North Country Trail (NCT) – July 15 to 20, 2018

The NCT runs through northeastern and north central US, beginning at Lake Sakakawea, ND and ending in Middleburg, VT.  When completed the 4,600 mile trail will be the longest continuous hiking trail in the US.  Right now hikers can enjoy over 2,600 miles of completed segments ranging from 1 mile to over 300 miles.

On 4/3 I hiked 10+ miles on the NCT in MI before I got snowed out, so I still had 40 more to hike and decided to hike them in the Allegheny NF in northwest PA.

7/15 – Met up with hiking buddy Carolyn Banjak aka “Freckles” my AT thru hike partner.  We dropped a car at Rt 948 and drove to Rt 346, where Rich, Carolyn’s husband, dropped us off. We planned to hike the 44 miles in 4 days.  Taking it easy and enjoying the scenery, so we hiked in a few miles, found a campsite, and stopped for the night.

7/16 to 19 – The weather was nice for hiking during the day but we did have a really violent electrical storm one night.  One band of storms after another came through.  The lightning was making it seem like daylight inside the tent and the rain was so hard it was spraying a fine mist right through the tent walls.  Both of us were getting pretty wet inside our tents.

The trail is well blazed and maintained but did need brushing back in a lot of places.  We hiked through chest high brambles and my arms and legs where very scratched and bloody.  There are plenty of camping spots along this stretch and good fresh water sources.  Some of the camping is organized like the Red Bridge Recreation Area, where we camped one night.  There were showers and picnic tables.

When we crossed Rt 6 we met two young men pushing carts containing all their camping gear and provisions.  They were walking from Iowa to Maine.  I think Katahdin.  One fellow said, because he considered himself the “ultimate pedestrian”, so he thought this was a good idea.  They were camping along the way anywhere they could and sometimes in people’s yards.  Just some of the fun interesting people you meet when you get out into the back country.

Enjoyed the hike and, since the trail is so nice, finished up pretty early on Thursday July 19 for the drive home.

AT  50 miles completed

On July 30 I hiked the final miles I needed for my 50 miles on the AT with my daughter Wanda.  We hiked from Shippensburg road to Rt 30.  The day started sunning and mild with afternoon showers in the forecast.  The afternoon showers did come in the form of heavy rain.  We were soaked through to the skin.  Since it was warm I did not want to wear my raingear so opted to carry an umbrella for the showers.  That was working pretty well until I fell and landed on the umbrella and bent it all out of shape.  It was shaped more like a crescent than a circle.  Oh well.  You can only get so wet.  After this section I had 59+ miles on the AT in PA.  That gives me 7 trails done, well maybe not, there still is that 18 miles left on the New England Trail.

New England National Scenic Trail – July 11 to July 14, 2018

The New England Trail is 215 miles from Long Island Sound in Connecticut to the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border.  It was designated as a national scenic trail in 2009.

I planned to drive up Monday, July 9th in my camper van to hike 50 miles in southern CT.  I moved the van in the driveway to get loaded up.  When I was ready to leave the van would not start.  Called AAA and they came, checked the battery, found it okay so they figured it was the starter.  Called around for a garage to have it towed to for repair. I unloaded it and packed my car for the trip.  Tow truck came and the fellow started it using a different key.  He said "No starter problem, key problem".  So I moved my stuff back to the van and hit the road.  When I stopped for gas in Hazelton, PA the van would not start.  I had, as the tow truck driver suggested taken all my keys for the van with me, but none worked so I called a tow truck.  Now I am going to be stuck in Hazelton.  Anyway that driver also got my van started by some magic fiddling.  So I drove home and unloaded the van.  Next morning, Tuesday, I loaded up the car and started for New England.  Traffic was horrible with accidents, construction, etc, etc. What should have been a 5+ hr drive was a 10hr drive.  Anyway I got to Meriden and checked into a hotel.

I did a little driving around that evening looking for trail heads and checking to see what the roads where like.  I had taken my bike with me thinking I could do some bike shuttles. I saw that, with the heavy traffic that was not going to be an option.  I had contacted everyone in the ALDHA directory about my trip but had gotten only one response, so I set up a shuttle using a taxi and had a nice 12+ mile hike.  The taxi driver was having some difficulty figuring out what I was doing.  After we dropped my car at Rt 147 I had her drive me to Rt 77, a 12.2 mile hike.  When I got out of the taxi she asked me how I was going to get back to my car.  Walk of course.

Thursday I got a good hike of 14+ miles in with Larry & Freida Luxenburg driving up from NYC to give me a shuttle.  Friday I thought I would just do an in and out, decided I could just count a 6 miles in and back as 12 miles.  Well the trail heads for the New England trail are not easy to find. I soon became very tired of driving up and down roads looking for them, but finally got on the trail.  I got my hike in but the thought of another night in a hotel at $100/night and another day of driving around looking for trail heads was too much.  I had not planned on the expense of lodging and shuttles and was way over budget.  I had planned to stay in my camper, and without input from locals about trails it was turning into a not very good trip.

So I got maybe 32+ miles of the NE trail and that may be it, unless I have a major change of feelings for that trail.

Guess I should give a little report about the trail conditions:  Pretty well blazed except for a few spots.  One fork in the trail had no visible blaze and as Yogi Berra would say, “I came to a fork and I took it”.  Well, of course, I choose the wrong path.  I ended up at a hunting camp and joined about six older gentlemen having their morning coffee and donuts, which they were happy to share with me, before one of them walked me back to the trail.  The trail heads could use a little pruning.  It is pretty hard to see that little blue sign among the branches.