Back from the first leg of my trail travel goal (NY/NJ AT section).
First, the Good:
-Great terrain for decent weather hiking. Ranges from Rock topped ridges with fantastic lake views (so they tell me) to marshy areas with great greenery and bird life. Easy sod trail to boulder areas (covered with lichens) that require hand-over-hand climbing or descending.
-Great chance to spend some time with our friend Andrew T. Cattano who was gracious enough to pick me and and shuttle me to the drop off point (and share a slice of NY’s finest pizza. ok, I made the finest part up),
-Salomon Wings shoes and MountianSmith Trekking poles saved my bacon at least a dozen times while working the slick rocks of NY/NJ
-random friendly stranger ‘Jamie from Warwick, NY’ who hauled my saturated carcass and gear around to my car when the park rangers ‘discouraged’ me from proceeding down Wawayanda Mt. over the boulders in the deluge that was ensuing. The guy had leather seats and OFFERED to take me when he saw me emerge at the trail/rd intersection. Call it trail magic or divine intervention but I am sending some healthy prayers that guys way.
-Hung a bear bag for the first time and still had food in the AM….even after finding out that my hanging spot was perilously close to a bear den. Dumb luck is my guess.
-dodged three thunder/lightning storms on Sunday night that the forecast wasn’t predicting. First two skirted west. The last one went over the top at about 1:30am. I heard a big crack at 2am and assumed it was my food bag getting boosted but low and behold, it was a lightning strike nearby….like I said, dumb luck
-having a chance to reflect on and appreciate my family.
-Big Agnes sleep mattress. Most comfortable night I have spent on the ground…
-New Jersey marshlands in the rain feel fantastically tropical. Large leaf ground/wetlands growth and lots of exposed tree roots and the hiking is over man made planks (underwater for my trip). Of course, with much water cometh much Mosquitos. Thank goodness for pack size deet
-Learned a lot. About self and elements. Mostly learned that I made some very poor decisions due to circumstance and got lucky. Nature doesn’t care if you have a schedule to keep. You abide by its rules/schedules/conditions only or risk the consequences.
It should be said…while I was taking all of this in, I missed the little things from home. I can do without the warm bed for a bit and brewed coffee in the AM but there is little substitute for helping your little girl get ready for bed and hearing your wife’s sleepy breathing to let you know that things are ok….
And the not-so-good:
-What an atrocity the meteorological profession is. Forecast for where I was headed was scattered 40-50% chance of showers. I had constant thunderstorms and a 38 minute window over two days when it did not rain. and this rain was downpour rain….not ‘shower’ rain. I was at a point in the trail when lightning was striking and thought “I need to get out of the standing water” and I looked around and there was nowhere I could go to get above the standing water.
-Had a bear ‘hiss’ at me shortly after breaking camp Monday AM. Close to my bear bag and too close to my camp area. Apparently she was warning me away from her den but it is the strangest sound I have ever heard in the woods and not a friendly one.
-Need to find a better way to protect sleeping gear from moisture. Everything was soaked in my pack (with a cover) and at that humidity level, even in a shelter, that stuff isn’t drying in an overnight respite.
Other than hissing bear, the only wildlife encountered was a skunk who fled to a rock cave and stared at me with beady eyes while I wondered how far he could shoot his stench, some salamanders and newts (colorful) while setting up camp and a deer that I hiked up to in pouring rain so that neither of us heard each other until I was 10-15 yards away. She bolted and I still don’t know which of us was more startled.