New York City

We made it to New York, mile 1373.9. Things are going great...well my knees are starting to complain a bit louder, but other than that things are great. We are taking a few days off in New York City right now to hang out with Nick's friend, rest, and buy some lighter gear to help my knees out a bit.
Q&A:
Can you start anywhere on the trail or do you have to start in Georgia? Could you start in Maine and work your way toward Georgia? Thanks Kim for the question...I am glad you are still thinking of questions even if the kids are enjoying their summer. People do start any where. Some people start in Maine and go to Georgia. Some people start in Harpers Ferry and go north to Maine, and then fly to Georgia and walk north back to Harpers Ferry. These people are called flip floppers. Pretty much you can do the hike any way you would like, but you are only considered a thru-hiker if you do the whole trail within 12 months. The most popular way to do the trail is definitely Georgia to Maine. It is easier to deal with the weather, and New Hampshire and Maine offer very challenging terrain so it is easier to get through that section in good physical condition.

The view of Pennsylvania farmlands from the Pinnacle lookout.
So many rocks. Since Georgia we have heard about how horrible Pennsylvania is. We did find a lot of rocks, but it wasn't that bad. Our feet felt sore a few days after miles of walking on rocks, but we were not bruised and crippled like some hikers.

Lehigh Gap was quite a climb. We did not get any pictures of the face of the mountain we had to climb up because I was afraid I might start freaking out if I had too much time to think about the situation we were in. It would be quite a horrible fall if I slipped on the rocks...thank goodness it was not raining! Around the side of the mountain from where we climbed up there was a nice painting of the American flag. This mountain was completely bare just a few years ago due to zinc smelting from 1898-1980. The plant dumped over 33 million tons for residue on the mountain killing all plant and animal life. I am not sure when, but the county put a mixture of biosoil (human sewage), fly ash, potash, and lime on the mountain to encourage plant life to grow. The ridge is still bare, but along the sides of the mountain grass and trees are starting to grow.

One of the two plants that is responsible for dumping the zinc residue on the mountain.

Green grass growing on the side of the mountain.

Nick on the bare ridge. They are in the process of trying to get grass to grow up here.

The terrain has turned rockier. It causes us to go slower, but it is fun to mix up the type of hiking.

The Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap. Thought this was a cool, old house. It costs $100 to stay here though, so we stayed at the free hostel down the block.

Crossing the Delaware River...we are in the process of leaving Pennsylvania and crossing into New Jersey.

We made it to NJ...hooray!!

We thought we heard a moose at Sunfish Pond, but we discovered this huge bullfrog was making that noise. Not the best of pictures, but they are pretty shy.

Nick looking very confident after conquering this mountain of rocks.

A cute frog.

It has been another rainy week. The moisture in the trees created these clouds hovering above the valley.

We were really excited to leave Pennsylvania and all the rocks, but we found New Jersey had its own problems. We lost the trail many different times, and we are convinced they only do trail maintence once a year. The trail was overgrown with branches. It was irritating since this area has the largest cased of lyme disease, and in this area we had to rub against so many leaves allowing ticks to get on us easier.

High Point monument. We are not sure what the significance is of this huge monument.

New Jersey has a lot of marshy areas where we have to walk across long stretches of boards.

Marshy areas allow vines to grow really big I guess. This is the biggest vine we have seen on the trail.

We walked around this neat wildlife area. It was covered in different kinds of birds...bald eagles, great herons, ducks, geese, and these swans.

Stinging nettle hurts. I walked through a patch of nettle with shorts on. It felt like the leaves were cutting my legs open. Within 5 minutes my legs were forming blisters all over, but luckily in about 45 minutes the blisters went away.

Good-bye Pennsylvainia...Hello New York.

A very confident, huge black snake. He could have easily been over 6 feet long.

Greenwood Lake...there were many boaters out there having fun.

A wolf spider carrying her babies.

A beaver swimming around his pond.

I cannot believe we found a post office with less business than mom's. This post office is only open one hour a day Monday-Saturday.

The view of NYC from Ben's apartment. It is sooooooo nice to take a few days off and have a bed, kitchen, tv, couch, bathroom, and computer!