Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

In the past week we have passed through Connecticut and Massachusetts and the overriding theme has been rain! Fortunately, the first and third nights in Connecticut we stayed at Ricky's aunt and uncle's house. A nice bed was a very welcomed change from the trail, and the wonderful dinners and breakfasts didn't hurt either.

In Massachusetts we stayed at a beautiful cabin on Little Goose Pond. The caretaker even made us blueberry pancakes in the morning! The next day we hiked past a famous Appalachian trail location known as the cookie lady. There we ate some homemade cookies, farm fresh eggs, and a Klondike bar! Since then, we have passed through several small towns. Overall, the terrain though this section has been a little more challenging, but we are up for the challenge as the white mountains loom ahead of us!

Park Ave and other side trails

Since the last post we have made it out of New Jersey, through New York and into Connecticut. During this time, we have had a couple exciting adventures. We ate a meal with Angel Huertas, a former gang lord of New York turned good guy, author and apparently trail angel. We were kidnapped by Ricky's sister Annie and Margaret's friend Sonya and taken from the heart of the wilderness into the heart of the big apple. It was quite the humbling experience to be the smelliest one on the subway. We went swimming in nuclear lake. And we successfully navigated a severe thunderstorm. Tomorrow night we are looking forward to staying with some of Ricky's relatives in Connecticut where we can hopefully dry off.

New Jersey has woods?

Finally out of Pa! The night after Delaware Water Gap we spent at our friend, Brian Fried's house. His parents were kind enough to provide us a bed to sleep in, let us take a hot shower and even tolerate our smell! What a difference from a tent! We were the guinea pigs for Brian's first batch of scrambled eggs ever in the morning and it seems he is a promising chef!

Since then we have been pushing it to get out of New Jersey and New York by the 18th. 74 miles in four days so far! Animal sightings: a whole family of turkeys, 3 salamanders, loads of squirrels, at least 10 frogs, an 8 pt deer 10 yds away and 10 ticks.

New Jersey is also surprisingly swampy. The picture below shows the mile long boardwalks through the swamps. The pond is Sunfish Pond, the first glacier created body of water we hit. The monument is High Point Monument, marking the highest point in New Jersey.

Rocks, rocks and more rocks

Since the last post, we have gotten off the trail for Margaret's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary and returned where we left at the 501 shelter with our parents. During the three days that we hiked with our lovely parental units, we swam in a freezing cold reservoir, hiked 25 miles over rocky terrain, enjoyed a bottle of wine at an overlook of pennsylvania's farmland, and ate some chocolate covered bacon.

Following our parents departure on the fourth of July, we continued on from Port Clinton. The first night we stayed at the Windsor Furnace Shelter with padre a 74 year old priest who made our parent's complaints of aching joints seem unfounded. After a midnight thunderstorm, we woke up and slowly began hiking again. We did not make too much progress in the morning as we passed two of Pennsylvania's most beautiful views at Pulpit Rock and the Pinnacle. That evening we made it into the Allentown Hiking Club Shelter at sundown. We also found that while hiking in a smaller group, we see significantly more wildlife. Today alone we saw several hawks, a turkey and a couple deer.

The following day we woke up early and set off for Palmerton, PA. The hike there was by far the rockiest we have seen. We hiked a section called knifes edge which consists of a long sharp jut of rock with steep drops on either side. The day ended in exhaustion at the local jail house in the basement of the town hall. Fortunately, they open it up for hikers to stay in! We had a nice shower and ate a great local restaurant.

The following morning we woke up at 5:00 AM to begin one of the most unique hikes on the AT. It includes a 6 mile uncovered rock scramble over a bare mountain side. The land is now an EPA superfund site after an old zinc operation ruined the vegetation. We set off to tackle this section with our new friends spice man, rhino, passion flower, voltron, socks and bobby. During the day we saw a 6 foot long rattle snake! Fortunately, it quickly rattled across the trail and left us alone. After another exhausting day, we are safe in our tent avoiding the current thunderstorm. Tomorrow we will set off for a 20 mile hike into the Delaware Water Gap where we will cross into New Jersey and finish Pennsylvania and all of its rocks!