Slipping & Sliding in the Empire State

We had our usual climb out of town from Vernon, NJ and only had 8 miles to go before the state line. Before we got there we had one last view & even a little mini waterfall. But, before we made it to New York, we were blessed with one last swamp from Jersey. 

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. 

Sleeping Beauty drinking some pretty brown water. 

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. 

 

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. 

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. 

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' 

Mosquitos & Rattlesnakes & Ticks on my!!

As we finally left Pennsylvania we found ourselves in Delaware Water Gap. We had gotten through the state faster than we had imagined and decided to take a few days off in a quaint motel named Pocono Inn. We even got lucky enough for Paddy Cakes family to come and spoil the hell out of us with the best Trail Magic ever.

Paddy Cakes and me posing with the hiker sign

Paddy Cakes family spoiling us with a wonderful dinner.

(PaddyCakes here) My cousin only lives an hour from DWG so he offered to take us out and treat us like kings.  How could we say no? Little did I know that the whole time he had planned to bring my Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob.  It was so wonderful to see all of them.  We went out to dinner and chatted about the trail, but it was not long enough.  We were sad to see them go.  It was really nice to have family around again and be able to share our stories with them.  It has been since Virginia that my dad came to visit and I can really tell that I am missing my family, so this was a wonderful shot in the arm to get me through the next couple of states.

(Puddin' again)
As we hiked the usual hike up and out of Delaware Water Gap we made our way up to Sun Fish Lake where we came across this wonderful caren rock gardern. It was the most magical thing to see hidden out in the woods.

Rock Garden of Caren's

Some real cool rock formations

Sun Fish Lake was calling our name so we jumped in and cooled down. The lake was deep and had a lot of fish in it. One of them even tried to eat some of my flip flop and my pinky finger.

Sun Fish Lake outside Delaware Water Gap

Sun Fish Lake with a beautiful reflection

We finally found a decent view since we haven't had much but a green tunnel for the past week or so. It was a great view of the Delaware River.

Our first good view in New Jersey

New Jersey is know for a few things and those things are rattlesnakes, bears and ticks. At least that is what New Jersey has meant to us.  Paddy Cakes and I have met a new tick high. In one day we collectively had 11 ticks on us. We have had to start doing multiple tick checks throughout the day to catch them early.

A rattle snake right in the middle of the trail

One of the many swampy ponds we have come across

A beautiful spider web in the sunlight

A football shaped spider web. The spider was in the center waiting.

Just in case we got lost someone wanted to make sure we were going in the right direction

View from the fire tower

Paddy Cakes was trying to make them feel tall

Some wicked mushrooms

The highest point in New Jersey

Paddy Cakes enjoying the view

After hiking in the heat running from mosquitoes and covered in deet we decided we had earned a break and decided to go swimming in the "beach". The beach is actually a lake but it was wonderful because we basically ran into the lake fully clothed and had a wonderful swim and even did laundry.

People Watching

Our Beach Lake where we truly felt like hiker trash doing laundry in the lake.

Relaxing after the swim

Sleeping Beauty getting ready to go back out in the rain in his new rain skirt.

Relaxing on our porch

The grounds of shelter

A wilderness Reserve that we hiked around.

We caught a bunny in mid hop

Thank you New Jersey for putting in boardwalks through your swampy state.

Even though we had boardwalks our feet were soaked.

Paddy Cakes running from the mosquitoes

Tonight we are staying at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church hostel in Vernon, NJ. They have been so friendly and even allowed us to shower & do laundry. We only have 9.1 miles left till we are in New York. The states are flying by as fast as we can write about them. 

-Puddin'