Monday, July 4th

Deli & Pizza in Stormville, NY (1437.8 mi) to stealth camp site location (1450.8 mi)

Hiking Miles: 13

Total Ascent: 2,092.2 ft

Total Descent: 2,180.8 ft

Total Grade: 329.8 ft/mi

Steps: 35,141

Gator: The ride back north to the deli (exact location where we completed our first section) felt somewhat bittersweet. It was exciting (nostalgic in a way), however sad at the same time because I would be leaving Teresa (again) knowing we had at least another 6 weeks before we completed the northern section of the trail. On a more positive note, the deli was open for business during the holiday, so we all enjoyed subs and beer like we had 7.5 weeks ago.

We reached the deli at 1 pm. The grassy space behind the building was available for AT hikers to tent, and there were a few tables to sit at, rest and enjoy our food. We didn’t hang there for long before Teresa dropped Croc and I off at the trailhead around 2 pm. We hesitantly said our good-byes to Teresa, but knew the earlier we both continued on our separate ways, the better it would be. The next time we planned to meet up again would be at the Mountain Meadows Lodge in Killington, VT, possibly in two weeks pending our progress. We had only 22 miles remaining before exiting New York, 50 in Connecticut and 90 in Massachusetts. Our goal was to complete those 3 states in one week before entering Vermont.

11.5 miles in, we stopped at the Telephone Pioneers Shelter where we met three hikers camping there for the evening. Their trail names were Fiddlesticks, Chernobyl and Raspberry, and they all were celebrating the 4th by drinking beers at the picnic table. Croc and I joined them while we cooked and ate our dinner. We split a bottle of Yeungling Lager (America’s oldest brewery now owned by Budweiser) that Fiddlesticks graciously offered us and it tasted great!

Chernobyl and Raspberry were very quiet, however Fiddlesticks more than made up for their silence by talking non-stop, mostly about his solo AT southbound flip-flop hike that started at Mount Greylock in Massachusetts. Croc and I were both patient and good at listening mainly because we busy preparing, eating, drinking and cleaning up. Although I will admit I was having one of those “Please Shut-Up” moments that sometimes came with the territory. I was also feeling a bit uneasy (not sure why), maybe because I felt we should be somewhere else. We thought about camping here for the evening, but my intuition (I’ll call it a bad vibe) told me we should move on. Perhaps I was saddened by our abrupt transition into our last section, or perhaps because we had an hour of daylight remaining to the day. Whatever it was, Croc was good with us pushing on.

We hiked another 1.6 miles in search of a stealth campsite to spend the evening. A few times I questioned my decision to move on from the Telephone Pioneers Shelter when it was turning dark, and finding a flat “off-the-path” patch of ground was becoming difficult. We came across a stretch of path where we saw several fireflies flicker on and off, which helped to distract my unease and calm things a bit. It was so cool.

Fortunately, we came upon a viable site where we set up camp. We built a fire (our first one on trail that we started together), and it helped to keep away a swarm of mosquitos that were following us. We also decided we would leave camp together in the morning so we could cross into Connecticut (New England) simultaneously. I sat awhile by the fire before going to bed because I was having a hard time settling my mind. Being on trail today felt hard, not all that surprising with leaving behind family and friends (our tramily), and thinking how the trail was only going to get harder the further north we hiked. I reminded myself that tomorrow was another day and that things will get brighter.

Croc: I’ll try to avoid repeating the daily events that Gator described above, so you don’t have to read the same daily details again for the third leg of the AT. Also, I unfortunately didn’t journal during the last leg of the trip, so I don’t have many additional memories or names of people we met to add to the blog. I’ll do my best to fill in the gaps and share my perspective on the days ahead.

Driving back up to New York for the third leg was one of the toughest days on the trail mentally. It should have been exciting that we only had about 750 miles left, including the most adventurous states, but several factors were bringing me (probably us) down. First, we had just left our incredible trail family as they continued through Shenandoah National Park, where we had left them a few days earlier. Second, we had just enjoyed a few nights at a hotel with Mom, air conditioning, and fast food in walking distance. Third, it was July 4th, and we knew everyone else was probably partying by a lake with beers, burgers, and lounge chairs, while we faced several miles alone in the woods. But the hardest part was feeling like we were restarting the trail yet again. Instead of closing in on the finish line, it felt like we were starting over for the third time on a new trail.

However, with a large Dunkies coffee, a pair of new shoes, and a nice lunch at the deli, we headed back into the woods, already complaining about something trivial. We were likely discussing how annoying the 4th of July fireworks would be that night as we tried to sleep at hiker midnight (8 PM), or maybe how much the terrain sucked after being in Virginia the past few weeks. Little did we know, it would get worse.

As Gator mentioned, we had dinner that night at the Telephone Pioneers Shelter and decided to continue on for a few miles to stealth camp. At first, I thought, “We just ate! Why would we pack back up and keep hiking in the dark?” But Gator was right—Fiddlesticks would have talked all night, and the campsites were on a tilt, which would have led to disastrous sleep. It was the right call because a mile later, we experienced the greatest light show of all time when thousands of fireflies lit up the woods as we hiked. The videos don’t do it justice; it felt like we were walking into the night sky. It was honestly one of my favorite hiking moments on the trail.