NY AT Day 2 (4/21/25)

I love east-facing shelters. There's nothing like sitting up in bed and looking right at the sunrise. Thankfully, Telephone Pioneers was an east-facing shelter. It brought back memories of Puffer Shelter on the Long Trail, which was similarly east-facing. It was a spectacular way to wake up.

I took it easy getting going this morning. Parched told me that he wasn't going to be able to meet me until around 2 PM, and I figured that the morning hike would take me roughly 5 or 6 hours. Thus, I figured there was no need to rush out of camp before 7 AM, or I would just end up waiting. Thus, I took my time getting out of camp, and hiked relatively slowly (for me).

It was a relatively chilly morning, and I appreciated that. The perfect hiking temperature is probably right around 55. A temperature of 45 can feel a little chilly, and 65 and above is definitely getting too warm for comfort, especially on uphills. I was feeling good, which was comforting considering that the day before I went from off the couch to fifteen miles of hiking.

As I hiked, I kept seeing these little green curls. They reminded me of fiddleheads, a fern that is popular to eat in Maine (but only if you know how to probably prepare it - otherwise it can be dangerous). I pretty quickly determined that they were not fiddleheads, but I am not sure what they are.

After a road crossing, I found another giant tree that I had to take a picture of. It wasn't quite as wide as the first one, but I think it was taller.

As I ascended away from the road crossing, I came across some steps filled with crushed red rocks. I thought these were awfully fancy for what you normally see on the Appalachian Trail. I was grateful to have them, but not sure why they were there.

The steps led up into a pasture that was beautiful. It looked like some kind of town green, complete with a gazebo. I paused for a moment and reflected on the fact that places like that were the benefit to spending miles trudging through the woods on the Appalachian Trail.

Speaking of trudging through the woods, I went back to doing that after the brief respite. In fact, I went back to trudging uphill through the woods. I entered a marshy area, but thankfully a nice series of bog bridges had been built to get through it.

I hit some nice dirt terrain after that, and was able to cruise for a while, until I finally came to my favorite part of the day. The trail descended into what I could see was a boardwalk. I love boardwalks. The ability to experience the positives of walking through a marsh without most of the negatives is fantastic. I ended up taking Parched back here later in the day, and I hope to take Dragonfly here someday.

After the marsh, I hit another highlight, and one I had been looking for. I knew that there was a famous Appalachian Trail train station that AT hikers could use to get into New York City, but I hadn't seen it yet. Well, I finally found it right after the marsh. When I say right after the marsh, I mean it, too. The boardwalk ended within sight of the train platform. It was a real spirit boost to see two cool things within a few feet of each other.

Unfortunately, the spirits drooped again a bit after that as I entered into a climb through some pastures. I actually like hiking through pastures (especially when they have stiles, as this one did), but the heat had increased, and I wasn't enjoying going uphill in the heat. I keep myself pretty well protected against the sun, wearing long pants, a long shirt, and a sun hat. That helps prevent sunburns (for the most part, as we'll discuss later), but it does mean that I don't have as much ventilation as some other hikers. That can make heat even worse.

As I re-entered the woods, I saw some pink blazes for one of the side trails. I thought that was pretty funny. I don't think I have seen actual pink blazes before, but pink blazing is slang on the Appalachian Trail for hiking and planning your stops in such a way as to keep up with someone you're attracted to.

Later on, I saw purple blazes, too. This was all part of the Pawling Nature Preserve, and I guess the trail maintainers in the preserve like to use unique colored blazes. I thought it was pretty remarkable that all this nature existed not far outside New York City. I mean, it's not exactly the Hundred Mile Wilderness, but it's still pretty impressive for the area it's in.

Still in the Preserve, I found a tree with a face. It would have actually been pretty creepy at night, or maybe around Halloween.

The next point of interest that I passed was the Wiley Shelter. They had another one of those free book libraries. Unfortunately, they had been forced to put a sign on it telling people not to leave food in it. I have nothing but contempt for people who can't be bothered to pack out their own trash.

Also at the shelter, there was a water pump. It looked pretty cool, but there was a notice saying that the water contained coliform bacteria. It advised you to filter it before consumption, which I certainly would have done anyway, but I also would have been nervous about taking water from a source that I knew for sure was contaminated.

As I was getting near the end of the hike, I came to a water crossing. There used to be a bridge there, but the bridge got washed out. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to get across it. I could take off my shoes, put on my sandals, and ford the stream, and I certainly had the time to do so. However, I didn't feel like doing it. The alternative would be rock hopping while holding onto a yellow rope that someone had strung across the stream. I decided to go with the second option, being fully aware that I might be doing something stupid. Thankfully I was able to use the rope in one hand and my poles in the other hand to balance across the rocks, and I made it across without incident. I later found out that there was some type of detour, but I never saw it.

Not long after that, I saw a weird structure across the water. At first I thought it might be a dam, but it wasn't even connected to the ground, so it wasn't really stopping water. I then realized that it was a security fence. Whoever owned the property, they really didn't want hikers going onto their land, so they had a lot of fencing on the dirt, with that security barrier protecting the water.

I suspect that the property was somehow government property, but that's just a suspicion. Maybe it was a military base or something.

Finally, I crossed into Connecticut. A few more feet and I would knock out my second state on the AT (after Massachusetts, which I completed years before).

I hiked back to the Route 55 parking lot, and it was the third time that I had been to this particular parking lot, thanks to last year's aborted attempt. In fact, it might have even been the fourth. Whatever the number, I was glad to get there this time, as it meant that Connecticut was fully done and New York was halfway done. I hoped that the next three days would bring New York to fully completed status as well.

I waited for a little less than an hour before Parched picked me up. Mint had caught up with me, so I chatted with him a bit while we waited. We mostly compared notes on sections of trail we had hiked. He gave me information about southern New York, while I gave him information about New England.

Once Parched picked me up, we dropped my car at the Bear Mountain Inn, which now charged a $10 parking fee. He thought that we should leave my car at the end and take his car to the beginning in case he couldn't finish the whole hike. We had no idea at the time how prophetic that would be. We went to the Appalachian Motel in northern New Jersey. I got cleaned up while Parched went out and picked up pizza for dinner. The pizza was a sloppy mess, but we didn't care.

As an aside about the Appalachian Motel, it was a classic case of "you get what you pay for." I would not recommend it. I've seen worse, but I have also seen much better.

Until next time, always remember that you can't take flight until you spread your wings.