The Fire Department Comes Knocking

This morning I woke up around 4:40 AM, but then fell back asleep until after 5 AM. Lately I’ve been sleeping with earplugs every single night and it’s been interfering with my wake up schedule a bit. I just can’t hear anything! Typically if I do fall back asleep, I’ll usually wake up when I hear someone packing up or getting ready. But that doesn’t work very well if I can’t hear.

Luckily, today we’re only going about 25 miles. So it’s going to be a nice early day, even if we start a bit later than usual. When I finally did wake up, I made a hot mocha. Then I slowly got everything packed away. One odd thing that I noted this morning was that I was missing my Z packs stuff sack, which I normally put my quilt into. I checked everywhere and it was completely gone. And I had a very strong memory of tucking it next to myself when I went to bed. Even after I packed up every single thing, I never found it. That’s not a huge deal, but I do like to keep my quilt in that bag to protect it and keep it dry. That way, even if I get a small hole in my bag liner, the quilt is still dry.

Right before we set out for the morning, I went behind the shelter to go pee. And I could see the bag about 10 feet away from me in the woods. My only guess is that it was so incredibly windy last night, that I got pulled out of the shelter? That seems more likely than a small critter running off with it. Either way I was just glad that it was there. But I was also surprised that I hadn’t blown away even further because the winds were crazy last night. Around 9 PM it began to absolutely pour rain too. I was very glad that we were in a shelter for the night.

Setting out onto the trail early this morning.

When we left the shelter, I knew the first couple hours of the day were going to be nice and easy. Last time I was here I actually camped at the next shelter down the trail. It had been a really rough day with tons of rain. But we dried out at the state park and then decided to keep going for another 4 or 5 miles. So this time around I knew those miles would be fairly easy.

A 9/11 memorial on top of one of the high points.

There were some small hills to go up and down, but nothing too crazy. And the rocks have been a lot tamer in the last 24 hours than they were in the previous. Eventually, the trail brought us down to that next shelter, which is one of the many shelters you can order hot food too. It looks enclosed like a tiny house, but actually is only three sided. The wall which the back porch comes off of is not enclosed. But on the inside, it’s very spacious and has multiple bunks. It’s as close to a house as a shelter can be.

The RPH shelter!

I walked over to the shelter and looked around a bit. It was really nice staying here last time except for the bugs. The mosquitoes had been really bad and the shelter didn’t have four walls. We actually wound up hanging some tents in front of the opening to prevent more bugs from coming in. Once you get this far north on the Appalachian Trail in the summer, typically you can no longer camp in shelters. Unless you have separate bug netting that you can hang around yourself. The shelters become too hot to be sleeping in your quilt and also two buggy to not be in your quilt. It’s a vicious combination. When we got to the section of the trail last time, I was pretty much tenting every single night.

~760 miles to Katahdin! By the end of the day it will be less than 750 miles.

Around that shelter, there were some beautiful flowers blooming. They didn’t seem like anything that I would expect to see in nature. I wondered if someone had come out and planted them there by the shelter. You’ll have to let me know in the comments if you recognize these flowers and whether or not they typically grow in the forest. They were so vibrant! And in a 5 foot radius, there were a bunch of different colors of the same flower.

These flowers were incredible!

Once we passed by that shelter, the trail began to climb for a little while. At times, it was a bit rocky and steep, but was relatively tame. I opted not to listen to music and I was just sitting with my thoughts a lot this morning. As someone who craves and thrives through time spent alone, I’ve been trying to take more time to myself during the day. I don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time with another person in my entire life. Even looking back at other hiking partners on the CDT and other trails, I still think that this is the most consistent amount of time spent with someone else. Especially considering Punisher and I are not romantically involved. Yet I think we see each other more in a day or over a week than I ever saw my most recent partner who I dated for 4-5 years!

Climbing up and around a rocky section of trail.

Typically in the past, something will come up and I’ll wind up having a solo adventure here and there. Or maybe even wind up camping alone or staying alone somewhere. But that has not been the case this year. It’s incredible having someone else to experience this whole journey with. I know that it would be a very lonely one going for months on end. Especially with how few other hikers we’ve been seeing on the trail. But at times it’s still been difficult to soothe the part of my soul that has always longed for space and solitude. Something I’ve filled my life with for the past five years.

It was a bit cold out this morning, but otherwise perfect hiking weather.

Some of my favorite memories on trail have been hiking with a tramily. I basically hiked the entire Appalachian Trail with Sweet Pea and Boosted in 2023. But on the other hand, many of my other favorite memories of trail are the ones where I set out alone. Both ends of the spectrum are fantastic in their own way.

Crossing over a fairly long foot bridge.

It wasn’t until recently that I really came to realize how little time I had to myself over the last couple months. I love quietly spending time alone with myself. Especially as someone who writes frequently and enjoys other hobbies like that. I think I just need to find a way to balance these two worlds. I’ve just began to miss and crave that precious time alone with myself.

For the first three or four hours of the day, I just climbed small hills and weaved along the trail through the forest. It was pretty cold so I kept my gloves on. I also wore my Montbell jacket, but was able to hike in shorts for the day. I never turned my music on and instead just let my mind go where it wanted to. Sometimes I need that more than anything. After a while, I wanted to escape from my mind for a little bit as well. So I tried to call Sparkle and then my parents. It always seems like I don’t call nearly enough when I’m on trail. But then of course, in the moment when I finally have a free second and some service, no one else is around.

The trail went past this lovely lake.

I wound up talking to my mom in between some of her sessions at work. Even after talking for about 10 minutes, I found what I was looking for. I just really felt like I needed to talk with someone for a bit. We didn’t have much time because she had to go into another session. But said that she had an opening later on in the day and would give me a call back. That made me really happy, and I had something to look forward to over the next hour.

In that time, I decided to get some writing done. Lately I’ve been so exhausted at the end of the day. I haven’t been doing a great job of typing on my phone. Instead, I found it much easier to voice-to-text my blog over the course of the day. If for some reason I’m unable to do that the day before, then I’ll do it the following day. But generally, I try to write out the day as it goes on. That way by the time I get to camp at night, my blog is 90% finished. Then all I have to do is get service to upload my photos and make small edits. Thats been making my life a whole lot easier. And I’m genuinely a person who loves to talk to themselves. If you ever wonder what I do when I’m alone, talking to myself and singing to myself is at the top of the list.

These lush green plants always appear to grow in the areas with the most mud and foot bridges.

Around 1PM my mom was free and we talked on the phone for a long time. It was probably one of the deeper conversations that we’ve ever had honestly. I really needed to just empty everything out of my mind. My mom is also a family therapist, so she’s always so incredibly mindful and easy to talk to. After we finished up I felt a huge weight lifted off me. Sometimes you don’t even realize how many things are swimming around in your mind until you pour everything out in front of you.

Once we got off the phone I felt lighter and relaxed. That was just the little bit of peace that I was searching for today. I wound up continuing to walk in silence which I found to be very grounding. This was a really good day and I think I needed the solitude more than I realized. As I walked I went past two separate large oak trees. One of them was so large around the trunk that I would have had to link arms with 4-5 other people to surround it. I touched the ancient tree as I walked past. Whispering out loud just how glad I was that no one ever chopped her down.

One of the gorgeous and massive oak trees that we walked past today.

When I was a couple hours away from the road into Pawling, NY I did a bit more coordinating. A hiker named Bluebird is planning to meet us at the road and help us out a bit. I had posted on Instagram looking to possibly get a ride in Pawling. I know it’s a fairly easy hitch, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to see if anyone was local to the area. Bluebird is not local to the area, but also hiked the AT in 2023! She was just excited to come out and provide some trail magic for us. So she will be meeting us around 3PM to give us a ride to town.

A long boardwalk before the trail crosses NY Route 22.

Over the last hour or so of the day I wound up talking to my dad on the phone. We lost service a couple of times but were able to talk for a fairly long time. It felt good to connect with both of my parents today. After we got off the phone there wasn’t much further to go. The day wrapped up as I walked along a beautiful boardwalk across a marshy area. Then you cross over train tracks, which would take you into NYC! But what I was most excited about still laid ahead. I remembered there being a Malaysian food truck at the corner of this next road. It was one of the best meals that I had along the entire AT.

This was a really nice stretch of trail. I was surprised that we didn’t see anyone out hiking today.

And wouldn’t it just be our luck, the truck was open for another 30 minutes! So we ordered some food and sat at the picnic table to wait. I got a Malaysian iced coffee which tasted like your classic Thai iced coffee. It was very delicious. Then ordered a noodle dish with pork, which is exactly what I ordered back in 2023. I had to relive the moment.

The DC Malaysian food truck. You HAVE to stop here on your AT thru hike.

The food came out just as Bluebird arrived! So we grabbed it to go and headed out with her. There is no grocery store in town, but Bluebird offered to drive us down the road a short ways to the nearest one. That was such a blessing. I can always resupply at a gas station, but I really wasn’t in the mood to do so. Lately I’ve actually been craving sandwiches. I really wanted to make pimento cheese sandwiches and fluffernutter sandwiches to pack out. But they required going to a grocery store.

Bluebird! It was so great to meet her and she was incredibly kind to come out and pick us up.

The Hanford was actually great and had everything I needed and more. I got some drinks for tonight and a couple things to cook. There’s a kitchen at the place we’ll be staying tonight. So that gave us a few more options than usual.

Once we finished up there Bluebird drove us over to the Station Inn. It was so incredibly kind of her to come out and help us today! That truly made a world of difference for us. Being able to go to a grocery store was a game changer. And her picking us up saved us so much time that was able to be spent relaxing and getting work done.

We wound up booking the Village Green, which is a one bedroom apartment at the Station Inn. That meant there was a large living room with a sleeper couch, and a private bedroom. I paid a bit extra so that I could have a private space to get some video work done. Which always simplifies things for me. I got to work right away and wound up filming one video and the majority of another. Then showered and we started some laundry. This unit actually has its own laundry, which I didn’t even realize. That was a killer surprise. I didn’t even think we would be able to do laundry at all.

This milk was next level. 250 calories per cup! Which is probably the most calories I’ve ever seen in a chocolate milk before.

The rest of the day was super relaxing. I got a ton of work done but did it all from bed! And every little thing I completed just relaxed me more and more. I love getting caught up on “work”. And I also love stock piling completed videos so that I can upload them periodically. In bed I drank a delicious jug of milk and ate some of the different grocery store goodies. Then wound up staying up wildly late snacking, editing, and doom scrolling.

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!