green mountain state!!!!

we're sitting at the border of MA and vermont and in a few steps will begin walking the vt long trail that runs parallel with at. hikers call vermont "ver-mud" so it might be messy, but we're looking forward to it.

we've also been enjoying time with friends. aimee from boston joined us for a day at dalton. it was so wonderful to see a familiar face. and as of yesterday we were joined by jack from albany who will be hiking with us for a section of vermont. jack is setting a fierce pace for us so it looks like we're going to cover good ground. but we're also looking forward to enjoying and relaxing.

Heaven (part 3)

Typical of thru-hikers, no one "zeroed" at Upper Goose, even though it was paradise. The walk out looked easy on the map, but it turned out to be rocky, buggy, and we walked slower than expected. So rather than push further to the next shelter, 7 more miles, we stopped after 11 at the "Cookie Lady". A wonderful couple with a blueberry farm allows hikers to camp for chores. The fed us chocolate chip cookies and we bought soda and ordered pizza and hung out with a couple of hiker friends. Great eating, cameraderie and a sound sleep, before our heavenly streak was to end.
Billy Goat

Heaven (part 2)

We had a huge push after Tyringham--the usual long climb, big miles and long haul. But the effort was worth it. We limped into Upper Goose Pond, the most beautiful shelter on the trail. A beautiful cabin on a glacial pond up in the mountain. We ran into loads of hiker friends, took a swim, then a paddle in a canoe, then dinner and sleep on actual beds, rather than the usual wood platforms. We woke to the smell of coffee and pancakes, prepared by the volunteer caretaker. Then we left for the next paradise.
Billy Goat

Heaven (pt.1)

One of our biggest milage days also turned into one of our most pleasurable. Across a ridge, down the side of a mountain and .6 along a road brought us to Tyringham, MA, founded pre-Revolutionn, the picture-perfect New England town, nestled between mountains. We intended an in-and-out for a food maildrop, but the post-mistress had stepped out, so we lolled on the grass. A local woman gave us some donut holes & and we bought brownies and bevvies from a B&B owner. The PO opened, we picked up our package, walked past some gorgeous old barns and we returned to the trail. We had a total of 17.5 miles to do, but what awaited us was even better.
Billy Goat

rain reign

We're no strangers to precipitation on the AT. But today we took getting wet to another level-rain over 3 climbs totalling 2,500 feet and 14 miles. The first--800 feet up and down Bear Mountain, Conn (every state seems to have one Bear Mt.)--wasn't so bad. Just a few drops, then a drizzle. But by the time we crossed the Mass. Line, it started coming in buckets. Slightly annoying, but no more so than the gradual 1,000 feet up. By now we were wet. Rain suits are nice, but when you sweat, the moisture has to go somewhere. Still no big deal. We were moving, and warm. As we approached the summit, we needed to sidle up large chunks of granite. Easy enough when dry, slippery and tricky when wet. So we leaned our weight forward and onto our poles and summited--literally into a cloud. Water vapor drifted past us and we enjoyed the view, even though the rain continued--almost sidewise up top. One picture later the view became shrouded in fog and we were getting cold from standing still. We followed the ridge a half mile rather too close to the edge. The bottom, when we could see it, was 2000 feet down. Another rocky descent, steep, slippery climb, and, finally, a reasonable approach and we hit a shelter. After changing into dry clothes and dining on tea, soup, and sandwiches, we're almost ready for another day. As long as it isn't rainy.
-Billy Goat

Zero Zeroes

It's really important on a hike like this to take "Zeroes" (zero mile days). But we somehow manage never to do so. After 10 days out, we left PA to finalize our condo sale, clean the place and put some stuff in storage. High stress and I messed a shoulder up steam cleaning the Car Barn carpet. Halfway thru NY we left for The City. But that was full of errands too-repairing and replacing equipment, seeind friends and family, etc. We DID manage to spend the better part of a day in bed reading magazines, waiting for the heat to break, so we could walk again (we hit NY amidst a serious heat-wave where most hikers we knew did little to no miles,due to limited water supplies. We arrived in Salisbury, CT late yesterday after a valiant 14-mile push, with the intention of zeroing here. But the campsite sucks. So after finishing the Sunday Times outside a delightful cafe, we're getting some groceries, returning to the site, breaking camp and climbing halfway up a 2,000-ft. Mountain. Call it a Nero (Near Zeo). Real zeroes may prove elusive as we aim to get thru 3 states in 4 weeks. But we'll still try to take some. If not, we'll surely be Nero-ing again as our bods can only take so much abuse.
Billy Goat

Sole Saviour

Earlier this week, Little Pony saved my sole. I'd been hiking in Chacos (trail sandals) for several hundred miles. But Pennsylvania did a number on them. By the last stretch of New York the soles were barely hanging on to the uppers. The left one flapped with every step I took. So I asked my mom to send my semi-broken-in boots. But meanwhile my sandals were fading fast. Even duct tape couldn't hold the sole. I tied it on with a bandana, but it still flopped around. So Little Pony went ahead of me down the mountain to retrieve my boots. I step-flopped at 1 mph while she raced into Kent. I slowly made it to the next shelter, set up camp, and waited. LP returned just before dark with mixed news. She was 10 minutes late to the PO, but managed to buy me a pair of Croc clogs. The next morning,we both walked down the mountain, got my boots, did laundry and mailed the sorry sandals home. They are supposedly under warranty. We'll see. If they get repaired, I'll PROBABLY never do a long hike in them again.
-Billy Goat

Trail Saint

There are Trail Angels-and there is Maryland Mary Ann. We first ran into her and her silver Subaru a few days back, in Kent, Connecticut. She's helping a friend "slack" thru much of the trail. While Little Pony was doing laundry, she plied me with goodies from a massive plastic bin and cold beverages from a steel cooler. We ran into her and her car the next day. She said bad weather was coming in and she'd be happy to slack us,too. So we stashed all our camping gear in the Subaru, kept our rain gear and hustled up the mountain, determined to beat the rain to the treacherous "ledges" others had warned us about. Relatively unladden' we did our fastest 4 miles ever and finished the ledges 4 minutes before the storm hit. We wore full rain gear 2.5 miles thru a flat walk and outwaited the 2nd wave of rain at a shelter. Then 2.5 more miles of flat and a 500-foot up-and-down and we reached a road crossing, where a big, cold bottle of Power-ade awaited us, courtesy of Mary Ann.
-Billy Goat

The Other Side of the Hudson

Resuming our walk on the other side of the Hudson River has been sort of like "Bizzaro Hike", with everything that was hard about the first NY leg made easy. No climbs or descents over 500 feet, no need to boulder with packs on or off, water available via spigot or pump (no need to filter), delis aplenty, so ample fresh food (and delicious pastries). We've taken at least 1-2 hour mid-day breaks since we've resumed. We've used this time to nap, swim, bathe, and eat. It almost feels like a vacation! Our legs and feet definitely benefited from our break in Queens, as we're walking easier, faster, stronger. We've heard that Connecticut is rocky, Massachussets is buggy, Vermont is muddy and New Hampshire is just plain tough. But we're enjoying a relatively obstacle-free week. Looking forward to a shower and motel stay in Kent, though. Our clothes and bods would definitley benefit from some serious cleansing, despite the rain that has kept the temperature thankfully under control.

Thanks everyone for reading and commenting, and special props to the mysterious Dshep for a great trail magic package, and to all those other trail angels out there, who've left sodas, fruit, water and other goodies at numerous NY road crossings. We smile whenever we see a cooler on the side of the trail--and even more so when we open one to find the treasures within (see above!).

Billy Goat

Visiting old stomping grounds

Billy Goat and I are sitting in the Wingdale, NY library and will be crossing into Connecticut today. Apologies for the delay in updating our blog. Last week, we took several days of much needed R&R in NYC, visiting with family, and catching up on our magazine reading. It was fun hiking the Hudson Valley area of NY as this is where my teenage years were spent in Westchester County. Sadly, when I was a teenager, I had no idea that the AT passed practically right under my nose and through my backyard (Peekskill, NY). The night before entering into NYC, we stayed at a lodge in Bear Mountain Park right on the Hudson. I used to spend winters ice skating by the Bear Mountain Inn as a kid and here we were descending into this park. Seeing the incredible view off our balcony made me realize how little I appreciated the beauty surrounding me as a teenager. I feel fortunate to have come back to this place and see it with a new set of eyes.

A quick word of thanks to family & friends who took care of us in NYC: Babushka, Liza, Anna, Bella & Isaac and Mehr...and the whole crowd at McSorley's Old Ale House (one of the oldest bars in NYC -- with sawdust on the floor - and they ain't bein cute!)-- that was a fun night!

You'd think that crossing an invisible line between NJ & NY would be subtle.

You'd be wrong. Jersey had pleasant walks thru meadows and wetlong boardwalks. Almost as soon as we entered NY, we had to transform ourselfs from hikers to rock climbers. Almost immediately after entering the state, we encountered a 10 ft high, near-vertical rock wall with a wood ladder leaning against it. After we got to to the top rung, we traversed a toe-wide ledge, then had to find a finger hold to pull ourselves up. Next, the map showed a 4-mile flat ridge, but it featured so many 'technical' scrambles, we needed almost 4 hours to traverse it. That was a worthwhile exercise, because on the descent, we met C&N (Charles and Nancy, a 62-year-old couple who were much faster than us) and followed them to a creamery that had amazing home-made ice cream--but at NYC prices. The next day featured 7, 700-foot up-and-downs thar required even more rock climbing technique skills, we both fell on our butts once. But we rewarded ourselves with sandwiches at a deli on Lake Mombasha--with fresh bread trucked in from the Bronx daily and heaped with Boar's Head deli meat. We ate 1 there and took 1 for the road--making traversing the infamous 'lemon squeezer' somewhat more challenging. Now we're in Queens (NYC), healing our feet, waiting out the heat and gearing up for what sounds like even bigger challenges in New England. - billy goat

hitching post

We' had remarkably good luck bumming and thumbing rides into town for food and mail drops. The key: pickup trucks and minivans. Our first hitch came at a road crossing in rural PA. I asked the driver which way to a restaurant other hikers recommended and he told us to get on his tailgate. He drove us 2 miles to the place, which the proprietors said was closed on Monday (it was a Tuesday). So the guy took us to a general store the other direction for subs and root beer floats. Here's some other rides:
-Hellish hilly highway into Pine Grove, 2 Latino handyman in a pickup. Back to the trailhead, a retiree in a minivan offered us a ride "to the top of the hill". ( a 1,000 ft mountain)
-a cool Slatington native visiting a childhood friend met us on a late descent, he and his bud drove us to "jail" (free hostel in municipal bldg basement). In Palmerton (the most hiker-friendly town) several locals offered unsolicted rides back to the trail.
A teenage clerk at a country store drove us out of the rain to the warm, dry Episcoplean church basement in Vernon,NJ, and a researcher drove us back in her minivan today. The sole car ride was on triple trail magic day when a volunteer couple of trail maintaineers helped us complete our 'slack pack'. Moral of the story: if you need a ride, look for someone with a beat-up truck, NOT a new Lexus SUV. Anyway, we appreciate the rides from these trail angels on wheels and know that good Karma's coming their way.
-Billy Goat

Laundry with the Mayor

We've experienced some kind of trail magic almost every day since we started our adventure, but the best yet was when they mayor of Unionville, NY invited us over to his house for showers and laundry. On our way from High Point State Park, NJ (where they have a Washington Monument-like obelisk on a mountain), we read a trail log entry about Unionville's fine hiker hospitality, but the reality defied our expectations. Almost as soon as we walked into town, "Butch", a town employee and the mayor's emissary gave us the lowdown: we could leave our packs on his porch while we dined somewhere in town, set up our tent in the town's park, then, after a barbecue, the mayor would meet us and take us to his place for laundry and a shower. After we ran the usual errands (post office, groceries, camp set-up) Butch and the Mayor showed up. The Mayor was a 60-something guy who "ran drugs" (ie, delivered pharmacy orders around the town) and also ran the town. He helped us get our laundry started, introduced us to his new dog he adopted, "Shadow" (named because even though he's only had her for 10 days, the black lab/chow mix) followed him everywhere) and told us to help ourselves to beer in the fridge, ice cream in the freezer and whatever else ("Nothing here's really worth stealing," he said.). He returned to his barbecue and we watched the laundry and Shadow. 90 minutes later, the mayor came back with another hiker and we all chatted until "Hiker's Midnight" (9 pm). The Mayor took our pictures and asked us to send us pictures when we reach whatever destination we were shooting for. He didn't introduce the topic, but learned he had taken care of his wife while she had MS, and had adopted an under-nourished dog from the pound, previous to Shadow. He also allowed neighborhood kids to use his backyard as a community garden and helped the town start "Memorial Park" to help remember "past, present, and future residents of Unionville". Anyway, we will always remember him.

new jersey: not just refineries and teased hair

we have been pleasantly surprised to discover that new jersey is indeed deserving of its "garden state" moniker. we're hiking through sussex county (northern nj) on the kittatinny mountain range and enjoying it very much. scenic views, great forests and many lakes. the only pests are the ticks - turns out they love billy goats hairy legs. our new afternoon and evening ritual is "the tick check" which usually results in me pulling off 1-2 ticks off of billy gaot's legs (mark chan: your article was very timely - thank you for that and all the amazing treats).

the other reality is that we are very much in bear country which means being vigilant and tidy with food and cooking. every shelter is equipped with bear boxes where we store our food, cooking utencils and anything that otherwise emits odor (no: I have not locked billy goat into the bear box...yet...tomorrow we are promised showers so i'll keep him for now).

Tony: thanks for your words of enxouragement re:bears. when hiking, we are careful to make a good bit of noise, which usually consists of billy goat and me singing made up songs (imagine adam sandler during the red hooded sweatshirt and opera man snl days). if that doesn't scare the bears I don't know what will..of course we do run the risk of simply annoying the bears.

we have yet to have a bear siting but many of our fellow hikers have. my favorite story was about an AT hiker who foolishly put her food bag at the foot of her tent. bear came for it, woke hiker, who freaked out - started screaming - and proceded to scare bear. bear was so startled that he took off, but had his paw hooked into her tent and proceeded to drag her for about 100 ft. before she was able to free herself. in this instance, I feel bad for the bear.

post script: trail fashion

so a quick update on the hiking kilt. we recently met up with hiker high life (he wears a miller beer cap and refers to himself as "the champagne of hikers") who has just purchased a hiking kilt. High Life lifes to 'go commando' and doesn't report any chafing problems as of yet...his only problem is inadvertant flashing whenever he sits down. the clever people at mountain hardware however have thought of that and have added a snap at the bottom middle of the kilt so that you can be more discrete when seated.

pps - owl: the crocs are for relaxing, not hiking. as for the scoop on hiking in chacos, billy goat will fill you in...i for one give it a thumbs down since the vibram part of the sole is glued to the rest of the sole and is more delicate than in boots...billy goat's is currently peeling off.

pps- billy goat said he's taking alittle vacation from writing...i think he's fermenting new ideas to share with you all soon...in the meantime, you're stuck with me, as it were.

ppps - mr. douglas, billy goat says 'that joke isn't funny any more.'