New Jersey. I was finally entering states I had never been to. As I crested a hill, a glacial lake lay before me. This should be something only found in pictures.
Firefly had worked at Mohican, a place just off the trail, so she had a happy reunion with old friends and her connections led us to get a free room in a cabin and some food.
We spent two days at Mohican, and celebrated the 4th of July with food I had packed in special for the occasion, kayaking on the lake, an unsuccessful trip up the mountain to watch fireworks in the rain, and sneakily doing sparklers because we weren't sure if it was against the rules. The day ended with a game of battleship. Me representing America. Firefly, Britain. Britain took over America once more; America was lost.
I have yet to want to quit, but there are certainly days where I don't want to even begin. Such was the morning when I woke and it was already sweltering by 8am. I can do rain. I can do cold. But I can't do heat. I just melt into a pitiful unmotivated pile of uselessness. But the plan was to do 24 miles so I drug myself out of camp to start chipping away mileage.
It seems when Firefly is in great need, the universe aligns to her every desire. When I have a great need the universe simply says "suck it up." So when a day hiker approached and said he had talked to Firefly and invited us over to his house, I knew Firefly must be hurting, for despite the heat I was doing alright. My prediction was accurate; her pack was giving her immense pain, for she had lost so much weight the pack was rubbing on her bones. The man, Tom, told me we could contact him when we were ready to call it a day and he would take us to an outfitters, we could swim in his pool, and sleep in a bed. I had always heard stories of other hikers receiving such trail magic, but I had yet to get it. The ultimate magic of a stranger inviting us in his home is unfathomable. I caught up to Firefly and we discussed the offer, managing to still put in 15 miles on sore feet before calling him up.
Tom may be one of the kindest people we have met all trail. He drove us 40 minutes for Firefly to get a new pack and me to get insoles, bought us the most delicious pizza on trail, showed us amazing pictures of Italy and Glacier, and taught me how to play guitar.
He convinced us to zero the next day at his house, for there were storms predicted and the heat index was 105. So we spent the day swimming and watching Netflix instead of sweating up hills.
We declined an offer for another zero and were dropped off with a goodbye hug. We hiked across the NY border under heavy skies, and made it to camp before the torrential downpour hit.
After climbing a mountain to see a city in the clouds-- the NYC skyline, the trail led us to the zoo. Apparently that section was one of the first to be completed as they were blazing the AT. Clearly they had their priorities straight. Why not send a trail through a zoo? It was rather small, but we still spent a good amount of time looking at all the animals. So yes, I did see a bear on the trail, along with a fox, possum, turtle, snakes, eagle, vulture, owl, weasel, and coyote to name a few. All in one day.
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