Garden State Stomp
The trail is wrapping up in Pennsylvania and heading into New Jersey now. This area is referred to as the New Jersey Highlands, but never rises above 1500 feet. This is the oldest part of the Appalachians and has experienced a lot of glacial activity during various ice ages. Glacial erratic boulders are common.
6/5 Wind Gap to Mount Minsi - 13 miles
Angelika dropped Steve and I off at the trailhead and we head off for another three day overnight. Close to the start is a reminder of how far we have left to go to reach Mount Katahdin.
Not too much further on the trail, there's a nice view from a pipeline right of way that crosses the ridge.
At Fox Gap we meet Trail Angel Steve who is hosting trail magic at the road crossing. He has cold drinks and snacks on offer. We gladly accept and stop to chat for a while. Turns out he has relatives in Germany that live near Nuremberg and we have visited a lot of the same places there. He also did work in the town Steve lives and knows that area well. He really likes Tom Sturgis Pretzels which are made in the town he lives now and encourages us to keep taking more. Although it's fun to talk, we need to keep moving. The trail doesn't walk itself.
Our goal for today was to reach Kirkridge Shelter. We get there early and decide we can keep going a bit further after filling up our water at the shelter. We end up camping at the summit of Mount Minsi about four miles further along the trail. There's a nice view here of the Delaware River. Angelika is at a campground somewhere along here, but we can't spot it from here.
6/6 Mount Minsi to Mohican Outdoor Center - 13.4 miles
We get our camp packed up and Steve gets his usual head start on me in the morning. The trail immediately starts descending down into Delaware Water Gap. We cross over the Delaware River over the I-80 bridge. There's a sign painted on the sidewalk to mark where we cross over from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. I'm looking forward to leaving those rocky trails behind us.
From the bridge you get a different perspective on how wide the Delaware River is.
We're now entering Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Years ago the Army Corps of Engineers acquired land around the Delaware River in this area to build a dam for flood control. The project was controversial so after displacing 15,000 people and demolishing thousands of dwellings the project was ultimately abandoned and the lands transferred to the National Park Service.
Climbing back up onto the ridge, our original destination was the Backpacker Campsite, but it's still early in the day. I catch up to Steve here and we rest for a few minutes to decide what our plan should be. There's a trail runner at the campsite and she comes over to make sure we know the rules in New Jersey and options for where we might camp further on. She suggests a large campsite near the road crossing near Mohican Outdoor Center. That's another five miles or so from here, so it sounds like a good plan to us.
Along the way we spot another rat snake showing off his climbing skills. This guy is going down into a tree knot head first.
At a pipeline right-of-way there's a nice view east back towards the Delaware River.
And another view along the way.
There's thunderstorms in the forecast today for later in the afternoon, so we're planning on getting our camp set up before the rain hits. We find the campsite and get our shelters up and decide to head over to the Outdoor Center for dinner instead of cooking the dehydrated meals we packed. Getting a cold drink and having somebody else do the cooking sounds good today. We get our meals and enjoy sitting at a table in an air conditioned lodge instead of squatting on a log for dinner. Steve gets a cheese steak and I have a wrap. Just as we're eating the skies open up and it starts to pour buckets. Good timing for us. We wait out the rain at the lodge and then head back to our campsite when the coast is clear.
After a nice meal it feels good to get to bed early and get a good night's sleep.
6/7 Mohican Outdoor Center to Blue Mountain Lakes - 7.0 miles
It's a short day today. We'll meet Angelika at Blue Lakes trailhead and head back to the campsite. This is Steve's last day on the trail.
Further on the trail passes close by a beaver pond. There are no signs of beavers today.
Near the trailhead there's a nice patch of wild irises.
We stop for early dinner on the way back to the campground at a local brewery. A couple of beers and a sandwich later and I'm pretty full.
6/8 Blue Mountain Lakes to Sunrise Mountain - 16.3 miles
Steve headed back home in the morning and Angelika took me back to the Blue Mountain Lakes trailhead. One trail feature today was a section that was flooded requiring the trail to be routed around the area. As you can imagine, it was a mucky, muddy mess to get around.
There was a short climb up Rattlesnake Mountain that had a view of Culver Lake to the east.
Not much else notable today.
6/9 Sunrise Mountain to Unionville, NY - 18.5 miles
I've fallen behind on my trail journal and now can't remember the details for this day. I did take this picture which was a nice meadow I passed through along the way. I do like this pastoral views when they present themselves.
6/10 Unionville, NY to Wawayanda State Park - 16.3 miles
Setting out this morning the weather report looks pretty grim. Rain is likely all day with a half to three quarters of an inch expected. I'm anticipating getting drenched. Angelika drops me back off at the trailhead and opts out of hiking in with me. No reason to get wet if you don't have to.
It's raining lightly when I set out, but it's relatively warm so I don't bother with the rain shell since I'll just get soaked from the inside out. After a short distance I'm on the road for a while and then turn into the Wallkill River Preserve. In the process I've made a short incursion into New York state. The trail is following close to the state line now and it doesn't take much to go from one state to the other.
This area is part of a wildlife refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The section I'm hiking through is a marsh where I see deer, rabbits, many types of birds, and hear the frogs as I'm walking through.
On the way in I noticed a tree with fragrant white blossoms I haven't seen before. Google says it's a Catalpa aka cigar tree.
After my short visit to New York, I'm back in New Jersey again. The forest next to the wildlife refuge is very muddy. Now I'm walking on long stretches of bog bridges. These are basically wooden planks attached to cross pieces that let you avoid sinking into the mud. When it's raining and wet like it is today, the planks get extremely slippery, so I'm taking it slow to avoid another fall.
Going through the wooded area now the rain has pretty much let up but the mosquitos are ferocious. They are swarming in clouds around me and when I stop moving they are all over me like a horror movie. They are less troublesome at the road crossings so I take the opportunity to slather on the deet to keep them at bay.
There's more boardwalks and a suspension bridge over Pochunk Creek further on. There are benches on the boardwalk so this is a good place to stop for lunch. The mosquitos are still swarming so I quickly put on my rain shell with the hood up for protection. There's just enough skin showing to get the food into my mouth. I'm eating my lunch quickly so I can get back moving again as soon as possible.
Just before the next road crossing I'm passing through a cow farm with a friendly warning sign as you enter. There were no cows today, but I probably wouldn't try to make friends even if there were. Maybe cows get anxious when they see hungry hikers passing through thinking about hamburgers.
At the crossing I spot an ice cream stand just down the road. The urge strikes me so I make an extra stop for a double scoop of coffee fudge. I'm thinking this will give me a little extra energy for the climb that is just ahead, but it actually does the opposite. I'll know better next time.
The climb up Wawayanda Mountain is called the "stairway to heaven". It's a relatively short but steep and rocky climb. The trail is well maintained so the footing is actually not too bad.
I get to to road next to Wawayanda State Park ahead of Angelika so I find a good rock to rest on and wait for her to arrive. My clothes are soaked with perspiration and my boots are soaked from walking in mud most of the day but the sun is coming out now so it's pretty comfortable just sitting and waiting. I'm not there more than ten minutes before she pulls up.
We head back to the campground and manage to get a quick soak in the hot tub in before the rain starts up again. I'm expecting better weather tomorrow and a long hiking day.
6/11 Wawayanda State Park to Arden Valley - 22.1 miles
I'm planning a lot of miles today, so I get on the trail by 7:00 for an early start. The parking isn't great at the trailhead, so Angelika plans to hike in from a point about halfway to meet me then we'll have lunch together before I finish for the day.
It doesn't take long to realize that the trail is going to be a challenge today. It's very rocky with long sections over ledges which aren't well marked. It feels like I'm stopping every 10 minutes or so to figure out where the trail goes. All this is slowing me down considerably and not helping me get the miles in I planned.
Near Prospect Rock I legitimately cross into New York. Nearby someone has planted a flag at Prospect Rock. It looks like it's been there a while. I'm impressed it's still standing.
Along the way I meet through hiker Sid. We chat for a bit and I learn she started in Georgia the same day as me. Somehow we haven't managed to cross paths until New York. She had set out with her husband, but he decided to drop out so now he drives support for her like Angelika does for me.
Further up the trail I meet a couple coming the other direction. They know my name and lots of things about me already. They have obviously been chatting with Angelika further up the trail. He supervises the trail maintainers for this section, so I mention about improving the blazes over the ledges. He agrees that the person maintaining this section needs to get out here and spruce things up. He's kind enough to share a Gatorade and some Snikers bars with me. Everyone I meet on the trail is very generous.
Angelika is about a half mile up the trail. She stopped when she hit the ledges and is waiting for me to catch up to her. She already met Sid and they're having a grand conversation. The trail is slightly better now heading back to the van, but it's already taken me five hours to go less than ten miles. It's going to be a long day.
After lunch the trail remains challenging. It's rocky and steep with lots of short ups and downs to negotiate. This is turning out to be a really bad choice for a section to try and do lots of miles on.
On one of the ledges I pass by a couple of vultures. I come within a few feet of them and they don't seem to care.
I pass by a good sized creek with a waterfall near the Wildcat Shelter. Looks picturesque to me.
The rest of the hike is just a slog with lots of steep climbing and descents down very rocky terrain. At one point a young guy passes me literally jogging down one of these rocky descents. I ask him how he manages to do that and he tells me "You just get used to it". Then I look down and see he's wearing Tevas. How he hasn't shredded his feet or broken his neck is beyond me. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong.
The descent down into Arden Valley is especially steep and very slow going. I can't believe people don't get hurt coming down this on a regular basis. I finally reach the Ox Pen parking lot around 6:30 where Angelika is waiting for me. It's been a long day, so we opt to just make sandwiches for dinner at the campground and get to bed as soon as we can. It's supposed to be hot tomorrow, so we're going to try and get an early start.
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