A Sunny Day After A Snowstorm

This morning I woke up in the room around 7 AM. Then I dozed off for a little while longer, but was having dreams that I fell asleep for hours. I don’t know how I started dreaming so quickly. When I finally did wake up, I was relieved to see that it was still before 8 AM.

I got up and began packing and getting ready to leave the motel. Then a little bit after 8 AM we headed outside and the woman who runs the place drove us back to the trailhead. It was only about seven minutes down the road which was pretty quick. And we were back to walking around 8:30 AM.

The snow covered trail as we set out this morning.

The trail in this area still had a lot of slushy snow on it. But it was still much better than yesterday. It’s also supposed to be getting into the low 50s today. I would imagine that most of the snow is going to be melted by this afternoon or later on this evening.

Even with a lot of melt, I’m shocked how much accumulation there was.

Over the next 6 miles we made our way through Highpoint State Park. We were heading in the general direction of the park building which is just off trail. You can buy some snacks and drinks there. But we just left town so I don’t believe we’ll be stopping off this morning.

The park office at High Point State Park.

For the most part, the trail was fairly easy going. There were some rocky sections, but the rocks weren’t completely covered in snow. So I was able to be a strategic about my footing. Unlike yesterday, we were actually making pretty decent time. I think that the snow covered trail still slowed us down slightly. But after a few hours of walking it seemed like it might’ve taken us maybe 20 minutes longer than usual to get our miles in.

A large AT marker in a field.

On the way out of high point state park the trail goes past a large wooden overlook. It has some great views when you’re on top of the massive platform. You can also see the large monument off in the distance from here. Leaving there we continued along snow covered trail for another hour or so. But we were descending gradually and the sun was starting to come out. As we got lower in elevation we eventually left the snow all together. Then we were just walking through a grassy field for a while.

Views of the monument in the distance from the top of the overlook platform.

Because of all the snow melt, the trail is pretty wet and muddy. There are some areas which have turned into small pools. We had to skirt along the side of those areas to avoid getting our feet additionally wet. Though my feet had already gotten absolutely soaked this morning in the snow. I didn’t really try to hard to avoid the puddles until after my shoes began to dry out. Then I tried my best to keep them dry for the rest of the day.

The large wooden overlook.

The trail was so incredibly beautiful in this section. And being able to enjoy it in good weather was just delightful. We walked past a pond and continued through a field. Then crossed over various foot bridges and boardwalks. The sections of forest that we walked through were really lush. And the trail wasn’t particularly rocky at this point. A while later we walked past some kind of contained body of water that a wall had been built around.

The trail walked along this large enclosed pool of water.

This section of trail led us to a brief reroute. I had totally forgotten about this alternate route, which was also implemented in 2023. The trail in this area had been flooded and turned into more of a swamp. In 23’ I remember that the trail didn’t look too terrible at the junction. But today you could hardly even see where the trail used to go, because it was completely under water! The whole area was a swamp. It felt like we were back in Florida.

The New York swamp! It brought me back to the Florida trail.

There’s a reroute in place to go around the swamp. It takes you out onto a road very briefly and then you get back on the trail. Somewhere around here I did a different road walk in 2023. You could road walk for a bit longer and go all the way into Unionville. And it shaved off some hiking along the trail. My tramily and I did all kinds of alternates and things like that. I didn’t really care as long as I kept a footpath. Now this time around I’m a purist! Who would have thought.

A stone walkway.

Over the course of the day we skirted along the New Jersey and New York border. But we won’t officially cross into New York until tomorrow morning. Through the later afternoon there wasn’t a whole lot to climb to do. We cruised along some grassy trail and flat sections of pine. There were even a couple brief road walks! The trail itself crossed over numerous roads over the course of the day. And we actually wound up seeing a bunch of day hikers throughout the day.

We walked the line of New Jersey and New York for most of the day.

Around 5pm we arrived at one of my favorite segments of trail. The mile long boardwalk which stretches through a marshy area. It’s a pristine, wide, boardwalk that you can just cruise along. Toward the end the boardwalk crosses over a river. Then some trail picks up on the other side. This area in particular had the majority of the day hikers. We probably saw 10+ people in about 20 minutes time.

I love taking pictures in these large mirrors for cars.

This brick walkway was particularly nice.

Not long after getting off that boardwalk the trail picks up onto a long wooden foot bridge. That brought us through some cow fields before we crossed over yet another road. From there the day began to get a little more tedious. When we got back into the woods the trail was all rocks. I knew we had a bit of a climb but I didn’t mind. I’d rather go uphill along rocks than downhill any day.

The beautiful boardwalk!

We saw more day hikers as we made our way up that next climb. One person we saw had about 10 dogs with him, and a cat on his shoulder! The dogs were all off leash and were unbelievably well behaved. None of them even reacted to us passing by and talking to their human. It was a trip to see one guy running around with that many dogs. But they all just calmly follow him along the trail.

I loved this sign, and the views were nice too.

The sun is setting a bit later now which has been great. It’s also rising very early! The start of the year was tough with the additional hours of darkness. We were always starting in the dark and hiking in it for hours. Then usually either getting to camp just before dark, or walking in the dark once more. It’s going to be wonderful having all of this extra daylight! I’m stoked to be in California around the time that the sun is up till 9pm. There is nothing better than that.

The trail was pretty rocky toward the end of the day. At times it even seemed worse than Pennsylvania.

The sun began to set as we made our way to the next shelter. It’s the Wawa- something shelter. I can’t for the life of me remember the full name. But it is 30.5 miles from the trailhead and turnpike that we started our day at. Luckily this evening we managed to get to the shelter spur and then the shelter just before dark. We barely made it! The shelter was also empty, which is always the best case scenario. The shelter is down a short spur trail. But it’s a pretty flat side trail.

A sign for the shelter that we spent the night at.

Inside the shelter I got set up and situated for the night. Then boiled some water to make a mountain house meal for the night. I’m going to be trying out some of the new flavors soon and I’m excited to let yall know what I think. Trying a new dehydrated meal is always very exciting! After a while it feels like you’ve tried just about everything.

I loved the little eyes that someone drew on this trail marker.

I wound up getting a little bit of work done before falling asleep. But I didn’t have it in me to do all of the writing. I’ll just have to get it done using voice to text tomorrow. I could hardly keep my eyes open as I tried writing. Eventually I gave up and just headed off to bed.

If you enjoyed this blog and would like to support my hike by buying me a soda or a snack along the way, there is a “Tip the Author” button below! It links directly to my Venmo. Any and all support is incredibly appreciated!

There were so many stunning views today! I couldn’t stop taking photos.

Walking through a field, lightly dusted with snow.

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek’s ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support!

To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.