Make it count: Day #98

Thursday, June 18 - Day #98 - AT Hike

Miles Hiked Today - 19.6
Total Miles Hiked on AT - 1353/2,193 (61.70%)

Mashipacong (1333.4) to Pochuck Mtn Shelter (1353) - tent at Pochuck Mtn Shelter

Total ascent - 2,382’
Total descent - 2,935’

Total States Completed - 7/14

**No Rain - Foggy early. Overcast day. Humid. 84-65 degrees.

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Coming to you live from my tent at the Pochuck Mtn Shelter. It’s 7:20pm - and I’m one tired feller. Caruso and I had a great hiking day - getting to the shelter a little before 4pm. We’ve been starting really early - on trail by 6am - to get some miles in before the heat. We had a nice discussion with Sherpa Mike this morning. He’s coming around to the fact that he needs to rest that ankle and not make it worse. He was just going to do a few miles today and go into town. It was difficult for him. You could see it on his face. Hopefully we’ll be able to run into him in the very near future once that ankle is healed up.

Today’s course was a very mixed bag. There were short steep climbs, lengthy road walks, sections through open fields, and a few ridge walks. For the second straight day - we were lucky enough to be walking through a town right at lunchtime. We grabbed a sub sandwich and rested on the front porch of this convenience store. It was an awesome break. We ran into French Press, Viking, and Cyborg there. It’s really unusual to have these places along the trail. Before a couple weeks ago - everything like this was completely shut down. It’s why the AT has been so difficult this year. Having something to look forward to mid-day is a huge boost mentally - not to mention the physical lift of getting some good calories in your system to finish the day strong.

Tonight will be our final night in New Jersey. We hit the New York state line around Mile #15 tomorrow. We’re hoping to do 23.8 tomorrow, 19.8 on Saturday, and then a 9.5 mile Nero into Fort Montgomery on Sunday. Tomorrow is going to be challenging for sure. The first part of New York is known for its steep rock climbs - with people commenting that Pennsylvania has nothing on this section of New York. Oh-boy — we’ll see what we’re up against.

We ran into a couple guys doing trail maintenance today. It’s really amazing the efforts provided by so many volunteers that help keep the AT thriving year after year. These guys were weedeating a section through a field. They were also clipping tree limbs on the trail, etc. We run into these volunteers every now and then. Each state is different - but many of them have a certain number of miles they maintain every year. One guy mentioned he recently took over his section from a 91 year old. He was maintaining the trail into his 90’s! It’s pretty incredible if you think about it. 2,193 miles of a solidly maintained trail that stretches across 14 states on the east coast. This trail goes all over the place - on main roads, across lengthy bridges, through farmers fields, directly through small towns. When you’re traveling in the future on the east coast - if you happen to see a white blaze somewhere - you might very well be standing on the AT trail.

I’m physically hanging tough. My legs/feet are sore - but not in pain (big difference). My biggest pain point right now is my left shoulder. It’s been hurting throughout my journey - but it’s really been aggravating me this past week. I’m stretching and doing strength exercises - I’m also trying to take the pack off a little more when I get an opportunity.

Here’s to keeping it strong. One day at a time - I can’t get ahead of myself. You can do it!!!
Just remember - “Fear causes hesitation. Hesitation causes your worst of fears to come true. So it’s simple, you project strength to avoid conflict. If you project weakness, you draw aggression - and that’s how people get hurt”. So - be strong, be a fighter, get out there and make it happen!!

I’ll have a song to welcome us to New York tomorrow. Goodnight from NJ!