GOODBYE NEW JERSEY – HELLO NEW YORK

AT Day 080: Monday June 26, 2023

Mile 1354 + 21.5 miles/35.6 km

Total Distance Hiked: 1375.5 miles/2213 km

Pochuck Mt Shelter – Lake Lodging, Greenwood Lake

A:  3640 ft / 1110 m  D: 3356 ft/ 1024 m

Not only did the predicted thunderstorm not arrive at 4:00 a.m., we woke up to a brilliant sunrise.  With such nice weather we got on our way before 6:00. Our sleep was a bit disrupted last night when we were woken by a large group of women who arrived just after hiker midnight. They proceeded to set up right next to us, negotiating where and how each will  setup using their best outdoor voices and shining the torch into our tent. Definitely not through hikers.  

It was nice to hike in the sun for the first hour before  the rain arrived, a drizzle at first.  The woods were still lovely. It was humid and the woods at times gave off that freshly cut cucumber smell. New Jersey woods have been quite delightful.

The rain didn’t last long before the sun broke through. The predicted severe weather warning  for this morning was obviously active somewhere but we were very grateful that it wasn’t here.

Half a mile of boardwalk through an amazingly big wetland was something completely different for the trail. Lots of birds flying around in the morning. The sun was back out and the rain had gone away. It was beautiful. At the end of the boardwalk section we took a short detour off trail to Heavens Gate Farm Fresh and Garden Centre.  They are famous on trail for their cider donuts and ice cream sandwiches. The store didn’t offer much savoury food so we had the ice cream sandwich. Not my thing and Hammer who likes ice cream was also not impressed. I should have had the donut alone as it tasted quite nice. 

It was nice to take a short break as the following section was a very steep ascent called ‘Stairway to Heaven’. It is a rocky section of trail just over a mile long and rises over 800 feet.  Rolling thunder and a strong wind greeted us when we reached the summit. The breeze was lovely  to dry off our sweat drenched clothes.  The humidity feels very tropical. 

We hiked along the ridge while rolling thunder intensified and it felt like it was getting closer. The wind was strong and around 11am the sky just went dark. Even the birds were silenced. It felt quite eerie, like an eclipse of the sun.  And then the  storm arrived with fury. Thunder and lightning was getting closer and closer until just before we got to the Wawayanda Shelter when an almighty flash of lightening was closely followed by a clap of thunder right above us. Thunder and lightening on ridgetops are quite scary to me.  Just as we made it to the shelter,  the rain stopped. 

At the shelter we met a hiker who was sitting with his face in his hands – not in a happy place. At first he didn’t want to engage with us at all and slowly he looked up. He said he was done, mentally mostly the trail broke him. His name was Bill from Cleveland Ohio, a fit looking man in his early 40s who loves the outdoors and was section hiking the AT having started in Damascus. He was dejected and defeated and feels that he can’t go on. He can’t stomach food, can’t take water and he is just done. We tried chatting to him, trying to gee him up. But his plan was to take the next road out and be done. We suggested he just take a couple of days off and regroup and the old mantra ‘never quit on a bad day’. It was hard to leave him in such a bad mental state, so hopefully he got out. 

After lunch we hiked in a nice breeze.  Rain stopped for a couple of hours and we soon left New Jersey and entered New York. An exciting milestone for sure. New Jersey was really nice and we loved hiking through the beautifully woods. So much more healthy looking green space then we were expecting. 

New York section started very scrappy and ended horrendously for us. From the border the trail follows a rocky ridgetop with fabulous views on a good day. Today was not a good day. We had a brief view of an enormous lake down below before thunderstorms,  that we thought had passed, returned with even more fury. We were exposed with nowhere to hide walking over slippery rocks in pelting rain as thunder and lightening got closer.  I had to put my camera and phone away in my pack, as I realised that this storm may not pass so quickly. We slowly inched our way across the rocks, having to scramble on all fours at times to go over. As the thunder and lightening got closer we looked to get off the ridge to a lower point in the surrounding scrubby vegetation, hoping the worst will pass.   The wind intensified and our umbrellas were twisting, we were soaked to the skin anyway.

We were reminded of the Colorado high country thunderstorms we experienced on the CDT.  Except this time we were not cold.  We had to get off this ridge and the only way was over the rocks. So we did, slipping and sliding, it was like walking on ice. It took us a couple of hours to finally descend into the darkness of the woods. Shaken and a little bit scratched but otherwise OK. The shelter we were going to was still hours away. I no longer had easy access to the map so I had no idea how far. And I dared not get my hopes up that there could be a road crossing coming up and a way out. 

We were descending slowly and the rain continued beating down on us. It was close to 7pm when we passed a series of hand-painted happy signs stuck on a  tree.  One pointed to ‘a village – 0.9 miles. I said to Hammer ‘ maybe we should go there and look for shelter’ even though I had no idea of what village could be nearby.  ‘No’ he said ‘we can’t be far from the trail shelter’. So we hiked on in pelting rain, and at least the thunder and lightening were a  bit more distant. 

As we hiked on, with our  heads down it was clear that this storm was not going to pass. I was mentally preparing myself for the discomfort of getting the tent up in this downpour and accepting that we will be wet even undercover. Or at best may be able to squeeze into a possibly crowded shelter. I dared not get my hopes up of escaping the trail altogether. 

It was almost 7.30 when I heard the sound of a passing car. I said to Hammer – ‘that’s a road coming up, we have to try to get off the trail’.  We reached Route 17A and were  fortunate to find an information board with a deep awning under which we could shelter and regroup. I got my phone out and found we were not far from the ‘village’ of Greenwood Lake. A call to ‘Lake Lodging’ motel and they had one room – the last room – available. Jim from the motel came to pick us up at the trailhead. What a sight we must have been – a couple of down and out,  drowed rats. 

It felt unbelievable that within 30 minutes of reaching the road we could be sheltered in a warm room and showered while the storm continued to rage outside. The motel staff even did our laundry! I dared not entertain the hope of ending the day in a hotel, while we were slogging on in the rain. It was such a relief when Jim said he’ll come and pick us up I burst into tears. Feeling  a little broken by the trail today but hopefully not defeated, yet.  We thought of Bill back at the shelter and prayed that he got out before this storm.