Reflexions

One of the things I like about the northeast U.S. is how close the states are to each other. Case in point: I woke up in Pennsylvania today, hiked in New Jersey and then New York, and tonight I’ll sleep in a Days Inn in Massachusetts. Without driving more than 3 or 4 hours. Cool.

AT Basics
I suppose I should start with some AT basics. The entire AT is a fairly well-marked trail. “Fairly” is a subjective thing, and marked means that there are symbols along the way to let you know you’re on the right track, er, I mean trail. The marks that are used are called “blazes,” and they are white brush strokes on trees or rocks every once in a while. Here’s a picture of me with a typical blaze:

As you can see, I even have a blaze on my AT hiking hat. Makes me wonder if I could get hikers to follow me if I wore my hat backwards…ha!  I’ve learned that the people who paint these blazes along the trail appear to follow two basic rules:

Blaze Rule #1: If the trail is obvious, paint the blazes close together, to lull hikers into a blaze-induced hypnotic state; and

Blaze Rule #2: If the trail is hard to determine, space the blazes way out, to induce a low-grade anxiety attack in the hiker while they wonder if they’re on the right track, er, I mean trail.

Rules aside, the trail maintainers are a wonderful group of people, and the AT wouldn’t be what it is without their tireless, voluntary efforts.

Talk to an AT thru-hiker (someone who walks all 2181 miles of the AT), and you’ll hear another axiom: that there is A LOT of monotony on this long walk. Doing day-hikes — of the sort I’m doing — tend to be somewhat less monotonous. Such was the case today, where my two hikes were different in many ways.

One way AT hikes can be different is in what the trail is composed of. Now, I’m not an expert on these things, but based on my experience with the AT so far, there are typically two main types of trail surfaces: Rocks or roots. Neither make for smooth sailing, but variety is, as “they” say, the spice of life. “They” should also point out that spicy lives are good in moderation.

The New Jersey Hike
My hike in New Jersey was a rocky walk up to that state’s highest point. There’s a monument there, so they refer to this hike as the High Point Monument hike (I love descriptive names). After several miles of walking on big rock, one’s feet start to hurt a bit. On the plus side, you do get pretty good traction. Here’s a photo of today’s typical rocky path:

Photos don’t do elevation justice. In the photo above, the path is about as steep as your roof — with big rocks on it. Notice the path is hard to make out (and so of course, there aren’t too many blazes…remember the rules!).  Overall, it was a nice hike. As it was early in the morning, it wasn’t too hot. Since it was up high, there weren’t too many bugs, and the sun was out.

Now back to that monument. I don’t know about you, but when I hear that term in relation to a woodsy trail, I think about a small rock or plaque marking the location. In fact, I know that the monuments at the ends of the AT are small like this. Imagine my surprise when I got close to the top of the hill and saw this in the distance:

Turns out, this monument is 220-feet high, about half as high as the Washington Monument. Pretty impressive. Of course I had to hike over there:

After this, I drove to New York. Besides the proximity of the states, the other thing that struck me was how charming all of the small towns are. I mean really charming…make your teeth hurt charming. You know, fully renovated, huge Victorian and Gingerbread houses, with horse farms and field stone fences set on rolling hills. Oh, and they’re not cities. They’re called towns, and villages, and…wait for it…HAMLETS!

The New York Hike
Anyway, outside this one hamlet, was my next hike. It wasn’t a rocky trail, it was a long boardwalk through a swamp, followed by a root-laden trail up a hill to a highland meadow. Here’s some shots:

Don’t let the pretty blue sky and the green meadow fool you.  This hike was much more uncomfortable. Thanks to the time of day, it was really hot and humid (apparently I brought the weather with me).  And thanks to the swamp, there were approximately a bazillion mosquitos and black flies (good thing I brought my head net). And thanks to the bugs, I had to hike fast the whole way up and down just to keep them at bay.  No stopping at all. Oh and the roots. Less traction than rocks, and they seem to rise up and trip you, a lot.

One good thing about a brisk, sweaty walk-run up and down a big hill and through a swamp is that you can talk yourself into the idea that you’re running a caloric deficit. Thankfully, this particular hike is well-known for having a food truck not far from the trail. It’s not that I wanted that hot dog, I needed that hot dog, nay I deserved that hot dog!

Flora and Fauna So Far
First, for question I get all the time, no, I didn’t see any bears. I try to make a fair bit of noise walking along the trail, and I even have a small good-luck bell from Lisa to announce my presence to the bears. I’m pretty  sure it doesn’t sound like a dinner bell. Probably more important than bears, I didn’t see any ticks either (that I know of).  That said, here’s what I have seen:

• A wide variety of birds
• Rabbits
• Squirrels
• A tree frog
• Fish (in the swamp)
• A turtle (in the swamp)
• A bazillion mosquitoes and black flies (because of the swamp)
• Two garter snakes

In the flora department, I noticed a wide variety of forest-floor fungi. Here’s a sample:

So, to recap, two interesting and very different hikes. I’ve got two more scheduled for tomorrow. I’ll report back from Connecticut and Massachusetts.  Until then…