Appalachian Trail: Days 71-80: Northern PA to New Jersey

The Skinny:

• Northern PA: get me out of here
• Port Clinton: friends visit! Cigars!
• Delaware Water Gap: the end is near…
• New Jersey: hey, it’s still rocky! 😡

        I think if I grew up in Pennsylvania, I never would have gotten into hiking. The trails here are designed to hurt you. “Trail” through Northern PA has been–more often than not–miles of fields of jagged rocks. I can confirm that the nickname “Rocksylvania” is an apt one. There’s no point in looking up from your feet, because if you do, you’ll probably twist an ankle and smash your face on something very sharp; so instead you just try and choose the least painful step possible–which still hurts. There’s no order to the rocks, except to say that all the pointy ends stick up. It’s mentally taxing, exhausting and, well, it sucks. I apologize for whining a lot in this blog but I’m not alone in this sentiment: This website from The Trek shares hikers’ five least favorite parts of the Appalachian Trail. According to hikers polled, the number one worst section is Northern PA. Number two is Southern PA. Sorry, Pennsylvania. The upshot of it all is that hiking over these rocks slows the pace way down, destroys feet and brings down morale. My arches are screaming because of the steps that land with the sharp edges of rocks digging into my feet. Rocks that seem solid wobble and cause you to lose balance, and there’s nowhere else to put your other foot. I would bet that, from an outside perspective, I looked as if I’d had too many martinis and was wearing high heels.

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Day 71: Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Tentsite at mile 1,186 to Stay-AT-Swatara ‘hostel’

We hiked along moderate grades and finally descended to Swatara Gap. There, a gentleman runs the “Stay-AT-Swatara”: not quite a hostel, but more a camp: a shed with resupply options, a modular bathroom with shower, outdoor laundry equipment and a lawn in which to pitch a tent. We set up camp and enjoyed Amish whoopie pies before cooking dinner. Then I enjoyed more Whoopie Pie 😆

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Day 72: Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Stay-AT-Swatara to tentsite at mile 1,206

Chilly morning! What a change. The road noise overnight–even with my ear plugs in–was enough to wake me up at 2:30, 4:30, 5:30…

Made coffee and enjoyed it with Milano cookies (OK, and a couple Oreos) with Trillian. Packed up our fear gear and hit the road. The rocks were lousy. This is Rocksylvania.

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Day 73: Thursday, June 18, 2026
to Microtel in Hamburg, PA

I had a spring in my step because I was hiking to Port Clinton to meet my old buddy Kerry, who used to be the band leader of the Queen’s Room Orchestra on Cunard. I was excited to see his wife Lisa, too, who is a fellow piano entertainer on cruise ships. I haven’t seen Kerry for years, but we used to enjoy many a late night smoking cigars and drinking too much whisky on the top deck of Queen Victoria. We were going to have a good ol’ fashioned hang tonight, and I was very happy.

Trillian and I were a bit naughty: we cheated blue-blazed on the OLD Appalachian Trail, which is now a gravel road, thereby skipping many horrible rocky sections and getting to Port Clinton much sooner. Actually, we were going to Hamburg, PA, which was where the Cigar Lounge was. There was also a Dunkin Donuts (guilty pleasure), so I grabbed a coffee as well as some muffins for the following morning. We met Kerry and Lisa at a gigantic Cabela’s outdoor store. They drove us over to a hotel to drop our things, then we went to have a Cheesesteak: I was told by Kerry that if I went through Pennsylvania without having one I could face all kinds of sanctions.

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Day 74: Friday, June 19, 2026
to unofficial tentsite at mile 1,240.1

Had some hotel coffee with Dunkin Donuts muffins. Saw a number of other hikers who stayed at the same hotel. One problem we hadn’t faced (or planned for) was how to get back to trail: we were still in Hamburg, PA, and the Appalachian Trail was over in Port Clinton. There’s a saying that “the trail provides” and, sure enough, it did in this moment. As Trillian and I sipped coffee, Dolly (who is hiking / driving the Appalachian Trail with her husband “Stanimal”) approached us asking if we needed a ride. Amazing! She’s been a trail angel on a number of occasions now, and this one was just perfect. Thanks, Dolly!

Once dropped off, it was a steep ascent out of Port Clinton. One interesting facet of the rockiness of this area is a curious pink/purple hue that, when the light filters through the leaves just right, makes it seem as if you’re looking through rose-colored glasses. It’s quite literally La Vie en Rose. I had to ask Trillian if she saw it as well, as I was afraid my rods and cones were screwed up a couple of times! Google tells me that it’s from feldspar in the rocks but, when you see it, the experience is really quite cool.

The day was absolutely gorgeous: drier, with comfortable air and great breezes. We were rewarded after a steep push up rock steps to a beautiful view at Pulpit Rocks.

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Day 75: Saturday, June 20, 2026
To tentsite by George Outerbridge Shelter

The fabulous trend of superb weather continues today. Cool air, a perfect breeze, blue sky. Not fast, however: it took an hour and a half to go just over 3 mi to get to the privy and shelter, but that privy was awfully nice to have. Hopefully the conditions improve a little bit after this point. There’s very little elevation change today, it’s just the rocks that are making it slow so far.

Happy to get some trail magic from a young kid (who completed his thru-hike last year) and his Irish mom: she made blueberry scones, he had beers and some other goodies. He gave us good information about upcoming terrain, etc.

We eventually camped near the George Outerbridge Shelter. Not in the shelter, as reports of Eastern Rattlesnakes IN the shelter were in FarOut (the App we use for navigation). We shared the tentsite with “Boo”, who was glad to have other people around: in addition to reports of rattlesnakes in the shelter, there was also reputedly quite a lot of active bear activity around that area. We weren’t bothered through the night.

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Day 76: Sunday, June 21, 2026
To Gateway Motel in Wind Gap

Early start: coffee at 6:00, off and running. Another beautiful morning — descended down to the Lehigh River and started to climb up Blue Mountain by 7:30 a.m. Fun, but a quite challenging scramble up to the top.

Irritating rocks all day… eventually it just felt long, especially in the later hours. We arranged to meet Kerry and Lisa again at Wind Gap and head out to a pizza place. This buoyed our spirits. We made it out of the woods at Wind Gap just after 6:30 PM, and the Gateway Motel was less than 1/10th of a mile down the road. There were some sketchy characters there, but the room they had available for us was clean and relatively affordable. I’m glad we got the room. Kerry drove us out to the restaurant and we enjoyed garlic knots, salad, pizza and sangria until they kicked us out at 8:00PM. That’s OK, because we didn’t want to linger too long. Back at the motel, I put laundry in, showered, and we enjoyed a nice night.

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Day 77: Monday, June 22, 2026
To Marty’s Yellow House in Delaware Water Gap

More rocks. I’m tired of them, now. Just mind numbing miles and miles of rocks. Sheesh. We had a light(ish) day: about 16 miles. All was going fine until the rain started after lunch. Slowly, carefully, we descended from the rocky ridge we had been walking all day and made it to “Marty’s Yellow House” in the Delaware Water Gap.

After shedding our ponchos and stripping off our wet shoes and socks, we stepped inside. Someone sleeping on the couch next to us said hello (we assumed it was a hiker crashing) and we asked about how check-in goes here. The snoozing man said “I don’t know, am I expecting you?” and that’s how we met Marty. Marty was a contractor who has converted a beautiful old house into what is now much more like a B&B than a hostel: beautiful, large private rooms with en suite baths (at hostel prices) in a lovely country home furnished tastefully with antiques and nice furniture. Excellent. He made us feel right at home.

To make the day even better, local massage therapist “True Grit” (who’s hiked the whole Appalachian Trail AND the Pacific Crest Trail (and who’s hacking away at the Continental Divide Trail)) came out to Marty’s to give Trillian and I fantastic massages: catering to our aches and pains–especially after all the rocks of Pennsylvania. Thank you, True Grit !!!

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Day 78: Tuesday, June 23, 2026
To tentsite at mile 1,311.5

I enjoyed a slightly more lazy morning than usual: walked to Dunkin Donuts to enjoy another coffee (after I brewed some of MY coffee at Marty’s!)… fabulous. Eventually we started hiking and left the Delaware Water Gap to cross the Delaware River on a big bridge that shook with the rumblings of big trucks cruising over it.

Crossed the 1,300 mile boundary (yay) and ascended to another pretty ridge where I was promptly startled by a large bear. Thankfully the bear was more startled by me, and ran away. 

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Day 79: Wednesday, June 24, 2026
To Gren Anderson Shelter (NJ)

Gorgeous morning hiking through cool, dry air. The downside of being one of the first hikers out, however, is catching all the spider webs. We made decent time, as the rocks weren’t as bad as they had been in the previous days. I was very hopeful (and already thankful) that we’d seen the worst–the effect on our feet has been considerable. Eventually we descended to a cute town with some lovely lakeside restaurants: one of which we stopped in for some fries and a drink, before the final hike to the shelter for the night.

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Day 80: Thursday, June 25, 2026
To SOLA hiker hostel in Unionville, NY

Early start: 7:10am. Nice morning with coffee by the shelter. Privy = good.

The trail took us past the headquarters of New Jersey’s “highest point”, where a lodge hosts a gift shop. We stopped for a cold drink and had lunch outside: cute place. The hiking all day was relatively tame.

The hiking through New Jersey was quite close to the New York State border, and we finally arrived in good time to the town of Unionville, NY for the night, where we met Pastor “Bonzai” on the porch of his house, under which (in the basement) he runs a hiker hostel. He offered coffee, and we sat and chatted a while. Trillian and I showered, put in laundry, then headed across the street to the church, where I played the piano for the pastor and his family, and listened to his daughter play some music. She’s pretty good for 7, just a few months into lessons!

After the impromptu concert, Trillian and I went and had a couple beers at the local tavern — looking very out of place in our matching ostrich T-shirts — then grabbed pizza from an Italian take-away place and brought it back to the hostel to eat before crashing for the night.

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