Harpers Ferry, WV to Greymoore, NY

I have walked a long way since the last update.  I'm in New York now.  I'm taking a zero here at the Graymoore Spiritual Life Center.  It's a monastery that lets hikers camp for free by a ball field. It's awesome!  It has all the bells and whistles.  By that I mean a cold shower and electricity.  Getting this far wasn't easy to say the least though.  There is a lot of cursing involved.  Ive screamed at a couple of mountains that were in my way.  Every section has its own challenge to deal with.  Maryland had the Blair Witch that tried to take me in the night. Pennsylvania was brutal during the heat wave with no water anywhere.  New Jersey was surprisingly beautiful and chalked full of bears.  Its currently my favorite state on the trail.  New York has been amazing so far.  Its very rocky with steep ups and downs.  Every now and again I get to climb some huge boulders.  I could go on and on about what I've seen and done over the last month but I'm a horrible writer.  So here are some pictures I took along the way!

First day back on the trail and there was a thunderstorm.  Luckily the trail went through a campground with shoe dyers and an outlet.

Crossing a highway in Maryland.

The great state of PA behind me.

My feet hurt again just looking at this.  This was just the begging.

Some deer.

                             Rocks

My escort back to the trail.  A million thank yous to the Beckum family for amazing hospitality!  Hey Dave!  If Panic is playing close to holland look me up! 

     One more state done.

  Awesome shelters in PA!  This one was a lunch break for me.

    This helped me move so much faster.           

  Creepy tree wanted a smooch.  But I'm not that kinda guy.  

Rare sight.  A privy with TP at he ready!  

I might be in this frat now. 

Can you find the white blaze?

Holy crap!  Hardest decision ever.  Which hiker feed to attend?!   

This made it easier.  Breakfast included.

Birds of a feather flock together.  The host, Chef Doc, is from Indiana and sent to Hope College.  Small world.

   Looking bad ass at the half way marker

Sight of the half gallon challenge.  Eating four pounds of ice cream did not sound fun to me.  Just a pint mint chocolate chip and on to the AT museum.

    Original half way point.  I think there were about four half way points I passed.

Lots and lots of corn round these parts.

    No really!  Lots of really tall corn.

   So done with corn.

     

Boiling Springs is a cute little town.

A pretty huge swan

Trail magic x 2!!!  Beer makes most everything better.

 Crossing another highway.

Hiking through pastures.  But where is the water?

More trail with no water.

I really don't like snakes.  Especially when I need to crap and its slithering into the damn privy!

Maybe it's a porcupine? Maybe?!?

Soooooooooo thirsty!  But not a drop for Johnny! 

So rocky.  It looked like a building collapsed.

Where are my shades?!

Hikers migration through Duncannon. 

Laundry day in Duncannon.  It was cooler outside.  This was the start of that intense heat wave.

I want to believe! 

  Leaving Duncannon.

Bug nets are pretty much the greatest thing ever invented!  All of a sudden gnats came out nowhere and they were kamikazes.  There would be 40-50 buzzing around my head trying to enter me via my eyes, mouth and ears. They don't bite at all. They just buzzed around when I hiked.  But when I would stop moving they would go away.  Asshole gnats.

Ozzy over a blaze.  Rock and Roll will never die!

If I were a super villain my name would be Death March.  If anyone got in the way of my world domination, I would teleport them to PA to walk the AT in July to walk endlessly in search of water with kamikaze gnats buzzing around their heads.

501 shelter was great!  I walked in here to find some amazing trail magic!  Burgers, hot dogs, watermelon, soda pop and so much more!!!  I racked out with a full belly.  Such a good feeling.  Good people making hikers happy.

    I love shelter cats.  No mice.  This one was on break.

Bad photo.  But I says the spring is dried up.

     PA is where boots go to die.

   Ice cold swimming hole.  I passed on it.  It was supposed to rain that day.  Never did and I was salty.  It had a rope swing and everything.

Hair curler thingy in the middle of nowhere.

Macintosh on my left let us zero at his house in Hometown, PA.  Awesome!!!  Thanks man you rock!

  PA, where boots go to die.

Merrell replaced my boots free of charge!  Definitely got my money's worth.  Well over 1000 miles!  Good buy.

New shoes! New shoes! New shoes!

    Feeling strong!

I don't like snakes that don't get out of the way. Even if they are harmless milk snakes.

    Snake time.

Knifes Edge.  Awesome day!!

These two are always behind me.

   Riding that struggle bus.

So much fun watching these two negotiate rocks.

Water!!!!!! And Danishes, doughnuts, bread, PB, jelly and chips!  And WATER!!!!

Going up.

Brutal climb.  Super hot.  No water for 12 miles.

'Merica!!!

        How do you work this thing?!

This vulture hovered over me for a couple  miles.  

Zinc mining ruined this mountain.  It just looked like the U.P. of Michigan to me.

  Then I became pretty again.

          Mystical forest.

 

Day hikers and section hikers are great for getting some extra food.  It looks like shit but it was great with tortillas.

Poor bastard walked .6 mile off trail for nothing.  So glad he left a note because I would've gone down there for some hydro and cursed really REALLY damn loud.

     Pretty nature.

The AT was under construction.

Crossing the Delaware River with Chiquita.

Trying to build my modeling portfolio.

New Jersey had a bunch of great views. 

That's not Gatorade.  It's the water.

  More deer.

More deer.

  This place made hikers sit out back.  They had Budweiser signs made to remind us.  Poor hikers.

              Deer.

       Nice spot for lunch.  Jennifer Pharr Davis found a man that killed himself here on her first thru hike.

I don't like snakes.  Especially when they look like the leaves I'm walking on and are poisonous. 

                Water in Jersey.

  The shelter with water was down there somewhere.  But .6 out of my way.  Ill take my chances pushing on.  My body adjusted to going without hydro.

Yeah!  Fun times in Jersey being thirsty!

If I had the energy I would climb this!

Staring contest with the setting sun.  Sun 1 me 0.

Veterans memorial.

Not quite a the sunset on Lake Michigan.  But it worked for me here.

   Hikers digging the views.

Cold and rainy bouncing back and forth between NJ and NY.

     This was a long day filled with awesomeness.  New York is beautiful!

    I wish it was nicer or this day but it worked for me.  Great day to be a hiker.

Huge suspension bridge over a creek four inches deep.  A bit overkill but it looks cool.

         Angry blaze!

     Jumping that border again.

Highest peek in New York!  Salute!

    Actually necessary.  All I could think of was how do dogs get up this?!

Just after the ladder.  Great snack spot!

Lots of climbing this day.

Nastiest. Privy. Ever.  

        Waterfall!!!!!!!

The stairs on the right reminded me of Lord of the Rings.  Up Up up we go!

So tired!  I think I did 20ish miles at this point already.  I was wet and sore as hell. Only 6 more to go!  And the rocks just go up forever!

I love hiking NY.  What I came across sometimes blew my mind.

This is the stuff I love to see!

This too! 18 gallons of water!  It was bound to happen.

Thought I needed a pick me up for the last 5 miles so I made some chow.  Next to a high way.

The Lemon Squeezer!!!!

     The Squeezer.  I had to take off my pack to get through.  My hydro bottles would have popped out of I didn't.

Where are my shades?!

Going brain dead I'm so tired.

The Squeezer!!!

       Deer.

  High point park.  Super weird to me.  Maybe just a bit overstimulating.  It's just outside NYC.  People were grilling and playing cricket.  So many people!

The trail goes through a zoo!  I really like zoos but this one is sad.  

    Lowest point on the trail.  No just because the bears look depressed but its around 120 feet above sea level.

Just about to cross the Hudson River!

Where are my shades?!

West Point is over there somewhere!

Hiker friendly monastery.  Great spot!!!

Electricity and a shower!!!

Woke up to some dudes spray painting lines.  It turned out to be the semi finals of a local league.  These guys took it pretty serious.  I watched a guy get red carded!  He chewed the refs ear off for 10 minutes. I wish my Spanish was better.  But I did catch a few curse words.

          My shadow!