Pamola's Quest - Push 19 - The Push Beyond Kent, CT - Part 1

Push 19 - The Push Beyond Kent, CT - Part 1 

This post will cover the first five days of the Push.

Push 19 started as I headed out of Unionville, NY.  This push would be longer than the last two combined. Coming in at 129.2 miles and taking me ten days to complete, including the zero day I needed to take for my feet.  I would finish two states (NJ and NY) during this Push.  I would also hike my first 20+ day of the Quest.  

Day 102 - 16.8 miles - Wawayanda Shelter
Day 103 - 10.1 miles - Warwick, NY
Day 104 - 0 miles - Warwick, NY
Day 105 - 16.3 miles - Fingerboard Shelter
Day 106 - 15.5 miles - Fort Montgomery, NY
Day 107 - 6.4 miles - Graymoor Center
Day 108 - 13.8 miles - Fahnestock State Park
Day 109 - 14.0 miles - Morgan Stewart Shelter
Day 110 - 20.6 miles - Ten Mile River Shelter
Day 111 - 15.7 miles - Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter

A Day of Moving at Different Speeds

I awoke to a wet morning.  A light shower had passed in the night.  I packed up and ate breakfast in the park gazebo and decided to resupply at the General Store and avoid the hitch into Vernon, NJ.  

After adding to my pack weight with a full food bag, I headed out and walked the road back to the trail.  The first five miles went super fast. It was a completely flat, grassy walk along the perimeter of the Wallkill Reserve.  I finished those five miles in two hours.

The next two hours would see me only doing 2.5 miles as I made my way over a couple of rocky hills.  It was quite a difference.  Eventually I came to NJ 94 which led into Vernon, NJ.  I walked over to a farm store near the trail and had some ice cream, chocolate milk and a donut.  Padfoot, the local Ridge Runner was there eating cherries and she shared some with me.  She told me about what was coming next, a long climb up Wawayanda Mountain called the "Stairway to Heaven".  

The climb would be long, but not too bad.  I had met Scrambles and Grouch once again as I headed up and I stayed with them until they stopped for water.  My feet were giving me signs that they weren't too happy, but they weren't at the screaming stage yet.  I started thinking about taking a day off to rest them. I called a motel in the next town I would be near and made a reservation for two nights.  It was time for my first (and only) zero of this Phase.

In this area of the trail, there were several coolers set near road crossings, mostly carrying water.  This is appreciated as most of the natural water in the area are full of tannins and have a nice tea shade of brown.  One cooler even had some sodas and I enjoyed a root beer before heading up the next hill.

Trail Magic comes in many different ways

I arrived at the shelter and set up.  Padfoot came in and another came and ate dinner before moving on.  I had to retire to my hammock to eat my dinner as the mosquitoes were being extra bitchy today.  

At one point during the day, I had a nice view back towards High Point.  It was cool being able to see where you feet had brought you from just a day ago.  I seemed pretty far away to my eyes.  

High Point. Yesterday's Hike.

Finishing New Jersey

With my feet now insisting on a zero, I made my plans for the day.  I had three options, depending on how the feet responded to walking once again.  The first, was a short .5 mile walk to the first road which was a couple miles out of town.  The next would be another mile and a half or so and the last would be 10.1 miles and the finish of NJ.

I was feeling pretty good in the morning.  A night's sleep always seems to help the feet for awhile and I really starting wanting to get NJ finished and enter NY for good.  Little did I know what NY was going to throw at me, but that would be something I would figure out after the zero.  

There were no long climbs, but the trail stayed up on the ridge top a lot and the glacier carved rocky tops were where the trail led.  Most of the blazes were on the rocky treadway.  Eventually I came to the NJ/NY border and celebrated another state complete.

New York quickly welcomes you with quite a few rock scrambles.  Some even needing the help of embedded rebar to be used like a ladder.  The rocky patches were a nice challenge for awhile.  Eventually, they would become tiresome.  But, like all things out here, you continue on and eventually they end.  You reach the top of the mountain, you pass the rocky side of the hillside and the track turns nice.  The Trail is the Trail.

Rebar Ladder

Yep, the Trail goes that way.

Along the way, I met a day hiker out who said he hiked here all the time.  I lazily fell in behind him, thinking I could just follow him for awhile and not worry about finding blazes on the ground.  Well, that turned out to not be the best decision as he later admitted (after we had lost the trail) that it had been awhile since he last hiked here.  

No worries though as we quickly found the trail again and I led the way from there.  Eventually we arrived at Prospect Rock which is the highest point of the trail in NY and his turnaround point.  I said see-ya and hiked on.

Eventually, the trail moved down off the ridgetop and started heading for NY 17, which would be my day's goal.  I started seeing more Muggles coming up the trail, so I knew I was getting close.  Several of them mentioned an awesome creamery that I just had to visit.  I got to the road and headed for the creamery.  It was Sunday. It was crowded. I stayed long enough to talk to a couple of hikers, one being Woodpecker, who I last saw in the Smokys for about 5 seconds.  She remembered me and we caught up for another 5 seconds until she moved on.  

I checked my Uber app and saw that there was a driver nearby and decided to use that method to get to the Motel.  So far, I haven't really had to hitch a ride.  Either a van has shown up right as I needed it or the walk was easy to town or wherever I was going.  Besides, no one wants to pick up a solo, old, grey bearded, smelly hiker if they don't have to.  Using Uber was quick and easy and not too expensive.

Before I knew it, I was at the Motel.  It was still early in the day and there wasn't a soul around the place.  No chamber maids or desk worker.  I called the number that was on the sign and sat down to rest in the nice leather sofas.  I helped myself to a soda from the fridge and before too long, Harry, the proprietor came in.

He offered me a bagel, which I readily accepted and I snacked as I waited for my room to be ready.  Eventually, Harry, gave me a key and some shampoo and said the room isn't quite finished being changed over, but I could get in and clean up if I wanted.  I'm not a picky hotel guest, so I was cool with that.  I took a shower and got my clothes ready for the free laundry they offer and eventually, the guy came in and picked up the dirty linens that were in a pile near the door.  I knew the room hadn't been completely cleaned, but I didn't care.  I had a bed, toilet, and running water at my beck and call and wifi and electricity for my electronics.  I was happy and my feet were happy too.

I headed down to a nearby deli and got some lunch.  I also picked up a few things for resupply to top off my food bag.  I didn't need much, but did need new headphones as my old ones had disappeared on my.  Most likely falling out of my pants pocket at some time.

I relaxed in the room, catching up on some of my DVR'ed TV shows and cleaned my clothes.  Rain was in the forecast for the next day, so I figured it was a perfect time to take this zero and rest my feet.  Of course, I still would be walking.  The center of "town" is about a mile away, so I will be heading there to see what they offer and maybe eat some town food.  

A Motel Zero Day

The next morning did dawn a little wet, but I wasn't going to just lay around the Motel all day.  I donned my rain jacket and headed into town.  In addition to some town food, I was looking for some stove fuel.  The canister I had started with had lasted pretty long, but I could tell it didn't have too many burns left.  Alas, I didn't find any on my walk, but I did stop at Burger King for a second breakfast and picked up a menu from a pizza place where I would order my dinner for delivery later.  It was a pleasant, level walk with no load and I enjoyed the day.  My feet felt good, but were enjoying the no load walking.  I headed back to the Motel and watched more TV and just hung out.  

I ordered a piece of a stromboli and some wings for dinner and after eating all I could, still had a nice piece of stromboli for tomorrow's lunch that I would pack out with me. 

The next morning, as I was eating another bagel for breakfast and drinking Harry's coffee, I mentioned my need to get back to the trail.  Harry told me that a bus stops right outside and I could get back to the creamery for less than two dollars.  I ate up and was at the bus stop when it came by at 5 minutes to 7 in the am.  There was only one other person on board when I got on.  Soon, I was back at the trail and heading back up into the NY rocks.

My feet were feeling good again.  The deep blisters on the balls of my feet would remain for the rest of the Phase, but the pain never got beyond the grumbling stage.  Hurting feet are par for the course out there.  You get used to it and even forget about it at times when other body parts take their turn hurting.  It becomes a steady low pitched hum in your consciousness.  

Trail Magic and Squeezed Lemons

New York continued to be rocky and climby. I started along at a decent pace, but today would have me losing the trail several times.  This is something that seemed to happen a lot while I was in NY.  I'm not exactly sure of the cause, but I think at least part of it was the fact that the forest is pretty open in this area and a lot of the areas seem like they would be busy with muggles during the weekend.  There seem to be several trails going this way and that in the open forest.  If you aren't careful and paying attention, you could wander off along a definite trail that you think is the AT, but isn't.

The first place this happened to me was at Fitzgerald Falls.  As I passed Wildcat Shelter, three hikers came out behind me and followed me down to the falls.  I came to the falls, took a quick photo, then crossed and started walking down what I thought was the trail.  I noticed pretty quickly that there were no blazes, so I turned around and went back to the falls.  I would come to find the usefulness (and awesomeness) of the Guthook App for verifying your location in relation to the trail.  I would end up using it several times after this to once again, confirm that I had let my concentration lapse and had wandered off trail again.  

When I got back to the falls, the hikers were there, taking a break and I saw now that the trail went up along the falls in a series of stone steps.  I continued on along the proper trail.  I would get turned around once more at the top of the falls, before the other trails petered out. 

There were several trail magic water stashes along the way today.  One spot, where I stopped for lunch, had some folding chairs and a bug candle, that I couldn't get lit.  I started thinking that carrying a small bug candle, might be a good idea. One day I would have to try that.  

As I made my way up one of the steep hand over hand climbs of the day, I came upon the end piece of a Walmart trekking pole.  I picked it up and tried to shove it into my pack, just in case I meet up with someone with 1 and 2/3's trekking poles, but couldn't get it in.  Another hiker was making his way down at the same time, so I just put the pole piece down and continued on.  

I took a short break at Island Pond and then started for the Lemon Squeezer, a popular rock feature just ahead.  On the way there, I passed a group of people who had the usual questions.  Then they asked me if I wanted a snack?  A hiker never says no to offered food, so, of course I said yes.  The next five minutes was filled with them handing me stuff and me accepting it. Either shoving it in my mouth right away, or in my pocket for later.  They ended up giving me almonds, chocolate, gatorade, a strawberry and a banana.  It was awesome.  I thanked them way more than the prescribed three times and continued on my way.  

I passed two hikers, Buckle and Lucky Star and came to the Lemon Squeezer.  I made it up, but had to take off my pack and throw it up on the ledge before climbing up.  I helped Buckle get her pack up and then headed onward.  When Lucky Star came up, she wanted to see if she could do it with her pack on, but she handed me her trekking poles.  I immediately noticed that they were 1 2/3s of a set.  I mentioned that I had seen the other part of her pole on a steep climb and apologize for not trying harder to bring it along.  I think Karma repaid me down the trail before I finished this Push.  

Lemon Squeezer

The Fingerboard Caper of Pearl and Sinatra

I arrived at the empty shelter and found my spot.  I also found a good tree for my food bag as there have been several reports (and a video) of a troublesome bear, enjoying lazy hiker's food from time to time.  

Shortly after I was set up, a young man hiked in and was in the shelter.  He came down to my hammock and we talked about where the water was and introduced ourselves to each other.  He was Firefly.  A 19 year old German kid, out doing two months of hiking before starting University.  I would spend the next several days ending up at the same place, or nearly so, for the night.  He was a good kid and I enjoyed hiking with him.  I would lose him after Kent, CT, but we would keep hearing of each other until the Phase ended.  

As I was hanging out up at the shelter, a guy came in to the shelter and was followed shortly after by Pearl, who I had met in DWG.  They told this wonderful story about how, when they were picked up by a past year Thru Hiker and they gave them wine, let them stay at their place and fed them and all the magical stuff that seems to happen to other hikers and never me.  I smiled and nodded at the right places then headed to my hammock for the night.  

The next day I would see on Facebook that this past year Thru Hiker and her spouse, were saying that this dude, Sinatra by trail name, had ripped them off while staying at their house.  They said he stole food and money and left a big shit in the toilet.  What the fuck? I'm not sure why Pearl wasn't considered an accomplice to the said crime, but they expressed worry for her safety as they were now painting this guy as a potential serial killer or something.  I had to laugh at how it had spun so out of control, so fast, but that is how the Book of Face works.  

So, being the Devil's Advocate here, maybe the couple were so drunk that they forgot that they had given them all the food and such.  It was just another case of drama on the trail, just like when Zen accused The General of shit down in Damascus that turned out to be utter bull shit.  I would continue to see Sinatra at weird places along the trail for the next several days.  He never killed me or anyone else as far as I could tell, but I seemed to always be extra aware of my gear when I was around him.  

Hiking With The Blues

The next morning, I was up and out early, as the mosquitoes were biting again.  I headed to a nearby lake that had picnic tables, rest rooms and vending machines.  I found an outlet and charged my phone while I made coffee and ate breakfast.  I ended up spilling most of my coffee, but I was able to wash out some of my clothes in the rest room and get water for the morning.  

I found myself dragging today and I still had two fairly large mountains to climb before coming to the Bear Mountain Zoo and the lowest point on the trail.  I was having what I call the Day Two Blues.  Something that seems to hit me a lot on my other section hikes, where I'm just not feeling it out there on the second day of the hike.  I guess the zero day had reset that clock and made me question my motives and forced myself to find my drive and keep going.  

I stopped for a break at the William Brien Memorial Shelter and before I left, Babbit and Shower Queen came in.  While we were talking, I mentioned that I was starting to get concerned that I haven't been able to find another canister of fuel lately.  He repeated the magical words that are ubiquitous out here "The Trail Will Provide".  I agreed and headed out.  His words, of course, would come true before the day was out. 

The day was hot and as I started the climb of West Mountain, I checked my water and decided that I would have enough to get up this mountain and up Bear Mountain next.  I passed a nice flowing stream with confidence.  Not four miles later, I would be out of water and cursing my having to relearn this lesson once again.  But, that's how you learn.  Even if you have to re-learn it over again every once and awhile.  

Two years ago, LoGear and I hike here.  It was a short overnight when we were on our way to Millinocket, ME for the Trail's End Festival.  We had run out of water at the top of the mountain and had to go most of the way down the other side to get water.  After finding it, we had to return back up the mountain.  That was part of the reason for taking less water.  I remembered that climb up the mountain and was hoping to do it with a little less weight.  Sometimes the 2 lbs per liter is worth the weight.

I made my way up and once again got turned around at a section of the trail.  Luckily, I had just passed a couple of day hikers and when I saw them again, I realized my mistake.  What had happened is I saw a hiker come up the trail towards me and just went where he came from.  What I didn't realize was that was a short cut that had been used a lot and now it looked like trail.  When I got through the short cut, I saw a blaze.  The thing is though, that was a Sobo blaze and not Nobo, and just like that, I was heading in the wrong direction.

Eventually I would get down to the bottom of the Mountain.  I only had a couple of swallows of water left.  As I started up Bear Mountain, I remembered what someone had told us about an old road that the Trail follows for awhile.  If you follow that road and don't take the AT turn off, you continue up the mountain and meet the AT on its way down the other side.  Since I had already hiked up to the top of Bear Mountain and since I was feeling like shit, I decided to take that short by-pass.  Yes, I skipped a little bit of Trail, but I really didn't give a shit at the time.  I was tired, feeling blue and pretty thirsty.  I needed to get down to the picnic area, where I knew there was water.  Someday, I will return and hike that short distance that I skipped.  

Soon, I was at the Picnic Area/Park/Zoo.  The place was mobbed with families from two distinct groups, but no one would feed me.  Oh well, I stopped at the concession and was going to get a hot dog (the cheapest item), but they were out, so I bought a $6 hamburger.  I just needed to get some food in my belly.

I continued walking through the park.  My plans each morning for the last couple of days had been tentative and fluid.  I would think about different end points during the day and go as far as my feet and legs would agree to take me.  Today, I was thinking that stopping here at Bear Mountain and heading into Fort Montgomery for the night might be a good idea for both my body and mind.  

After walking through the sad zoo, I came out to where the Trail crosses the Hudson River on the Bear Mountain Bridge.  I saw to woman sitting under a tree and asked them if they were waiting for a ride.  It turned out that they were waiting for the proprietor of the Bear Mountain Bridge Motel to pick them up and that was where I was planning to go.  I made a quick call to ensure a room was available and when Kurt showed up, I explained that I had called his wife and would like to come along with the two women.  

The Bear Pen at Bear Mtn Zoo (with vultures as a bonus)
The lowest point of the trail.

As I was talking with Mud Face and Fuss Bus, a daughter, mother team who had come out for a 30 day Hike, Fuss Bus said she would give me her leftover canister of fuel.  The Trail had Provided.  This canister would last me the rest of this Phase.

I settled into my room and cleaned up.  There was a restaurant across the street and I ended up eating with Mud Face and Fuss Bus and later I sat and hung out with them on the porch of the Motel's owners as they drank their celebratory wine.  

This Push was getting expensive with all the Motel stays, but you gotta take it when you need it.  

Next: The last five days of Push 19

Peace,
EarthTone and LoGear