The Way I Go Along The Appalachian Trail

The morning temperature was 30° and it was sunny; wind was calm. This is a welcomed change in weather from the blustery winds we had the past three days.  Today we will hike from the Warwick Turnpike (1365.1 NoBo) to County Road 565, Glenwood, NJ (1355.8 NoBo) for a total of 9.3 miles.    We will climb the AT famous “Stairway to Heaven” in which the elevation goes up 850 ft in 1.4 miles (11.5% grade).  This walkway traversed the wetland for over a 1/4 mile.   Many foot bridges and and walkways are built and maintained by volunteers from local hiking groups. Some of the smaller footbridges were built  by young men performing their community service as part of earning their Eagle Scout badge.  Wooden suspension bridge.  Crossing the wooden suspension bridge.  Approaching the “Stairway to Heaven”.  Getting closer.. . And we were worried about the black bears? The bottom of “Stairway to Heaven”. Still climbing... on many of the rock escarpments and slopes on the AT there are stone steps bu

  The next two days the weather forecast is cold and windy. Any sun will be surely welcomed. This morning the temperature was 18° and  🌞 , the wind was gusting up to 17 mph.  Today we are hiking from NY 17A Bellvale-Greenwood Lake (1374.4 NoBo) to Warwick Turnpike (1365.1 NoBo) equaling 9.7 miles.  We began hiking at 9:27 am.  We completed the AT in NY and continued into NJ. We climbed “Prospect Rock”, the highest point on the AT in NY at 1369.1 NoBo    (elev. 1433 Ft. ) and encounter the “Ladder” at 1370.3 NoBo.  I officially became known as “Splinter” (my trail name) at 11:02 am as we crossed the NY-NJ border.  I am “Splinter”.... We stopped here to grab our sandwiches.... found a warm spot out of the wind.  Prospect Rock.  “The Ladder”. The AT Handbook noted,    “despite this sections unimposing    profile, rock and abrupt ups and down will make this section challenging”. We had to slide down on our backs/sides on one rock section as it was nearly vertical and there wasn’t any thin

The morning temperature was 21° and the skies were overcast. Forecast for today is cold with the high only expected to reach mid 20’s; wind chill will make it feel in the sing le digits.  Our commute to where we are on the trail from Jim’s house is over an hour now; so after we complete    hiking this weekend and I get back from Florida we will start staying out on the trail and road all the time. We will be finishing NY and enter NJ Sunday.    I have decided on a trail name, “Splinter”, the adopted father, mentor and Master of the Ninja Turtles. Actually, my oldest daughter Theresa came up with it as she thought it would compliment my Martial Arts background and it also associates with Jim’s trail name. Anyway, I thought I will get a few more trail miles in and complete NY before I officially begin using it.    I also liked it better than TP’s suggestion that our trail names should be "Beavis and Butt-Head" 🙄.  We resumed    hiking from Orange Turnpike (1384.9 NoBo) to NY 1

We are resuming hiking today after a 2 day hiatus. This week was both our birthdays so we treated ourselves with some rest. Not much of a break for me though, lol... I went hiking locally one day and x-country skiing the other day. Both times at Highland Forest. We got 8” of new snow and skiing conditions were great! Friday  morning temperature was 34° and it was cloudy when we started. We continued hiking where we left off at Seven Lakes Drive (1394.6 NoBo) and went to Orange Turnpike  (1384.9 NoBo) equaling 9.4 miles.  We started hiking at 9:28 am.  NYS Route 17 and New York State Thruway in the background.  This was 1/2 way down the next picture.... We just came down that rock-castle covered with ice... Crossing the NYS    Thruway. Looking southbound.   The bottom of “Lemon Squeezer”... you haven’t see anything... this was wild!!  The middle section of    “Lemon Squeezer”.    The pictures do not do it justice. This crevice is nearly 20 feet high X 3 ft wide (maybe) X 50 feet long t

Happy 68th Birthday “Turtle Power”  🎉 ! The morning temperature was 29° and clear sky’s. We began hiking at 8:44 am continuing from the Bear Mountain Bridge, north on Route 9D to Seven Lakes Drive*.  William Brien Memorial Shelter. There were 4 campers at this shelter this morning.  South side of West Mountain after our first climb of the day.  Took a near fall... key word “near” and bent my trekking pole. It would have broken if I didn’t let go of it and jumped over it! Turtle Power thought he had a dinner coming... not even close  😉 .  Stopped for a break at about 10:30 am at the 4 mile mark.  New York City skyline in the distance.   Bear Mountain Bridge in the background.  Bear Mountain to the left and Bear Mountain Bridge to the right in the background 5 miles away; that’s where we are going to today. Its Turtle Power’s birthday he picked the length of our hike* .  Bear Mountain/Pershing Memorial Tower about 2 miles away - that’s our next objective .   Birthday boy taking a brea