New Jersey, pedicures, drive-ins, and more!

Hi folks!

Well, it’s been roughly a week since I checked in; since Port Clinton, PA, I believe. Since then, I’ve hiked about 158 miles, left Pennsylvania behind, passed through all of New Jersey, and moved on to New York! Very exciting stuff! Let’s get into it…

Firstly, we can’t talk hiking without getting into the weather. Unfortunately, it’s been pretty rainy and stormy lately. Today, especially, we’ve had heavy, steady rain courtesy of tropical storm Debby. I’m sitting right now at Kathy’s Cafe in Greenwood, NY, waiting for the rain to subside enough to finish up the rest of the day. Hiking in the lighter rain is just fine, but it certainly dampens the spirit when it hits you hard. What’s more, hostels start to get more rare and more expensive the farther north on the trail you get, so options to get off trail for a warm bed are limited.

Despite this, we have been able to press on and still have a great time! I have been hiking with fellow NOBO’s Zero G and Lo Mein still, though Lo Mein has fallen behind by just a bit. We’ll hope to reconnect soon! The rocky terrain in Pennsylvania persisted about twenty miles or so into New Jersey, but finally we seem to have returned to some decently clear paths! Not only that, but at the pace we’ve been going, I think we’re beginning to catch up to the tail end of the bubble of northbound thru hikers, as we’re seeing more and more people each day! It is always nice to meet new folks on trail!

In the upcoming weeks, we’ll pass pretty quickly through New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts; each state having less than 100 miles on the AT. That makes it pretty fun, hitting a new state every week or so. As of today, I’ll have hiked 1,378 miles of the trail, leaving just about 819 miles left! My pacing graph estimates a finish at this rate at about mid-September! Pretty soon, I’m sure I’ll have to ship myself back some warmer gear, as the temperatures are getting down to about 60°F at night most days. That’s great, as long as you’re dry!

Some rapid fire things of note from the last week:

• We stayed at a hostel in the back of Bert’s Steakhouse in Palmerton, PA that was for sure haunted by the dolls they had there…
• We stayed at a motel so sketchy that Lo Mein set his tent up in the room rather than sleep on the floor for fear of bugs…
• We got pedicures from huge schools of bluegill at Crater Lake!
• We camped at the Warwick, NY drive-in movie theatre, where we could pitch our tents and catch a movie!

This will be a shorter post, as I’m gonna get going to try and hike the remaining 5-ish miles of my day while the rain has subsided! I’ll check in with y’all later!