Huffhike

New York

After a quick 72 miles in New Jersey, I crossed the state line and was in New York. The border was etched by a NY / NJ spray painted in the rock. After crossing the border, underneath the rock there was a small Christmas village that someone had left. Soon after being in New York the first signs of New England could be seen, boulders, ghost pipe plants, as well as some terrain that felt similar. Finally, being able to see some signs of New England felt so great.

Although I know the trail in New England will become more difficult and the days hiking will be longer. There is still something comforting about being close to home. Maybe it is the comfort knowing you are within a 3 hour ride from being home, or maybe the idea that you know the woods, mountains and people. But at the end of the day when I saw my first bolder field in New York, I instantly felt excited.

As we got into New York, one of my friends that I was hiking with, Guru, mentioned that his buddy was going to be hiking a section with him and was going to give him a ride into the city so he could go home for a few days. He then offered the rest of our group to join him in New York if we wanted to. Knowing that I was hoping to take a day in NYC (which I had never visited before) and genuinely enjoying the group I was hiking with, I quickly agreed to join along. After a bit of discussion, Guru mentioned that the game plan would be to hike 26 miles the day his friend was going to meet him (6 of which we’d hike with his friend) then hike 16 miles to the base of Bear Mountain the following day. Seeing that the plan made sense we started the following day hiking 26 miles to the next shelter.

As we hiked the heat started to dig in as well as the boulders. It slowly made the miles and the day significantly harder and it caused the day to last longer than most days. In the southern states, when I would cover 26 miles I could probably make it to the shelter or campsite around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. But due to the boulders which significantly slowed our pace, I did not make it to the shelter until 6 or 7pm.

Once we got to the shelter I was mobbed by mosquitos. After I pitched my tent, I instantly went in my tent and told everyone I wasn’t going to eat dinner and solely blamed it on the bugs. After about 10 or 15 minutes the hiker’s hunger kicked in and I crawled out of my tent and made myself 2 ramen packets and an instant potato packet and called it a night.

After waking up, myself, Guru, and his buddy Cullen started the climb to Bear Mountain. The hike going into Bear Mountain was fun, and the view at the top of the tower was incredible. You could see several of the ridge lines we walked in the past few days, and on top of that we were able to get a bird’s eye view of New York City. While hiking the trail up to Bear Mountain, me and Guru were stopped several times by day hikers who were intrigued on what we were doing and where we were going. After answering the normal questions, we would keep on hiking. After a few miles of a cruisy downhill we reached the bottom of Bear Mountain and we found Beefstick and Sarge. After we had gone to the bathroom and filled our bottles for the ride, the four of us packed into Cullen’s car and we were on our way into the city.

Once we got to the city, Guru had picked out our loaner clothes, and with the help of his girlfriend we took the subway to a local bar to catch a world cup match. After the game we walked back to their apartment.

The following day, we knocked out all of the “tourist” events. We went to tines square, saw the statue of liberty, and Zoe was even kind enough to take us to the art museum where she works. Where we saw starry night as well as a few other paintings. After we called it a day and packed so we could continue our trek towards Maine.

The next day we hopped on the train and were on our way back to trail. While taking the train you could feel the judgement from the other commuters. I completely understand why, who wouldn’t judge 3 people who smelt incredibly bad and who had hiking backpacks who were commuting during the rush hour.

But at the end of the day I felt unfazed by the odd looks or the way that people were looking at me. To be honest the lack of concern for how others perceived me felt good. To the point that I laughed out loud at the absurdity of the situation when one commuter got up because of my smell.

This change of pace was an amazing feeling. I feel like growing up and a fair bit of my earlier 20s I was a bit too concerned about other opinions of me. I would sometimes find myself making decisions based on what I would think others would want me to do or what “society” may want or expect out of me. For so many months prior to this trail I spent time pondering if I was doing something “wrong” and how friends, family, coworkers, or even strangers I met on a dating app would perceive me pausing my job to hike. But at the end of the day the only “wrong” way to live life is to live it based on someone else’s expectations.

By taking the train through New York it solidified that thought. If anything comes from this trail and more specifically New York. I hope that in the next phase of my life I can continue to live a life that I want to live. At the end of the day we are all living on Borrowed Time, so not living in a manner you want is squandering our limited time in this rock.

Once we commuted back to Bear Mountain, we walked through the bear mountain zoo. It was incredibly cool that the trail went through an actual zoo. But seeing the native animals roaming in their natural habitat throughout the trail to the same species being in a confined space was a bit depressing. After we passed through the zoo we crossed over the Bear Mountain bridge and continued to hike north. Like leaving most towns, the climb leaving town was rough, it was a direct uphill climb but after a bit of hiking we hit a gas station. As always hitting a gas station was a win as it allowed us to resupply and more importantly get some soda and some gas station hot food. Thankfully this gas station in particular had a deli so I ordered a sub and we ate lunch. After a bit we packed up and made our way to camp.

Knowing we were in the Deli blaze portion of the trail. We planned the next day around places where we could get some hot food. The first place we had in mind was a local lake that was a bit off trail. Outside of allowing us the opportunity to get hot food it allowed us to swim which surprisingly enough was a rarity on trail, as most water sources and bodies of water came in streams. After getting to the lake, I took advantage of the flushable toilets and free chargers and went for a quick swim. After a few hours I made my way to the concession stand and ate a good amount of food and started to push miles. After a few hours my stomach began to turn and I had to take a few minute break. After a bit I stumbled upon the group and we waited for War Hammer to catch up as he took an extra day in New York.

Once he caught up we made the final push to a pizza restaurant that allowed thru-hikers to camp in their back yard space for free. Naturally that allowed me and the other thru-hikers to take advantage of pizza and Italian food a few feet from our tents. So I took advantage of that and ate a slice of authentic New York white pizza (highly recommended by Shopie) and then for dinner ate an entire bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. It was an incredibly great meal, and afterwards I slept like a rock, knowing that the the next day I would be in Connecticut and back in New England.