catching really good weather the past few days. We have only been getting sprinkles while other ahead of us are getting thunderstorms. The only complaint is how warm it is getting. That along with the terrain is causing us to perspire a lot.
Paddy Cakes ringing the sweat out of his shirt.
We went through a rock formation called The lemon squeeze. It was a tight trail between two huge boulders. We barely made it through with our packs on.
Paddy cakes heading through the lemon squeeze.
View of the squeeze from the top.
Spanky celebrating victory over the squeeze.
In between the boulder climbs are these gorgeous ferns that go on for a long time.
Before we called it a night we hiked down to Tiorati Lake an had a wonderful swim. We were able to wash some of the bug spray off & put some soap on our clothes.
We called it a night and found ourselves at this cool rock shelter. It had two fireplaces but the roof was duct taped. So we decided to tent it up.
We had a great sunset followed by a cool relaxing night.
A little frog buddy that joined us for lunch
Another rattle snake. We had come to think that he is our mascot for the trip.
Some pretty flowers on the side o the trail.
Sunset on top of Bear Mountain
Enjoying the view waiting for fireworks
Sunrise from the tower
The tower we slept in.
Today we are walking over this bridge that spans over the Hudson River. We are planning on staying at a monastery tonight that lets us shower & camp free. Hotels have become over $100 a night so we have to take advantage of any free stuff we can. About 47 miles left in New York then into Connecticut. Hope everyone had a good 4th of July!
-Puddin'
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