AT Days 81-90: New Jersey, New York and Connecticut

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The Skinny:

• NJ Drive-in Movie Theater 🍿
• Train to NYC: Broadway! 🤩
• Chez Yonskie: the Royal Treatment 🏆
• Cross the Hudson: cue the heatwave 🥵
• July 4th: Stormy Weather 🌬️
• Connecticut: Aftermath 💥

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Last blog post saw me hiking through 'Rocksylvania' and getting to the NY/NJ border. Although hiking through New Jersey, Trillian and I took a small detour to spend the night at the SOLA Hostel in charming Unionville, NY 

Day 81: Friday, June 26, 2026
To Warwick NY drive-in movie theater

Coffee at the hostel. Then Pastor “Bonzai” came to chat, drink coffee and pray over us. I just wanted to use the bathroom, thank you very much, but, of course, there he was. Alas. Packed up and started walking. I think I lost my pillow in the fray of things. Got a cinnamon roll at the country market and a birthday card for Marie-Thérèse. Had a couple bites from Trillian’s bagel.

Hiked through the amazing Pochuck Wetlands nature reserve, with marshland (lots of birds and even a deer feeding in the marsh), boardwalks, beautiful flowers and some neat bridges. Some ladies we met, carrying professional cameras, told us the greatest diversity of dragonflies in the East Coast can be found here.

There were a couple gnarly rock fields before we finally made it to a road crossing at the end of our hike, and we stuck out our thumbs. Trillian caught a ride within a couple minutes (helps to have a cute girl around sometimes, haha!), from a couple driving their brand new Audi home from the dealership! We did our best not to soil the car with our hiker funk. Win, the husband, mentioned we’d have a hard time getting a hitch back to trail the following morning. He insisted on picking us up to drive us back to trail first thing. Amazing!

We were dropped off at the supermarket just next to the drive-in movie theater, and we did a resupply shop, despite grumbling about the illogical layout of the supermarket (not to mention the high prices!).

At the drive-in, we set up our tents and ate some dinner as the cars started arriving in droves for the movies. The website said the first movie started at 7, but really it didn’t start til 9! That’s way past hiker midnight. From our little hillock where we tented we could see all three movie screens, but we tuned our radios (rented battery-powered radios) to watch Toy Story 5. Was cute.

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Day 82: Saturday, June 27, 2026
To tentsite at mile 1,386.6

Grueling climbing with more wet rocks, sticky, muggy weather etc. Rain came. We stopped for lunch at an overpriced ice cream place and each had lemon sorbet before eating some real food. Found a decent tentsite before the site we had originally planned on. Worked out well. Buggy evening, tho drier than before….

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Day 83: Sunday, June 28, 2026
To NYC via Sapphire Trail and train from Harriman Station

Early start .. wet rocks in morning and steep climbing right off the bat. Nervous we wouldn’t make the 8:25 train… Slipped on a rock — my stick saved me, but several inches off the bottom broke off! Heartbreaking!! I thought about throwing it back into the woods, but decided to keep it. It’s a bit too short now, but it still works. It’s my stick, after all–it’s been with me for all this time!

Made the train! First leg was relatively empty. We changed at Secaucus Jcn and the second train was mobbed. Today was the day of the Pride Parade in NYC. Loads of people heading in. We made it to town just before 10am, and took a few moments to acclimate to the bustle of the city after coming out of the woods.

First stop was to meet my dear friend Paul O’Keefe, a Franciscan Friar who lives right by Penn Station. After we caught up on things, I joined him for a casual Mass with some of the other brothers. Really nice, that. A little more chit chat, then we set off to go check in to hotel. The road was diverted because of the parade and we had to hike up to 34th just to cross 5th Ave to then head down to 29th… a bit of a detour, but it was fun and wild in the city: so many people dressed crazy for the parade. We had to show our hotel reservation to some cops who were manning barricades on the hotel’s street.

Finally got in and showered and could watch the parade from the hotel window. Headed out to meet my cousin Adam for wine and snacks before dinner. Went to a Vegan Sushi (and more) restaurant–very yummy. Walked up through Times Square to the theater district and saw Book of Mormon. It was good.

Rather tired after the show, we had a nice stroll back on a beautiful evening: people watching and chatting about life; stopping in a weird Barbie-themed Dunkin Donuts to grab two muffins for the following morning (naturally!).

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Day 84: Monday, June 29, 2026
Back to trail from NYC, to Fingerboard Shelter

Granted myself the luxury to sleep in a bit. Made espresso in the room and enjoyed the DD’s muffins from the night before. Stepped out for a stroll and shop,  stopped for a bagel (second breakfast, anyone?), went in Whole Foods, got fresh Illy coffee for the espresso maker, then back to hotel to rinse off and check out. Grabbed a quick lunch, then had a bit of confusion finding the right train back. Eventually bought the ticket using the NJT app, but couldn’t scan it at a station: ended up going to Penn and JUST made a train to Secaucus Jcn, then had to wait a bit (more Dunkin Donuts, haha, Yay!) before getting the regional train back to Harriman. Phew. Back to the woods.

Arrived at the shelter on top of Fingerboard Mountain: a wide open meadow with trees spread out rather openly. It’s not such a defined summit, but more like a knob on a ridge. There were loads of blueberry bushes all along the trail, it seemed like such a likely place to see a bear.. as we set up our tents, however, we did have the company of three young deer who munched on their evening shrubs, and didn’t seem to mind our presence. After dinner it was right into the tent for a good night’s sleep.

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Day 85: Tuesday, June 30, 2026
To Bear Mountain, and Robert Yonskie’s house

Very early start. Got going around 6:20 a.m., after having coffee and French pastries (from the city) in our tents. Mosquitoes are out in force, but there’s loads of fresh blueberries starting to ripen here on the summit of Fingerboard Mountain. Beautiful sunrise, but due to be a very hot day. This is the beginning of the heatwave that everyone is worried about, temps approaching 100° later this week.

Climbed Bear Mountain: amazing both up, over and down: stunning trail with impressive stonework. After descending, the trail went through a small zoo, and we met my friend Robert Yonskie just outside the zoo. Robert is a fantastic entertainer who I met on ACL (American Cruise Lines). He whizzed us back to his place and had a direct route up to the guest room, where he left us to wash our clothes (and ourselves) before facing company.  He and his wife Stephanie also left an amazing spread of welcome gifts, candy and a cute AI-generated welcome sign in the room they had prepared for us. I ate all the chocolate candies while Trilly showered, then I washed, and we went downstairs wearing ACL robes to chat with Robert and Stephanie.

Oue hosts invited neighbors over for dinner, and Trilly and I prepared pasta with zucchini, mushrooms and summer squash. The neighbors brought salad and Robert had some delectable desserts. The dinner was real fun, all sitting around the table, set elegantly by Robert. His neighbors are trail angels and their daughter, who was visiting from CA, has hiked the PCT and hopes to do the AT sometime.

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Day 86: Wednesday, July 1, 2026
To Old Albany Post Road (Frank Lucence’s House)

Robert was so kind to drive us to the trailhead at 6:30(ish). It was surprisingly cool when we started hiking: crossing the Hudson was neat.

After the road walk, it was an immediate, steep climb. So much for the clean clothes: we were drenched with sweat. It wasn’t cool anymore. We started early in anticipation of the heat, but it was really steamy now. I had another social visit this day, and that was with my friend Frank Lucente, who I know from Crystal Cruises. We planned to get together for the evening, but we also passed by a market just a stone’s throw from his house. We met at said Appalachian Market around 10 and had coffee. By the time we got going again, it was very hot out. Trillian and I hoped to hike quite a bit more before meeting Frank again for the evening.

Well, we didn’t’t make it that far. The temperatures made unpleasant hiking progress to heat exhaustion, which threatened to progress further to heat stroke. It was dangerously hot. And so, we called Frank to see about getting picked up earlier. He happily obliged, and got us at the Old Albany Post Road, and took us back to his place. He welcomed us with a beautiful guest bedroom and all the comforts of home. After refreshing and resting a bit, I played his piano and he brought me a Scotch. It was turning into a beautiful evening. He then took us out for a little tour of the area, followed by dinner at the Riverview in Cold Spring, NY. A perfect evening, and an amazing reprieve from the sweltering heat.

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Day 87: Thursday, July 2, 2026

Enjoyed an apple cider donut with coffee and fruit, kindly put out for us by Frank. He drove us back to trail just before 8, and we set off: quickly starting to sweat. The heat soon became severe, and our breaks were longer than our periods of hiking. After five miles, it was obvious we were getting nowhere. We took an Uber into Fishkill and checked into a hotel. In the end, we booked two nights at a Hilton and waited out the worst of the heatwave.

It was the kind of heat event where it made the headlines: “feels like” temperatures over 115⁰F. We were both disappointed to miss out on hiking, but sensible enough to know that it was dangerously hot.

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Day 88: Friday, July 3, 2026
Zero day in Fishkill, NY

A good zero day, despite being in a less-than-ideal setting: Fishkill afforded us those American luxuries like Walmart, Five Guys and the like. We made several trips back-and-forth to kill the boredom and get odds and ends, as well as meals.
I went on my own in the evening to make another Walmart trip: to buy a day pack for tomorrow, as we arranged to slackpack for the first 16 miles of the day. On my way back to the hotel I picked up French Fries from Five Guys and a big beer.

After dinner, I noticed I had nearly walked 10,000 steps, so I went out for another quick stroll just to keep the streak going on my watch. I popped in the late-nite deli out of sheer curiosity and saw the ‘bakery’ area: I was audibly excited to see a tray of Sfogliatelle, one of my favorite Southern-Italian pastries. A waitress asked if I’d like some. I certainly did. Two, please. Back to the hotel for a short night’s sleep.

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Day 89: Saturday, July 4, 2026
to Morgan Stewart Memorial Shelter at mile 1,444

Early wake up call: “Toast” was coming at 5:15 to take us to the trail. It was forecasted to be another hot one, and rains were predicted in the evening. I popped quick in the shower, packed up quickly while getting Wordle done and enjoying the Sfogliatella with some mediocre coffee (no time to make my own this morning!)

“Toast” was right on time and we enjoyed his conversation as we made our way to trail. Slack packing was a delight, but the bugs were ferocious. It was the single worst buggy experience, not only of the trail, but of my entire life. The good news is that my fan helped keep the bugs at bay, the bad news is I was being swarmed from every direction. Dozens of deerfly attacking and biting all at once. I’d wave my fan around behind my head and they’d seize the opportunity to bite me on the cheek, fly into my eyeballs and up my nose, all the while with mosquitoes biting my arms and legs. I’d move the fan to the front to try and sweep them out of my face, and they’d be right back biting the back of my neck. They came in waves, especially when we were down in low-lying moist sections. Being the first hikers out for the day, I was catching loads of spider webs, too. Luckily, walking at higher elevations did seem to lessen the burden a bit. A generous spray of DEET first thing in the morning did nothing but taunt the bastards. I wiped Sassafras leaves over my hair, cheeks and face, all to no avail. It wasn’t until late morning that they abated, but there was an hour-long stretch that was truly hell.

We walked along Canopus Lake, where droves of locals were coming to swim and enjoy July 4th. We had a quick break, then carried on. The going got better, though the heat got more intense. We met Toast again right at 2:00pm, grabbed our gear and left our little day pack with him. After the morning slackpacking, our backpacks felt like he had laden them with rocks. We still had three miles to go to the shelter and–between the heat and the weight of our packs–it felt grueling.

Amazingly, nobody else was at the shelter. We drank some electrolytes, snacked, and I napped on my sleeping pad in the shelter. When I woke, we prepared dinner. Still no other hikers here: I proposed to Trillian we set up the tent inside the shelter, so the bugs wouldn’t bother us. Once set up, we got in and read, running our fans to cool off. Thunderstorms had been forecasted and they certainly came: all at once. Strong winds buffeted the trees and sounds of limbs and branches hitting the shelter made us realize how lucky we were to have had the protection it afforded us. We felt bad for any other hikers out there or those in tents, risking getting struck by falling limbs. The rain was torrential; the wind, whipping. The pictures we took don’t do it justice, but the sight of the trees getting thrashed, all backlit by lightning and the loud din of heavy rain was a spectacle. We enjoyed watching this most natural of July 4th ‘fireworks’ displays, half naked, still hot, in the protection of the tent in the shelter.

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Day 90: Sunday, July 5, 2026
to Ten Mile River Shelter at mile 1,464.6 (in CT!)

Hard getting out of bed this morning: the 4:45am alarm was ignored. Finally got up around 5:30.
Got hiking nice and early, about 6:30. Lots of destruction and debris from the storm last night. Could hear people’s generators running — found out later power was out for the surrounding area. It would be days until it was fully restored through this section of Connecticut.

It wasn’t very hot, but the mugginess was off the charts. Got to a road crossing around 11:45 where a Malaysian Food Truck that was getting rave reviews on FarOut was meant to be. I guess they’re only setting up on certain Sundays this summer and this Sunday wasn’t one of them! Drat. We walked a short way further and had a little picnic lunch.

Pushed on, though feeling tired, and crossed into Connecticut (and therefore New England!) before a final ascent of the day. Coming down off that hill, we arrived at Ten Mile River, and a short way away was the shelter. There was a lady with her tent set up inside and–buggy as it was–we followed suit. The rain held off, which was great, and we enjoyed dinner out at the picnic table.

Although I was falling asleep from exhaustion, I tried to keep my eyes open to witness an amazing light show of fireflies outside: a beautiful sight; but before I knew it, I was out like a light.

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Stay tuned for the next exciting blog from my trek, where I enter Massachusetts!

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