Introduction
Since May 12, 2023 when Terry Bomkamp, Steve Collins, Carol & Chuck Wilson, Gloria Bruske and I got off the trail just short of the New Jersey border at Greenwood Lake NY, I’ve considered at least finishing our original plan to reach the NJ border. After completing my last section of PA this past June and being greatly encouraged with my success over what I deduced to be the most challenging PA sections, I expanded my goal to knocking off the last 47 miles of NY including these last 3.9 miles to the Jersey border. How hard could it be after all of the loose rockpiles PA had put into my path, including the “Knife Edge” and “Bake Oven Knob”? I was about to find out the hard way.
For this excursion Mary Ann and I would be based in Fishkill NY near the Connecticut border, start at the CT border going SoBo (AT jargon for southbound) and finish at the intersection of Old Albany Post Road and Chapman Road where I started with the group in May 2023, then I would return to Fishkill overnight, drive next morning down to Greenwood Lake NY, hike up the Village Vista trail to the AT and down the AT for the last 3.9 miles to the New Jersey border trail and then back down to the lake at Lakeside NJ. It seemed simple enough and a good adventure. Also I found it very satisfying to tidy up these open ends. As Mary Ann could stay in one location for the entire trek also simplified her part.
One more caveat was that in June I started my trek southward into PA from the PA side of the Delaware River, which of course meant that I missed a smidgen of PA. You see what’s coming already, I suspect snce you likely know that I am a tad OCD. It was only an hour and a half drive down to the Water Gap and the NJ/PA border from where I got back to Mary Ann at Lakeside. So that was the finishing stroke for this adventure.
Why I’ve left New Jersey undone in the middle is primarily because of the May 2023 group trip. Deeper inside is an apprehension that the rockiness of PA would continue across the Delaware Water Gap, and I am not quite ready to face that yet. I have been picking NoBo’s (AT jargon for those northbound on the trail) minds that pass me about it and it doesn’t sound as bad as PA generally. But evidence at the NY/NJ border, as you’ll see below, suggests otherwise.
Equipment Upgrades
I have not been overly impressed with the performance of my solar recharging powerpack. It was not good enough to justify the extra 4 ounces. I reverted back to my older unit. And I neglected to mention that I changed to a long handled spork for the June 2024 PA hike. Besides this, in an effort to reduce pack weight last time out I decided to try toting only 2L of water instead of 3L, thus loosing instantly 2 pounds from the pack. For that DWG to PA-309 section this proved a bit sketchy as water sources were scarce and I had one potentially dry camp. But this stretch of NY had numerous creek crossings every day and was set up well as far as water was concerned. For comparison, in PA between the DWG and Pa-309 I crossed one creek in 50 miles, and that was on the first day.
Day 0 – Monday, 8/2 – Comfort Inn, Fishkill NY
We tried to get an earlier start since Fishkill is another hour drive than East Stroudsburg, but we ultimately were on the road by 0645. We shot straight across I-80, with stops at the Youngstown OH Cracker Barrel for lunch and the Fishkill Cracker Barrel for dinner. We arrived at the Comfort Inn at 1750. We had to wait 25 minutes for a table for dinner because of a tour bus, and finally got back to the motel at 2000. Interestingly we arrived at the Youngstown CB as their busload was just finishing up and leaving – it was better timing at lunch.
Interesting facts about Fishkill. This area of NY was settled by the Dutch and the Dutch word for creek or brook is a “kill’. Dutch for fish is “Vis”, and so you have Viskill mangled into English as “Fishkill”. Back in the mid-1960’s PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) petitioned the town to change there name so as not to encourage violence towards fish. The mayor responded that perhaps they should direct their energies toward the “Catskills” and against cat violence.
Also Fishkill is the site of the Continental Army’s primary supply depot, and much history of the town is linked with the Revolutionary War. New York Route 9 runs from Manhattan Island to Albany and is the original Old Albany Post Road. This road that was intertwined with my hike was the major road east of the Hudson during the war, critical to the colonies cause. The British never attempted to gain control of the road since it’s access was controlled by Wiccopee Pass, which the trail crossed close to, near Fishkill, heavily fortified and held by the colonials. They preferred to use the Hudson as their attack route.
Day 1 – Tuesday, 8/13 – CT Border to Telephone Pioneers Shelter
I learned as I went along that my hike plan was ambitious for this section. I laid it out as 10, 13.8, 12 and 8 miles. Normally the first day is shorter than 10 mikes because getting to the trailhead takes time. My mistake was to misread the elevation profile. The series of frequent short, steep rock outcropping climbs and descents that didn’t show well at the profile scale did me in.
Finding the CT/NY border crossing at Hoyt Road 40 minutes northeast of
Fishkill was not a problem. The jog in the trail across the road proved to be a bit more difficult, but it was only 100′ or so downhill. But compounding the problem was some operator error, in that the FarOut map from the border showed a reroute around the bridge that was out across Duel Hollow Kill that ran back down Hoyt Road and over the bridge on NY-55, then up the other side of the kill. I failed to see this until I got to the defunct bridge. The reroute was not on the AT map or AT Trail Guide. My first indication that perhaps something was amiss was that the blazes were very faded on this opening section. also didn’t see any new blazes with the needed turns. Now that I’ve had time to examine the Far Out trail description it is clear that the detour down hill to NY-55 on Hoyt Road, west on NY-55, then left on Deuel Hollow Road is written in and the Far Out map does show it. So a gold star for Far Out.
Crossing the kill turned out to be only a minor issue, but I could see that in the wet season it would have been boots off. Once across the trail led to Duel Hollow Road, and the blazes were still old and worn above the Wiley Shelter. The trailhead I found was blazed yellow, but it worked. Fortunately, the trail ran right past the front of the shelter. And, in fact, a key turn in the trail was blazed right on the front of the shelter. One of the landmarks was an old farm pump, but the handle had been removed due to some vestige of coliform contamination (how that would happen I don’t know in the middle of the woods is beyond me unless raccoons were crapping next to the well pipe or the well was very shallow). This set a tone for the rest of the hike – handles were routinely removed, or the pumps needed servicing and were not useable. FarOut had given me a heads up on this however.
Duel Hollow Road and the Wiley shelter came in the first 1.3 miles followed closely by Leather Hill Road and then the Pawling Nature Reserve with several cross trails that took some negotiating. Passed NoBo “Terrapin”.
Hiking through the Pawling Reserve I came face-to-face with one of those PA rock outcroppings before lunch. At first I rejoiced because right at the front was a right turn blaze that appeared to bypass the whole thing. Right after that were two large blowdowns that pretty much obliterated the trail. I wandered back and forth for 30 minutes trying to find where the trail re-emerged with no luck. Then I concluded that in fact the trail made another turn without a blaze (or maybe on the underneath of the blowdown) up over the outcrop, reminiscent of PA. I finally pointed myself toward the trail from down in the creek swale beyond the blowdown and went up the rise. Sure enough there the tread was. And just for effect it immediately took me back down into the same swale to cross the creek. Thirty minutes finding the trail. So on I went and broke for lunch soon after. It was now 1330. Passed by a guy in the kilt while at lunch; he was SoBo and so turned up again later.
The trail went steadily upwards for this next four miles to Hammersley Ridge, and then pleasantly downhill through pastures to NY-22, Hurd’s Corner Road, past a garden Center store with tap water and the railroad station to NY City. The problem, as it always seems to be going SoBo, is that no one is thinking blazes going this way and a critical corner blaze where the AT left the nature reserve and into a pasture at a junction with its Red Trail, both at a corner. My second lost trail of the day. After wandering around down the Pink/Red trail for a tenth and out and back in from the pasture a couple times I finally decided to take the pasture trail and one tenth down found a 90° left turn and a row of blazes on posts leading through the field. Another 10 minutes wasted. I skipped the acclaimed Tony’s Deli on NY-22.
I had been expecting it from when I first noticed “pastures” in the trail guide and I didn’t miss it – the water tower and fence stile picture on the cover of the AT New York-New Jersey Maps 1 & 2. It was on the downhill to NY-22. Also got the boardwalk photo from the cover of the New York-New Jersey AT Trail Guide but in an extremely overgrown condition, in the Great Swamp right across and down across the road about a quarter mile from this one. OK, I thought, check those off the list.
Got my AT Passport stamped at the Garden Center and got a big drink of water from the hose, but was only going to carry the aforementioned 2L so just topped it off. The SoBo with the light blue kilt was there. He passed me a couple times. After a short road walk past the garden Center I found myself at the NY City railroad stop on the edge of the “Great Swamp” in front of Corbin Hill with 3.1 miles left to camp for the day.
Crossing the swamp on the elevated boardwalk was pretty cool, moreso if I would have been able to see over the surrounding 12′ high cane and reeds. It ran for about a half mile ending at the base of Corbin Hill and Swamp River (not too creative for a name, but it drained into Stephen’s Brook) , the main drainage from the swamp. No one ever told me that this part of NY was full of bogs and swamp land. The picture on the NY Trail Guide, taken from Corbin Hill showed a trimmed and mown landscape, perhaps a spring shot with a picturesque boardwalk winding through, and the end of the boardwalk, without the railing or the bench where I took a break. But it was flat hiking.
Swamp River ran along the base of Corbin Mountain. Climbing up Corbin Hill was not much of an issue but the verges of the pastures on the downhill side were another matter. It didn’t appear to me that anyone since the COVID outbreak had been up here to trim back the trailside weeds as they were head high up to the edge of the very narrow tread. Met a NoBo gal in one stretch and we had to figure how we could pass each other. Mixed into this were some boardwalk sections and mud just for entertainment. Deer ticks came to mind as I was brushing through the weeds but my permethrin treated clothes and socks calmed my fears. Was over Corbin Hill downhill through the farm fields by 1610. Met “Packrat” on the uphill and then “Van Gogh” and his dog Reilly at the crest. With a downhill through fields, a breeze coming toward me and a perfect temperature I was having an Elysian experience in this stretch.
Crossed NY- 20 (West Dover Road) and saw the Dover Oak, an ancient, gargantuan oak with at least a 6′ diameter trunk. Very impressive. Crossed a small stream and then started the 0.7 mile West Mountain uphill. I was pretty beat by now and probably did an 11 mile day with all the backtracking.
Coming out of the bog at the base of West Mountain I cam e face-to-face with a 150′ solid granite rock face with a blaze on it. Based on my previous day’s experience I didn’t think twice and went right up it, mostly on all fours. Got to the top , looked left and saw the bypass trail. Just can’t win.
Arrived at the Telephone Pioneers Shelter at 1705 with plenty of daylight left. Best hammock spot happened to be right next to the creek running down between the trail and the campsite. No one was at the shelter, but later two guys, one SoBo and one NoBo were there overnight. About 7 hours to make 10 (11) miles with reroutes. Fairly slow pace but I took a nap and had lunch on the way.
Distance today – 10.3 miles
Day 2 – Wednesday, 8/14 – Telephone Pioneers Shelter to Hosner Mountain
Bound and determined to get an earlier start I set my alarm for 0500. I didn’t bother to check the sunrise time and it turned out I was an hour of hiking daylight late getting started. I’ll correct this tomorrow. This is my most ambitious day on the AT since the 14 miles out of Caledonia SP followed by 15.8 the next day to Pine Grove Furnace in PA to meet Mary Ann back in May 2022.
Had a bit of bladder leakage last night (old age creeps in) so was delayed washing out my drillies before breaking camp. The positive thing was that I was closer to the crest of the mountain than I thought and crested pretty quickly after starting out. Broke camp finally at 0647 and crested West Mountain at 0739. Crossed a number of marshy areas in this section. On the first one today part of the puncheon walk was a well constructed Eagle project, which always excites me.
At about 0830 I was passed by a little wisp of a trail running gal going NoBo with her dog off-leash trailing behind. Didn’t think much about it figuring she was going all the way down to PA-22 and its parking lot. Felt the urge to relieve myself so moved to trail side a bit and got set up, heard a noise behind me on the trail and sure enough here she came back up the trail. I held my position pretending I wasn’t doing anything until she passed. You just never know – go a couple hours without any body passing and then bang right when you least want it here someone comes. Always something going on out here. And of course my underwear were hanging from the back of my pack discreetly, exactly what I expected because the last time down in Virginia that I had my flag flying it was the 11 member ladies hiking club that passed me from behind. Reached the Beekman Uplands sidetrail junction at 0849 and then Nuclear Lake at 0900 and crossed over Nuclear Lake Road at 0920. Took a snack break along about now and was passed by a couple guys from behind and NoBo. By 1030 I had crossed both old NY-55 and new NY-55 with the railroad between them, and in between had met “Foghorn” and “Zena” from Florida. They reported knowing another “One-Tenth”. At about 1100 I hit
Depot Hill, with an uphill that rivaled PA but the rocks were rounded and not loose with the trail running thru them, not over them. Hit a flat 2-mile run to the Morgan Stewart shelter. Ate lunch here, met “Roamer” from Rome, GA, took a nap and then shortly after crested Mt. Egbert, no great shakes really. Crossed Grape Hollow Road at the
southern base of Depot Hill and 0.2 miles later crossed over I-84. Got a trucker in each direction to honk for me and I felt special. Across I-84 I walked Stormville Road on a slight uphill, and missed the turn-off into the woods briefly due to a stupidly conceived trail sign that indicated straight, no turn, at a sharp bend in the road, but where a gravel road intersected “straight” into the bend that turned out to be a private drive. Another example of blazing for NoBo without regard to SoBo. More on this down the trail. Took break at the top of this rise, then proceeded happily downhill on an old woods road paralleling I-84 the rest of the day. I was approaching NY-52 and the fabled Corrado Pizzeria and Deli option. Many folks on this section hike between this deli and Tony’s Deli off the trail on County Road 20 in Pawling one on , off the trail in Pawling, since both allow camping out back. I was entertaining the idea of eating at Corrado’s, after all they had beer and it was only 1500 or so until I missed a turn and hiked up a very AT-ish looking tread like I’d been on and ended up in a backyard on the north side of NY-52. Wasting a good 20 minutes and knowing I still had to hike up a very steep Stormville Mountain and Hosner Mountain after that to a dry trail camp I decided against it and pressed on over NY-52 and uphill.
Crossed Hosner Mountain Road in the next valley and watered up at 1749 from the “forbidden” reportedly cow pasture draining stream, running late, and started up the switchbacks across the road. As it turned out stopped at a nice trailside spot 0.2 miles short of my goal at 1845 with a good butt log, well spaced hammock trees and no undergrowth. It was also on the backside of the hill from I-84 and much quieter than others I passed on the way up. Still had plenty of daylight to set up camp, hang the bearbag and eat. I wasn’t too beat but not happy with my late start in the morning and fumbling with blazes and the trail.
Distance today – 13.6 miles, Total – 23.9 miles
Day 3 – Thursday, 8/15 – Hosner Mountain to Beaver Pond Outlet
Finally got into my AT stride today. Woke at 0400, had my morning prayer in my bag, rose, did my cathole business, retrieved the ‘coon bag in the dark (reflective parachord really helps with this), packed up the hammock and its contents and then sat down for my favorite Mountain House Breakfast Skillet breakfast. Could hear I-84 faintly down in the valley but otherwise peaceful. This is my favorite morning – a trail camp with enough water to cook breakfast and get to the next watering spot. I should say, and probably already have above, that one of the pluses for this section of the trail has been that water is abundant. The Sawyer Squeeze removes not only Giardia cysts but protozoa and bacteria, like cholera, as well. So the “avoid litigation” orientation of the ATC and FarOut in not listing any surface water as a source pushes all of my buttons. Do they realize that at home there must be residual chlorine in the City water and not until the advent of chlorination potable water was nonexistent in any City? In Jesus ‘ time no one drank the water unless they mixed in a bit of wine, using the ethanol as the disinfectant (“Wisdom has mixed her wine….” from the Book of Sirach). And only the naïve on the trail believe that every brook, kill, run or stream that has a pipe sticking in it from the side of the hill is actually a spring. End of rant.
I broke camp at 0630 and caught the sunrise over Stormville Mountain behind me. Stopped to get my water hose to come out of the pack in the proper direction, found and put on my elbow pads – a couple accoutrement adjustments and on I went. So I was 0.2 miles short for yesterday and I passed that point pretty quickly at 0655 on the uphill to the crest of Hosner Mountain. Still not to the crest. My campsite last night was better than any
here, primarily because it had an excellent butt log. Then a long and parallel downhill to the Taconic Parkway underpass and the major creek draining the area. The only problem with this downhill was that it was a scenic rock ridge with views to the west, with the expressway that serenaded me the entire length the most dominant scenic feature. Finally at the last scenic outlook I managed a panorama of the valley that was decent. Passed “Otis”, a large
NoBo who had started at Springer that seemed pretty disenchanted, so tried to cheer him up a bit. And just when I’d figured going under the Taconic Expressway I was at the bottom, a long, well constructed down staircase
greeted me to the creek, and then more downhill to the RPH shelter. Knowing this creek to be the water source t the shelter (hand pump with no handle again) I re-watered from the creek. Arrived at the shelter at 0905. Once at the shelter I found it to be a Taj Mahal of shelters – four sided, high ceiling, doorways at both ends, a back covered porch with a mowed lawn surrounding. I took a nap with my morning snack on the chaise lounge in the shade on the lawn – big uphill coming here, Shenandoah Mountain. Best thing about this shelter – it had a trash can. Life’s small pleasures.
There was a classic distance sign at the junction of the short shelter sidetrail ad the AT (it’s in the Guidebook) with distances to Springer, Katahdin and the Hudson River suspension bridge that is further south. I did the latter in May 2023. Bucking up I started the uphill to the crest of Shenandoah Mountain. Uphill passed NOBos “Critter” headed to meet his Mom at Depot Hill Road, and then 45 minutes later “Seeker”. Crossed the powerlines and took my lunch in a shady grassed spot off trail over the first crest at 1100 about a mile short of the top. I’d gone 7.1 miles. After about 30 minutes of peaceful rest saddled back up and headed on the slight downhill.
The little dip in the trail before the top that featured Long Hill Road was the most peaceful, quiet section I’d found today, especially compared to the Taconic Parkway serenade earlier and the I-84 serenade yesterday and through the evening. It overwhelmed me to the point that I knelt down in the trail and cried, thanking Jesus for the inclination and strength to get here. Crossed the road at 1222 and hit the top crest with its USGS marker at 1240.
Shortly beyond was another rock outcropping and freshly painted on it was a US flag with the inscription In Memoriam, September 11, 2001. I was wondering why paint it here realized soon after that it is likely on the flight path of one of the hijacked planes that day, maybe Flight 93 redirected toward the Pentagon that the passengers mutinied and crashed over PA. I was moved.
And now for today’s adventure. The trail took me through Fahnestock SP and
around the west side of Canopus Lake in the park. It was a gentle downhill, but at the junction of the AT with the trail into the park they decided to run the AT over every remaining rock outcropping left above Old Albany Post Road as I skirted the west side of the lake. Pretty, not so much; definitely strenuous and very frustrating. There had to be a better way. There was an option to take the Fahnestock sidetrail into the park concession area, and as I read later cut two miles off the trail length and led to the AT junction below the lake, but I was not very focused on this fact. I even went down this trail about a tenth before missing the white blazes and turning around. So on I trudged up and down and up and down, finally reaching NY-301. I was fairly tired by now, having covered 10.2 miles of my planned 12.2 for the day. I came up to the road crossing, which had a painted crosswalk that ended on the opposite side and a gravel walkway uphill to the right to the trailhead parking area. Not a white blaze was insight. So naturally, and mistakenly, I first turned left downhill because the map appeared to run parallel to the road, but that was still in the woods I noted later. So then, and again mistakenly went uphill (I didn’t need an uphill at this point) to the parking lot and rummaged around up a steep bank and down, finding nothing. I decided to return to the crossing and on the downhill I stopped at the kiosk and asked Mother Mary to help me, clear my mind and restore the logic of the situation (a first time).
Standing back on the other side of the road where it emerged from the woods I looked across the road again. That’s when I saw the brown 6″ by 6″ diamond AT sign nailed to a huge oak street. I hadn’t seen one of these since Virginia. All the comments in FarOut were NoBo with no mention of where they came up across the road. The NY/NJ Trail Guide said, and I quote, “SoBo turn left and follow the highway east”, then after 1/10 mile, “reenter the woods on the south side of the highway”. These directions follow the normal AT convention that if SoBo east is always left and west is always right. So if I’m headed AT east then a right turn points me AT south. In AT parlance they are saying to cross the road that here is running compass north-south to the other side. It is unfortunate that the road and trail make a sharp turn here because directions got very confusing. Actually the AT map shows the trail turning left and following the road for that tenth mile then turning 180° and going back on the other side of the road, but presumably now on the railroad bed below. Truth be told, with the construction of the new trailhead parking lot they rerouted the trail off this 1/10th road walk compass north to a stone stairway directly across the highway, compass south from the trail’s emergence on the compass west (AT north) side of the road down to the trail on the elevated Sunken Mine railroad bed below. Got it? I was walking in the right direction to start with although there were no blazes on roadway or guardrail because they had been removed with the reroute I guessed later, following the former trail but going 2/10ths out of my way doing it. In fact, when I finally located the new stairs I did note a faint track coming toward me behind the highway guardrail on that side. Once I spotted that nearly hidden trail sign across the road and crossed (for the third time), the short tread to the top of the stairs was obvious. This whole orientation problem cost me a couple tenths and 30 minutes, all because of outdated maps and coming SoBo to no blaze.
Once down on the old railroad bed it was the piece of tread I’d hoped for to make up for lost time – no rocks, no hills, no roots for 0.7 miles. Then it was up and down over small streams and steep hillocks through an extended boggy area that seemed unending, but actually was only another 1.4 miles. It was in this stretch that I stepped on my right hiking pole and tripped forward. I only fell maybe a foot since the bank was so steep my nose was almost on the ground already and no damage was sustained.
I found the Beaver Pond Outlet campsite to be more wonderful than I had expected. I finally rolled in at around 1730, having hiked 12.2 miles in 11 hours minus a 30 minute lunch nap, a 30 minute morning break at the RPH shelter 10 minutes on the Fahnestock blue trail and 30 minutes lost at NY-301, so let’s say 9.25 hours, 1.3 mph, pretty slow.
The outlet featured a side-by-side waterfall of about 10′ each and a nice deep channel with very hospitable stepping stones. Once I got water and camp set up I decided it was bath time in the outlet. It was certainly bathtub depth with no danger of being swept over the falls. I decided against at the falls because the
access was a bit trickier and I was running out of daylight. I may regret that choice for a long time. Oh, water was very refreshing. I stripped to my nylon sleeping shorts and my crocs, which have straps. Since I had no bath towel or for that matter no towel at all, my plan was to put my wool toque on my head and my wool shirt on may torso and sort of drip dry while I made dinner. And presto, squeaky clean and dry, sort of. At least I was warm.
Put the ‘coon bag up near the end of dusk and since I had water brewed up another cup of hot tea and just enjoyed the moment. Tomorrow is pickup day but the hike is 8 miles. I am looking forward to returning to the May 2023 trailhead. The weather has been ideal. And for being surrounded by swamp the bugs are suspiciously absent. Heck, I was nearly buck naked for a bit there and I wasn’t viciously attacked. I have high praise for permethrin on all my outer clothes and picaridin on my exposed skin. That has to be it. A comment on FarOut by a NoBo about the trail around the west side of Canopus Lake in Fahnestock SP claimed it was the most bug infested section since Springer. There was no problem for me.
Distance today – 12.2 miles, Total – 36.1 miles
Day 4 – Friday, 8/16 – Beaver Pond Outlet to Old Albany Post Road
Today is pickup day and I close the gap from Connecticut to Greenwood Lake NY. The trail didn’t look too strenuous but in NY looks can be deceiving I am finding out. I had Canopus Hill to negotiate and then downhill to the junction of Chapman Road and Old Albany Post Road. My previous visit to this gravel road intersection in a suburban part of Indian Lake was so brief and I was so distracted, I hardly remember it.
Crossed the Beaver Pond Outlet at 0633, with a bit of unwarranted trepidation about falling in. That was past in 5 seconds but I took a picture behind me anyway. Crossed the Sunken Mine Road at 0639 and had no idea I was so close. There was no traffic on it last night, at least that I could hear above the noise from the falls. So my trail camp was just short of this road, which is shown on the AT map elevation profile. Got the sunrise over Shenandoah Mountain. Next landmark was the Dennytown Road and campsite. This location was so maligned in FarOut comments that in May 2023 we moved our starting point further south, i.e. to Old Albany Post Road where I’m bound today. Heck ,this place looked wonderful, clean and tidy. I didn’t check for a power outlet on the small building because I didn’t need any. I was past it actually before I realized it was the Dennytown site. There was a bloom of ragweed, my old nemesis, on the uphill after Dennytown CS reminding me of my observation that there is a wildflower for every season along the AT
Getting close and making good time I passed the trailhead of the Catfish Loop Trail. Then following a creek downhill on a very hospitable piece of trail I decided on a morning snack and trailside break at around 0845 to 0915. Afterward continued this gentle downhill to and crossed South Highland Road and some trailhead parking at about 1000, but at the crossing got mixed up on a Fahnestock red blazed sidetrail that the trailhead served for another tenth mile detour – no blaze at the turn, of course, since I’m southbound. The last impediment was now Canopus Hill Road and the hill itself for the last 1.6 miles.
Crossed Canopus Hill Road at 1035. where there was a plaque on the foundation of a former barn used as a Smallpox Inoculation Station under General Washington in 1776 to thwart the smallpox epidemic threatening the Continental Army at the time. Canopus Hill had the typical NY granite exposed granite backbone over a large part of its ridge that made for easy hiking, which I crested at 1125, 0.8 miles to pickup. Emerged at the junction of Chapman and Old Albany Post Roads at 1156. Mary Ann followed closely at 1200 precisely, followed closely by a local resident, who’s husband was the trail angel that had placed the bench and cooler of water this junction. We had nice conversation while Mary Ann and I figured how to get the car turned around. Promptly headed
back towards Fishkill. And leave it to my gal “Tender”, she had found a Texas BBQ joint on NY-9, the new Albany Post Road back towards Fishkill, a genuine hole in the wall, and the Que was cheap {$12.00 a half pound), with good red skin mashed potatoes, egg based potato salad, coleslaw and Shiner. I put the two Shiners down in a heartbeat.
Distance today – 7.0 miles, Total – 43.1 miles
Day 5 – Saturday, 8/17 – Greenwood Lake to Lakeside/Borderline Trail
You may remember at the outset my comments on my hike of the roughly lower half of the AT in NY with Terry Bomkamp (“Buffet”), Carol (“Cheetah”) and her husband Chuck (“Chipster”) Wilson, Gloria (“Coach “) Breske , Steve (“Mountain Goat”) Collins and myself (“One-Tenth”) that we stopped 3.9 miles from the NJ border in early May 2023. Well, today is the day I finish this and the AT through NY.
We retreated to the Comfort Suites in Fishkill last night and I reloaded on clothes and only a snack for today, anticipating a 6-mile hike in 3 hours, 4 hours max. When finally tallied with the approach trails at both ends it came to 1.2+3.9+ 1.0 = 6.1 miles. We had breakfast at the motel and made the 45 minute drive down US-9 to the trailhead of the Greenwood Lake Village Vista Trail where I left off in 2023. I started uphill at 0750. Right away I was back in PA with the rocks. It was a 1.3 mile uphill, happily with some switchbacks in the middle, and I had a light pack with 2L of water and only a morning snack. But to make it legal I didn’t slack pack as it’s called; I had al my equipment. I
was at about 22#. Crested out on the AT at 0830 and headed south. I’ve since read comments on /FarOut that compare this 4 mile section as a mini-PA, and I definitely agree. Called euphemistically “rock outcroppings” and noted by camera icons on FarOut, this rivaled the VA Rollercoaster section. Largely bouldering and rock climbing with intermissions on long exposed NY granite sidewalk formations I pressed forward. How tough can 4 miles of this be, really. I was about to find out. There was only one of the 5 denoted outlooks with a decent view of the long Greenwood Lake, but there were innumerable lesser outcroppings with
steep approaches or descents, and sometimes both. Plus these notable outcroppings were multiple humps in some cases. Fortunately my Vibram soled Merrells stuck like glue to it all and the rocks were dry. Rain was threatening as I started, but by 0900 it was clearing off. I did my first backward facing descent at 0855, but didn’t keep count after that. The most notable was the 8-rung rebar ladder further on that only brought you half way down to
the forest floor. For the rest you were on your own over steep like of broken boulders. Bake Oven Knob and Little Gap in PA had nothing on this one. I was not in any fear or doubt about being able to do it, but it was very slow. My legs never got as tired feeling as they had been going up the St. Patrick’s Park tubing hill back home. I had prepared well. Just kept looking for the NJ borderline painted, I suspected, on the rocks. One down involved 3 successive backwards facing descents. One handhold and foothold at a time. Interestingly, I was now far enough south to find rhododendrons.
The highpoint was Prospect Rock, highest point on the AT in NY, which I reached at 1215. The border was just beyond this landmark and I reached it at 1228. Sure enough the border was neatly painted right on the rock trail tread. The Border Trail descending back to Greenwood Lake was shortly beyond that point. OK so all over now, right. Not so fast. A one mile 775′ descent on loose rocks with no switchbacks awaited. So there I was watching FarOut as I hiked down. More than once I got off the trail, its small blue with white border blazes hard to pick out and sparse at that. I wandered on a flat outcrop for at least 10 minutes at one point. Then after noting and passing the Abram Hewitt Loop Trail intersection I didn’t look at FarOut for some time, and when I did I was well off of the trail. At first dismayed of having to go back uphill and having seen no other possible route, I looked again and realized that FarOut did
not include the whole of the Lakeside border trail. But the AT map did. So I spent some time hiking back up the trail a bit, but finally realized I was on a more or less a straight line down to NY-201 along the lake. With this decision I proceeded downhill, ever downhill. It was hot and humid. At the very bottom I came to a tee intersection. No blaze of course and I took the fork to the right. That led across the creek to an old abandoned baseball field and a deadend. So back the other way and finally with my patience well tested I found Mary Ann and trails end. It was 1340. 6.1 miles in 5.25 hours with a 30 minute rest break. Pretty slow. But I had no falls. Not a bad tradeoff.
Now to finish PA. By my oversight I started my last PA hike at the parking area inside the PA border, 0.4 miles from the border in the middle of the I-80 bridge. Oopsie. So after getting off the trail at Lakeside NY we shuffled down I-80 to exit 1 at the interstate bridge and parked in the Kittatinny Ridge Visitors Center, from which I proceeded to the pedestrian walkway on the I-80 bridge. The drama here was that we had gone through two successive cloudbursts just five miles up the road that were so hard we had to slow to 50mph. But on arrival it was sunny and dry at the bridge. I thought, oh boy, here it comes as the first semi approached 5′ from my right. I braced to really get hosed down ,like what happened crossing the New River in
Pearisburg a couple years ago. But there was nothing, not even a drop that hit me, mostly because the 4′ concrete barrier wall was so close to the trucks tires I suppose. So I was way happy and proceeded into the Town of Delaware Water Gap and uo Mountain Road to the aforementioned parking lot at the trailhead. And presto, I was done.
After this we drove back downhill to Joe Bosco’s BBQ, the joint we had passed in June that was closed, as it should be, on Sunday, and the Que turned out to be better than that at the Texas Roundup earlier that week. I had to walk to the corner pizzeria for my Yuengling, but when I got back our order was ready. So victorious and well fed I was ready to drive back to Hoosierland. And guess what. Buffet, Mountain Goat, Dave Niswonger (yet to get his trail name) and I are headed to the 100 Mile Wilderness and Katahdin in Maine this September. It’s not my fault.
Distance today (AT) – 4.3 miles, Total – 47.4 miles
Total AT miles after these treks – 1,398.8