Day 22 - Fingerboard Shelter.

​Day 22 - Fingerboard Shelter

Starting location: Wildcat Shelter

Ending location: Fingerboard Shelter

Mileage today: 14.5 miles 

Total Mileage: 254.9 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today we woke up to more rain falling. We still packed up everything and got on the trail around 7:30 am. The rain fell pretty good till noon and then we basically walked through cloud after cloud. It was in the 50’s all day today. 

After hiking about 2 miles we came to our first serious waterfall. It was pretty amazing to behold. While the boys explored, I filtered some water. 

We finally met mom and Froning for lunch around 1:45 pm after hiking for about 10 miles. It was later than I had hoped but the bouldering was pretty intense with it raining. Legolas fell multiple times. The boys got Nutella sandwiches and Chex mix and fruit. I had a couple sardine wraps. Man were they delicious. 

Then we came to the lake in the above picture. It was so peaceful with the fog. Legolas thought it was the lake at Hogwarts. lol. We could have stayed there a long time, but we still had like 2.5 miles to the shelter. 

Then we came to this cave or so we thought. We actually hiked through it to the lemon squeezer, which is a pretty famous part of the trail. 

This is the “lemon squeezer”. It is a very tight passage. I barely fit through it, but Bombadil had no issues! lol. The boys really enjoyed it. 

Now this part we had to take the blue blaze around. We literally have no idea how anyone got up that way. It was taller than me and really had no place to climb up. Add the fact that it had rained and everything was slippery. I just didn’t want to go to the ER today! lol. 

Just some random things we saw on the trail. We wish we had some googly eyes to put on the rock monster. Then I just love seeing wild mushrooms. I need to learn how to identify them. 

Finally we made it to the shelter around 5:30 pm. Cooked dinner (rice and chicken), changed into dry clothes, hung up the wet clothes to try to dry (probably impossible since we are basically in a cloud with 100% humidity). Legolas is reading Dracula, and the fog and mist are making his book become real! lol. Well off to bed and hopefully we can get stuff dried out tomorrow if it sunny. 

God bless,

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil. 

Day 21 - Zero day

​Day 21 - Zero day

Starting location: Wildcat Shelter

Ending location: Wildcat Shelter

Mileage today: 0 miles 

Total Mileage: 240.4 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

So being on the trail now doe 21 days, we decided to take our 2nd zero day, since it was supposed to rain the whole day and be in the low 40’s. We are praying that tomorrow it will let up some since we really need to hike tomorrow...and I think there are more boulders to scale coming up. 

So today I hoped to sleep in past 7 but woke up around 6:30 am. We stocked piled a lot of firewood last night, to see if we can try to keep a fire all day long. So far as of 3:30 pm we have been successful. Although it’s raining to hard to enjoy it right now. 

Besides watching hiker TV, the boys have been playing solitaire, listening to audible books and doing their journals. We have one other hiker that is also hiking to Katadin but stated at the DWG. 

 

So I wonder about who ever created the AT path. Yesterday we had to literally scale small mountains with full backpacks..up and over mountains. But, I saw  that there were blue trails at the beginning and end of these boulder scrambles...come to find out the literally bypass the sketchy and dangerous part of the trail. Why not just let us hike the easier path. lol. Oh well it’s good to know for days that are wet and dangerous. 

Just finished dinner and I think we are ready to just climb into our sleeping bags. Turn on an audible book and stay warm! 

Trying for 14 tomorrow. 

Good night. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 20 - Wildcat Shelter (NY)

​Day 20

Starting location: Wawayanda Shelter

Ending location: Wildcat Shelter

Mileage today: 12.1 miles

Total Mileage: 240.3 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today woke up and got on the trail by 7:30 am. There was a state park office only 0.4 mile round trip off the AT, we took advantage and filled up our water and used the flushable toilets! 

We only had 10 miles to get to Amee today but let me tell you those were a tough 10 miles. The trail was nice but we had a lot of boulder climbs that really slowed us down. Praise the Lord it wasn’t raining today because the rocks would have been very dangerous. 

We knocked out our second state today and entered into New York! “Welcome to New York” ran through my mind! It was a sunny and cooler day. Mid 60’s. 

We got some awesome trail magic today. Clif bars and Rice Krispy treats. Later we got some Gatorade from a trail maintainer. I am glad the boys get to experience trail magic since we are technically ahead of the main NOBO thru hikers pack. 

We got to hike with Compass and Cpt. Woody a bit today. We saw the NYC skyline today from the trail. Pretty crazy since it is like 40  miles away. 

Got to our first rebar ladders today as well. The trail was very technical today. Thankfully we only fell a couple times and no serious injuries obtained. lol. 

Not sure which year this sign was from but it says only 819 miles to Katadin! Boom baby! Nearly in the 700’s. Can’t wait! 

We celebrated the finishing of NJ with ice cream today from the Bellvale Creamery. It is the 5th best ice cream in the nation. I would have to say it was pretty delicious. We took a long break here since we only had 2.1 more miles to go to the shelter and it was like 1:30 when we arrived. We ate lunch with Amee and just rested and people watched. lol. Then we ate supper around 5ish with Amee and Froning before heading up to shelter. . Had a Cobb salad, which was the best meal I had yet. 

Those last 2 miles weren’t just a walk in the park. Pretty much scaling up cliffs it seemed! lol. We enjoyed it though. 

More random stuff we find on the trail. Mainly the boys find them. I am just focusing on not killing myself on the rocks. lol. 

And now that we are out of NJ, we get to watch hiker TV again! Yeah!! I have no idea why they don’t allow grown fires. Oh well 

Now off to bed and we plan on taking a zero day in the shelter since it is suppose to rain the whole day. Please pray that Sunday is rain free with all these rock climbs. 

Night. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil 

Day 19

​Day 19

Starting location:  Sola Hostel

Ending location: Wawayanda Shelter

Mileage today: 17

Total Mileage: 218.3 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

We go up around 5 am to get stuff together and ready to roll since we were hiking 17 miles today. Pastor Doug made us a pancake breakfast, which the boys loved! We said our goodbyes and got on the trial at 7:45. It was unfortunately raining, so our feet and socks were quickly soaked. Thankfully it wasn’t 90’s any more, so the rain was very nice. 

For some reason there was a random chair on the trail. lol. Never know what you might find day to day. 

NJ has a lot of these boards you walk on since this area is very boggy. They were a little slick in the rain. 

These are the famous boardwalk area of NJ. It goes on for a couple miles. Sweet hiking for sure. 

We made it to the hotdog food truck by 1:30 pm to get some hotdogs, chips and a soda. They boys were really looking forward to eating there. 

On quick story. Legolas (CJ) was about to climb over this ladder into this field when he saw something big and black. He quickly ran back to us and was yelling g “There’s a bear!” I quietly hike up to film the “bear” and realized it was a cow! lol. It got quite the laugh. 

We had one last big mountain climb after the hotdogs, and it was pretty rough but fun. Thankfully the rain had ended, but the rocks were still slippery. 

Made it to the shelter by 6 pm (latest time yet). Got supper going and the boys crashed pretty quickly. Tomorrow is a shorter day of 12 miles. Going to get some ice cream for finishing NJ! 

God bless. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil