Twig Adventures

Sunday September 12th, 2021, 0630-1700PA Route 309 to Pocahontas Spring, SOBO AT mm 970.123 miles3241 gain, 3422 loss My impromptu campsite worked just fine but I was slow to rise in the morning. I really feared that my toe might keep me from hiking. I was reluctant to face the music getting out of the tent. I manipulated the toe with my fingers, bracing for some sort of pain, but it didn’t come. This at least informed me that the joint was fine. I took a few tentative steps, expecting white hot searing pain to shoot up my spinal cord. I felt only a dull ache and breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared that I could still walk. I[…]

Saturday September 11th, 2021, 0600-19002 miles west of Wind Gap to half a mile south of PA Route 309, SOBO AT mm 94732.5 miles4764 gain, 4905 loss Man, what a day, by far my longest on the AT and not something I’d want to do again anytime soon. I didn’t plan my food situation between my next expected town stop very well. After starting out, I realized that I was short one dinner and some snacks. Rather than just hitching to one of the myriad of small towns along the way, I got the idea of having either lunch or dinner at a restaurant that was right on trail. I would either need to slow way down or speed up[…]

Friday September 10th, 2021, 1230-1920Delaware Water Gap to 2 miles west of Wind Gap, PA, SOBO AT mm 914.617.6 miles3356 gain, 2241 loss I spent a large portion of the morning lounging in bed, working on my phone. I didn’t feel in too much of a hurry to get back on the trail. Housekeeping almost had to chase me out of the hotel room, as I hung there right until check-out. I had to go back to the church hostel to pack the rest of my things that were still all spread out. On the way, I stopped at the bakery to get a giant stack of strawberry shortcake. I was determined to eat the whole thing before departing town…[…]

Thursday September 9th, 2021, 0600-1750Yards Reservoir ridge tentsite to Delaware Water Gap, SOBO AT mm 89710 miles833 gain, 1867 loss Overnight, the rain started around 9 pm, just as forecasted. I could hear thunder well before. The lightning was pretty intense for a few hours and the rain was so hard that I got splashback and misting almost immediately. But my little tent held up considerably well…I had some leaking through the floor but rather minimal. I played around with the ground tarp before going to bed, trying to get the edges to fold up so that maybe it would prevent puddling. It sort of worked. I didn’t get the best sleep initially because it’s really hard to sleep through[…]

Wednesday September 8th, 2021, 0600-1750Mashipacong Shelter to ridge above Yards Reservoir, SOBO AT mm 887.127.4 miles4035 gain, 4022 loss With no more visits from friends scheduled, it was time to just hike all day. First I had to make a stop at the shelter privy that’s legendary for its pink interior. The picture says it all. It was a great experience. Well, of course there had to be at least one deli stop, too. This came early after my standard 10 by 10 am affair. I got a breakfast bagel at the Sandwich Lobby. Just before this there were some nice viewpoints, one at a large pavilion on Sunrise Mountain, where I did indeed admire the sunrise. Another was at[…]

Tuesday September 7th, 2021, 0600-1830Wawayanda Mt to Mashipacong Shelter, SOBO AT mm 859.627.5 miles5000 gain, 4820 loss Running from mosquitoes seemed to be the new normal each morning. As soon as I left my fortress, it was a race to get the tent packed and get moving before they woke up. At least I was very practiced at doing almost everything inside my tent. I was going to be passing through a lot of low and boggy areas all morning, so I was prepared to do battle. I gave in down, spraying DEET on the backs of my legs at the start. I also wore my rain jacket to protect my upper body. As I came down from the hills[…]

Monday September 6th, 2021, 0600-1700Wildcat Shelter to Wawayanda Mt, SOBO AT mm 83215.6 miles2848 gain, 2687 loss Mother nature was determined to keep the streams flowing and the mosquitoes biting. It rained hard starting around 1 am, the kind of rain that floods my tent floor. I had to get everything situated for the rain, letting in more mosquitoes while I deployed my rain flaps. Then I kept waking to check the status of water coming in. In spite of the deluge, my tent held up pretty well. What’s with this weather? It wasn’t even supposed to rain after midnight, according to the forecast. I wonder that I got better sleep the night before during the rave. At least I[…]

Sunday September 5th, 2021, 0600-1700Stream past Bear Mountain to Wildcat Shelter, SOBO AT mm 816.324.6 miles6730 gain, 6355 loss It was a night of crazy noise. The katydids and crickets went off at dusk but unfortunately they weren’t enough to drown out the rave from what sounded like a nearby amphitheater. Booming techno and reggaeton music permeated the air starting around midnight. It felt like I was vibrating on my Thermarest at times, it was that loud. I have no idea what kind of sound system it was or how it was powered in the middle of nowhere but it was impressive. Some animal crashed through the woods near me, making strange grunts…maybe a deer? It sounded annoyed and I[…]

Saturday September 4th, 2021, 0600-1800Canopus Creek to stream past Bear Mountain, SOBO AT mm 791.722.3 miles5364 gain, 5433 loss It was another fun and action-packed day in New York. A lovely and quiet morning greeted us, filled with the gentle and soothing hoots of great horned owls. It was easy to forget that we were so close to major cities. My shoes and socks had dried some and my feet were feeling a lot better, so I was loathe to get them wet again when we came to our first water crossing 5 minutes in. I decided to try my luck using my camp shoes…maybe I could prolong the dry shoes all day. My bet paid off…there were no more[…]

Friday September 3rd, 2021, 0605-1800Telephone Pioneers Shelter to Canopus Creek, SOBO AT mm 769.525.2 miles plus 1 mile to and from the deli5167 gain, 5302 loss The day started cool enough for me to put my puffy on while I packed. But I took all layers off before I began hiking, knowing there was a small immediate climb. I passed a feature called Nuclear Lake just as the sun came over the ridge. It was pretty. The names comes from when a plutonium research facility was located on the shoreline. I didn’t drink the water. Mid morning, we walked half a mile down a road to get breakfast sandwiches at a deli. We really wanted pizza but the pizza place[…]