Goings Ons

I have been out blogged by my hiking companion so I thought I would write a little. To be honest our days are pretty simple. We get up, have breakfast and coffee/tea, pack up, then walk. After we reach our destination one of us pumps water, one makes food, we eat and plan the next day. After which we blow up our sleep mattresses and read before going to bed. It is a simple process but not an easy one.

We were just able to have a non-hiking day the way one should be had. We slept 22 out of 30 hours and kept our feet elevated for the eight hours we were awake. We ordered pizza to our hotel room and left only to walk the dog. Our other “zero” days have been spent doing laundry and grocery shopping, taking many hours and requiring much walking. This time my mom and dad had come to visit and made sure we got to the grocery store the evening before our rest day. We were also visited by Jen’s brother Mike, and we were able to do laundry while having breakfast with him before getting back on the trail. It was perfect!
So needless to say we have had some family visit us on the trail. It could not have come at a better time. Jen wrote before that we were having some days where are spirits were a bit low. This was the perfect thing to get us back up and running. It was so great to see mom and dad! Mom looks so good after just having a total knee replacement surgery. It was so great to see her getting around so effortlessly and pain free! Dad is looking good too! He has really hit the gym after retiring and he is healthy and his spirits are high. It was impossible for their positive energy not to rub off on us. After scooping us up off the trail we went to the hotel for a shower, mother insisted, and then out for food. After a rest we went out again to local brewery and had quite a nice dinner with dessert. I love my parents and it was just awesome to see them. I have felt their love and support since starting this crazy trail, so it just made it a little bit better to cap that off with a hug.
Mom and dad left way too early, but they were headed to Maine and had a nine hour drive ahead of them. After we woke up to see them off, I honestly think we were back asleep before their car left the parking lot. Jen and I have really needed the rest. We slept until some time after noon then as mentioned ordered some food to eat. Soon after we both fell asleep reading. We awoke again for another short amount of time, but had the lights out by 23:00. An amazing restful day.
Jen’s brother Mike was at our door at 08:30 with a present in hand. He brought us our first Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL to believers) of the season! It was so, so good. We loaded up the car and were off to an amazing breakfast full of pancakes and protein. Mike is awesome. Everything I would expect a Wentzel to be. I still can’t believe he was the first of Jen’s family I have gotten to meet! But, I am so happy to have finally met one of Jen’s family and cannot wait to meet the rest.
Unfortunately he could only spend the morning with us because he had to get to the US Open. Who could blame him? I would also love to watch Serena Williams play in the Open and I am not even a tennis fan. He did promise to try to join us in PA for some hiking and I hope he is able to make it happen.
That night we stayed at the Greymoor campsite at the Franciscan Monastery. The monks there have been taking in hikers since the 70’s and have provided us with shelter, water, and even a cold shower with a changing room. It was hard not to feel that we had made the right choice of where to stop when after a heavy rain shower we were presented with a beautiful rainbow. We had an amazing nights sleep and were off to a deli in the morning sun. At the deli we had breakfast with our trail friend Gribbly. Grib is an awesome man that we have been kind of yo-yo- ing with on the trail. He hikes fast so hopefully we will see him again soon.
Later that afternoon we ended up on top of Bear Mountain. There we met two amazing couples. The first was an elderly Scottish couple who took our picture, loved Bear’s “panniers”, and even gave us a dollar they had just found claiming it to be lucky. We felt we had to take it because a) it was just too sweet and b) he stated a “Scott never gives away money”. So we accepted the dollar and keep it as a good luck charm. With them was a local couple from the Fort Montgomery United Methodist Church. The lady had run back to her car to get for us the last bag of trail magic of the season. They have a hiker in their congregation that suggested doing these as a mission for the hikers. I know that we were not the only hikers that have appreciated this present throughout the season. It was an amazing gift. We use everything in the bag. It had wet ones, a bandana, granola bars, and zip lock bags. Definitely designed by a hiker! You can see a picture on the church Facebook site. I am having a bad hair moment, as usual, but the picture is good.
Day three we hiked just 0.1 miles off the trail to a local NY creamery called Bellvale creamery. They use the cream from the local farm of the same name. We were there early, and when the owner showed up she didn’t miss a beat. She made sure we knew where to get water, let us in early to charge our phones, and set us up with a place to get some real food delivered before gorging ourselves on ice cream. So listening only to our teenage boy metabolisms we ordered BBQ chicken pizza, and wraps for later. When the pizza came we ate all of it sharing with Bear. We also ate the fries that had come with our wraps. After lunch we each had two scoops of ice cream. So freaking good! We even hung out and enjoyed the view to digest. After an hour back on the trail we realized that pizza and ice cream may be a great lunch for a 13 year old boy, but not so much for women backpackers. We stopped again atop a mountain to enjoy the view and digest some more, but unfortunately it was too late for me. Jen was slowly starting to feel batter but I got to hike the rest of the day with a belly ache. I would love to see we learned our lesson…but only time will tell.
So we have had four steady days of hiking and took a bit of a break yesterday with a low mileage day and today with a zero. We really needed to re-supply. We rolled into town with no food or fuel. After grocery shopping and picking up another awesome care package from mom and pop Wentzel we loaded up our packs to walk the mile back to the hotel. We were not looking forward to more MTDC’s but we started off. Half way through the parking lot a lovely lady flagged us down to offer us a ride. She lives near the trail and is a hiker, and it was truly good luck that she happened upon us. Without her it would have been a hot a relatively dangerous road walk to the hotel.
We have truly mastered the art of relaxing. So at the moment we sit with our feet up awaiting food. We have two big days planned. We are hoping to cover 52+ miles in two days. Keep your fingers crossed and put some positive thoughts out there for us. We are hoping I ramp it up a notch an keep it there!

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