I Refuse To Die On The Trail

July 04, 2025

My sister Rebekah suggested I adopt the line from the new Jurassic Park movie - I refuse to die in the jungle. The timing was perfect. These last 17 days have been rough. Four days of rain while climbing over piles of rocks last week followed by oppressive heat, and more rocks this week. Can't wait to see what happens next week.

In my last post I told about the worst rocky stretch I'd ever seen. That record only lasted one day. The rocks I climbed over the next day were worse, were in the rain, and had a casualty. A woman fell on them and broke her ankle the day before I did them.

The first group is called Knife Edge and it's fitting. You have to crawl over a long stretch where they fall off to either side. The rain made them slippery to make it even more fun. When I got there these two 30-ish women were deciding what to do. I passed by and went on my way, frequently on all fours. The two women followed along behind me, going the same way I did. When we reached the end they passed me, said bye, and went on their way.

I went on down the trail and met the ridge runner who takes care of the trail in that area. We had a nice conversation standing there in the rain when the topic turned to the next rock adventure - Bake Oven Knob. This guy started using a bunch of expletives to describe this section and how bad it is, declaring he'd never do it in the rain. I didn't have any choice so I went over that section even in the rain and I can tell you he wasn't exaggerating. It was nasty.

But, I made it across and stopped at a nearby shelter to get out of the rain for lunch. As I was sitting there those two women came in from the forest. They didn't want to do the Knob and decided to bushwack their way around it. They said it didn't go well.

A few more days of hiking in the rain after that and my feet were raw from chaffing. My boots were getting lose from being wet all the time and were rubbing the skin off the sides of my feet. Sherry met me with some moleskin, took my backpack, and I was able to slackpack for a few days, finishing Pennsylvania.

After moving the RV to Newburgh, NY I went back to hike New Jersey. It wasn't what I was expecting. It was very rural and beautiful. I'm sure I would've enjoyed it a whole lot more if we weren't having a record heat wave at the time with temperatures in the upper-90s. I took it slow, drank lots of water and took breaks in the shade to keep from over heating. It was still tough but I managed to get through. Again.

Finished New Jersey and started New York. Did I mention rocks? I wasn't expecting this in NY. Incredible rock piles left behind by the glaciers. It was a lot of fun climbing these 50 to 100 foot mounds hand over hand, but it was also exhausting.

But, I pushed on and crossed the Hudson River last Sunday. That was the 15th day out of 17 that I hiked on. I went 196 miles in that stretch. I refuse to die on the trail.

Personal milestones: I not only went over 900 total miles, I also went over 1000, and I finished both PA and NJ. I'm now under 800 miles to Katahdin.