10:16 pm Arrive @ Peakskill Train station, it’s raining lightly.
10:17 pm Ask a taxi driver where Water Street is, it’s still raining.
10:35 pm Realize that the taxi driver sent me in the entirely wrong direction, and it’s raining even more.
10:45 pm Actually start off in the right direction. At this point you can just assume it’s raining.
11:00 pm Realize that most of the 5 miles to the Appalachian Trail is along a two lane freeway with no shoulder.
11:45 pm A black Lexus SUV slows down on the road next to me and asks how far I’m going. I’ve never hitchhiked before but considering their was a car seat in the back and the car was obviously used to cart a couple of kids around I decided to trust him. Besides, it couldn’t be more dangerous than walking alone on the side of a freeway at midnight while it’s raining. The man driving the car is named Fitzroy. Fitzroy is from Jamaica. Fitzroy is awesome. Turns out he was driving in the opposite direction to get gas for his generator because a big storm was coming (I didn’t pick up on the significance of this at the time) and saw me walking on the side of the road. When he saw me for a second time he decided to help. Thanks to him the last mile of that hike took about a minute. Thanks Fitzroy!
11:55 pm Start hiking the AT heading south from the US 9 entrance.
12:30 am It starts raining harder.
3:30 am Reach the Bear Mt. Bridge. The wind on the bridge is so strong I can’t walk in a straight line, and have to be careful not to get blown off the side.
4:00 am Realize I’m lost on the opposite of the bridge, biblical torrential downpour starts.
5:00 am Finally find the AT again.
5:15 am The AT leads me around a corner, and to my surprise there’s an overhang with several vending machines under it. I enjoy the safety of the overhang for a few minutes before moving on.
5:25 am The AT mysteriously ends abruptly. I see a sign to the “Hudson River Crossing” and figure that might be where the AT continues.
5:45 am The Hudson is overflowing into the parking lot, the rain is so thick the beam from my headlamp stops about two feet in front of me, and this is definitely not the AT.
6:00 am Return to the last AT marker I saw. For the life of me I can’t find the next marker and so I decided to seek refuge next to the oddly out of place vending machines.
7:30 am After “sleeping” on the concrete for a while the sun has come up and the rain has eased to a normal drizzle so I venture back out.
7:35 am Find that the missing trail marker is behind a locked fenced for the “Trail Side Zoo”. I hop the fence. The Zookeeper gives me a weird look but says nothing.
8:30 am Torrential downpour starts again.
9:30 am Begin to freeze my ass off.
11:00 am Rain starts to let up. Instead of feeling like being in a carwash there’s only sporadic rain every 15 minutes.
3:00 pm Encounter a wooden lean-to shelter. I’ve run out of most of my food except for two lbs of raw chicken and some uncooked yams. I decide to build a fire to cook these before moving on.
3:15 pm Starting a fire seems to be impossible. Everything is wet. I scrounge some drier wood from under some large boulders and inside the shelter but everything in my pack is moist, toilet paper included. I grab some gauze from my med kit which is sealed but it burns to quick to catch the wet twigs on fire. I have two lighters and I break open one to try to start the fire. Gas starts screaming out and the lighter explodes, but no fire. I find a metal wire from the shelter and fish a battery from my pack and try to start a fire that way, no go. Desperately wanting to cook lunch I search every inch of the shelter. I find an old birds nest covered in cobwebs in the corner, but it doesn’t help. If the nest is too dense it doesn’t burn, but if it’s to loose it burns to quick to catch the twigs. Under one of the floorboards I find an old bubble wrap mail package. It doesn’t burn great, but it does drip flaming drops of plastic onto my collection of twigs, damp paper and bird’s nest. After what seems like forever I slowly build the fire up until I can cook with it. Chicken never tasted so good.
5:00 pm After drying my socks and shoes and wrapping up the rest of lunch for later I set off again. The rain has finally stopped.
5:05 pm The trail leads right through a huge puddle. There’s no way around it. My feet are wet again.
8:00 pm Finally reach the next shelter up the trail. I was hoping to get to the city of Monroe where I could take a bus back to the city sometime that night. After running into a group of 3 middle aged hikers from the Bronx who have a map and guidebook I find out that Monroe is another 2 days walk from where I am. I think my appearance troubles them a bit as they have large packs with lots of food and supplies (which are set up in an elaborate camp site) where as I have a very small pack and am walking around in wet running shoes. I then have the following amazing conversation with one of the guys:
Bronx guy: “You have any food with you?”
Me: “Yeah, I have some food.”
Bronx guy: “Have any Snickers?”
Me: “No”
Bronx guy: “Here” (Throws me a Snickers bar)
I know they’re not paleo, but I think even Grog the caveman would have eaten a Snickers bar at that point. I decide to camp the night here.
6:00 am Wake up. Pack up my stuff and eat the rest of my food. Seeing that I’m eating cold chicken and my last burnt yam wrapped in tin foil while their feasting on hot coffee, trail mix and oatmeal the three hikers offer me food. I refuse. One of them forces another Snickers bar on me. Really, who can resist Snickers.
8:00 am I thank the trio for their hospitality and set off down the trail. It’s 5 miles to the Sapphire Trail which should lead me another 3 miles to a train station.
11:00 am Arrive at Harriman Station.
1:00 pm Arrive in Manhattan and buy a falafel from the first street vendor I see.
Results:
Distance hiked on the AT: 25mi
Distance hiked on the AT: 25mi
Other hiking: 5mi to trail + 3mi on Sapphire + ~5mi of looking for the trail
Total: 38mi
Notes: All in all it was a great trip.
Notes: All in all it was a great trip.
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