Miles: 1358.3 | A quiet sunrise gives way to a tense, silent start before the day settles into steady solo miles, podcasts, and long stretches of efficient hiking. Extreme heat and scarce water define the day, but a shaded wildlife preserve, the famous New Jersey boardwalk, and an ice-cream stop revive morale. Volunteer trail crews offer perspective on the labor behind the path we walk. As evening mosquitoes swarm and motivation fades, we stop short of Stairway to Heaven, ending the day with restless heat, animal paranoia, and a hard-won sleep.
I watched the sun rise through the bars on the railing around the observation deck. 5:30am rolled around and I started to slowly get up. Miles was pissed. He wouldn't talk to me. I ate my breakfast and packed my pack. Rocket and her crew slowly rolled out, without saying a word to us. Miles left, angry, and I waited ten minutes so that there would be a buffer between us. I was tired but I wasn't grumpy. It was a beautiful day and the terrain looked easy.
Miles walked ahead of me for most of the day. I listened to Radiolab, chatted with my parents for a bit, and enjoyed some quit time. I passed Miles while he was at a shelter and kept walking. Alone I would walk for longer periods without breaks, eat less often, and generally just walk faster. I ran into Rocket at a water source (a.k.a. the side of a suburban house owned by ATC). We talked about broken REI poles, we both had them, and discussed where we'd be camping that night. She was planning on going further than me.
I moved on by myself, leaving Rocket behind at the water source. Up and over a hill and through a field and I listened to this insane episode of Radiolab about LGBTQ couples in Israel hiring surrogate mothers. I zoomed on the trail and walked on a road for a while until I came to a wildlife preserve. In the 80+ degree heat I sat on a shady bench. I had to spray myself completely with bug spray to take my break but I needed to eat.
Miles eventually passed me during my break. He was talking to his friend on the phone. I let him get by me and figured I catch him later. In the heat of mid-day I hiked. It felt like I was going faster than usual and I felt pretty good.
I was dripping in sweat, my shirt was soaked, but I didn't necessarily feel 'hot'. My skin wasn't burning, my face felt cool; my body had finally adapted to the heat and I felt like a machine. I arrived at the famous New Jersey board walk around 3pm, height of the sun.
Miles was there waiting for me, laying on his sleeping pad. He apologized for his mood. I said it was okay. We sat on his sleeping pad and had a snack. Some trail maintainers were working on the boardwalk. They were all volunteers and I think all of them were over the age of fifty. I thought about it and realized: I've never noticed that most trail crews are older people.
I rarely, if ever, saw young people maintaining trails. But I primarily saw younger people using the trails. The Trek just posted an article about this recently, actually, and it is so important. That board walk in New Jersey that is so popular would certainly not still be functional without volunteer work. It wouldn't even exist without volunteers. We'd be fording a swamp or road walking through here if it wasn't for them.
One of the maintainers told us that it was amazing we'd hiked so far today. When we asked him why, he explained that it was almost 100 degrees out if you factor in humidity! Combine those conditions with the few water sources (basically none) that exist in New Jersey and we finally understood why we were sweating so much. I felt more tired than usual and thirsty but I barely felt the heat on my skin.
We had planned on making it up and over 'Stairway to Heaven', a climb just before the New York border but once we ate we lost a lot of motivation.
We waited for the sun to get lower in the sky and eventually got up and started across the boardwalk. It was beautiful and very well built. We even saw some turtles covered in algae and sunbathing! At the end of the boardwalk we crossed the bridge and headed across the cow field after it. There was a farm that sold ice cream and we stopped there to treat ourselves and make our dinner.
In the evening light, we left the farm (two hours after we had arrived there) and walked toward 'Stairway to Heaven'. In the mosquito filled evening we found a stealth spot near the base of the climb and decided to just stop there.
Both tired and extra hot we set up Miles' tent and tried to go to sleep immediately. It was HOT. Too hot to sleep. My legs were radiating heat. Having them touch each other was the most uncomfortable feeling. I tried putting my water bag between my legs to keep them separate. It changed the game. I finally felt okay enough to fall asleep. As soon as I was about to fall asleep I heard some sticks cracking outside...
I got out my headlamp and looked around but didn't see anything. After my deer stalking incident I was a bit more paranoid at camp. I kept hearing noises outside. I asked Miles to check, I didn't have my glasses on and they were packed away outside the tent. He said he didn't see anything. More noises ensued.
I started thinking: What if it's a bear? We didn't hang our food bags tonight! Is it deer? Why are animals always stalking me?! I asked Miles to check outside again. With a great, big huff he opened the screen to see outside better. Mosquitoes started flying in, Miles' worst nightmare.
Once he assured me there were no predators outside he went to work trying to kill all the mosquitoes that got in. He was pretty mad. I laid down and finally fell asleep after that. Miles, apparently, did not fall asleep.