EMILY'S ESCAPADES

Day 129 Sunday July 30, 2017 Miles: ZERO Weather: Awesome Slepted at the Douel's It's going to be so hard to leave here. Breakfast was amazing So much fresh fruit, pastries for Shortcake and Batman and they even researched gluten free so I had cereal and toast to fill my empty tummy. They were so thoughtful. Lunch was another fiesta but supper was a banquet with steak and chicken, roasted baked potatoes with carrot and onions, summer squash with zucchini cubes, corn on the co

Day 128 Saturday July 29, 2017 Miles: 1388.3 - 1402.9    Completed: 14.6 Time: 6:42am - 4:45pm Weather: Cooler, Warm, beautiful sky Lots of deer sights today. First we saw two lambs and a doe. Then two does and one solo. They are so pretty. We never get tired of them. We saw the NY sky line from a ridge top. That's as close to the city as I ever want to go. I am one of the few Americans who has no desire to visit the Big Apple. I really don't. But seeing it from a distance wa

Day 127 Friday July 28, 2017 Miles: 1374.0 - 1388.3    Completed: 14.3 Time: 7:30am - 6:18pm Weather: Cloudy and Hot The day was awesome. We worked hard over steep forest climbs under gigantic tall forests and tough rock squeezes and scrambles. The trail was like a rollercoaster except our descents did not propel us up and over the next climb. It was another fun New York day on the trail. We saw our first copperhead snake. If only it was one. There were copperheads galore. In

Day 126 Thursday July 27 2017 Mile: 1362.1 - 1374.0    Completed:    11.9 Time: 7:55am - 5:40pm Weather: Cloudy, slightly humid and a little misty Black Bear Photo by shortcake We have exited New Jersey and entered our 9th state. New York has been so much fun. That's my description. If you ask most other hikers they will say how hard it's been. It has lots of rocks but not like the relentless PA stones. Here in NY it's more like a jungle gym. We had our first rebar climb. I j

Day 125 Wednesday July 26, 2017 Miles: 1350.4 - 1362.1    Completed: 11.7 Time: 6:35am - 2:00pm Weather: Partly cloudy, cooler, cloudy One could not have asked for a better day to be on the trail. If only I would heed my own advice. Patience is the key. It seems like I get to a point where I can only handle so much yuck before I have a melt down. Hence my blog  a couple days ago. If only I would stop, take a deep breathe, and hang on just little longer all will change. In our

Day 124 Tuesday July 25, 2017 Miles: 1338.0 - 1350.4    Completed: 12.4 Time: 7:35am - 3:30pm Tenting at Pochuck Shelter I slept descent last night. The rain stopped at some point but the droplets from the canopy danced off my tent all night. I do like sleeping in the rain. It blocks all noise whether it's snoring or loud people and also forest noises. I can't hear animals lurking outside scaring me half to death. Instead of being nervous the rain blocks all that out and if t

Day 123 Monday July 24, 2017 Miles: 1325.0 - 1338.0    Completed: 13.0 Time: 10:47am - 7pm Weather: Cloudy, cooler, ended in rain Tenting at High Point Shelter Sleeping in is a rare occasion out here so we took advantage of the rain keeping us put. That sounds plus the 3:30am arrival of the two hikers disturbed our sleep. Once the rain stopped we packed up and headed out. Still rocky. It's been no bed of roses lately. It seems like all I do is complain about this or complain

Day 122 Sunday July 23, 2017 Miles:1308.6 - 1325.0 completed: 16.8 Time: 7:35am - 7:00pm Weather: Cloudy, Humid, Rain Tenting inside Gren Anderson Shelter The rocks continue to spew over further into Nee Jersey. I can navigate them pretty successfully but they do tire my ankles more then I prefer. Shortcake on the other hand struggles for foot placement. Between both of us the rocks slow us down considerably. Our days are long and we are exhausted when we get done. Add wet cr

Day 121 Saturday July 22, 2017 Miles: 1295.3 - 1308.6 Completed: 13.3 Time: 8:38am - 6:10pm Weather: cloudy, hot and balmy Tenting at mile 1308.6 We are back in the woods after another wonderful stretch of slack packing and glamping. We really enjoy and appreciate the amenities of the real world but it is also so wonderful to be back on the trail. One draw back of town days and slack packing is you get out of the hiking groove. Every hiker develops his or her own routine of

Day 120 Friday July 20, 2017 Miles: ZERO HOTEL Sheraton in Parsippany, NJ We are rested and we'll feed so it's time to get serious again and hit the trail. We are in our hotel chilling. We have slowly done our zero day chores over these last three days. Our resupply, laundry and repacking are done. All we have to do is rest and watch TV while we wait for the sun to go down. It feels great having nothing to do. After watching the documentary on our 2015 hike I can't wait to hi