I paused at a concession stand to grab a plate of chicken tenders and a soda, and grabbed a spot at a shady picnic table to enjoy them. There were so many people and colors and sounds that it was almost hard to keep track of where the AT was going.

As I walked I could smell barbecue smoke, and when I finally reached the bottom I saw hundreds of people picnicking, boating, and strolling around the base of the mountain. While coming down from the mountain the trail was so crowded that we all formed a line heading down the stairs, which felt agonizingly slow to me. The number of people around made it feel like some of the most crowded trails in the big national parks I’ve been to. Suddenly, upon reaching the summit of Bear Mountain, the number of day hikers sky rocketed. In the early afternoon I reached the summit of Black Mountain which had awesome views, and I could even spot the skyline of New York City in the distance.Įventually the trail started up Bear Mountain, changing to be either paved or pea gravel, with stone steps making the elevation easier. Fortunately the trail got much easier after making my way through the Lemon Squeezer, and I cruised along not really noticing the ups and downs for a while.

All in all New York hasn’t been my favorite state on the trail. Additionally, New York has felt a little rough mentally as well, well beyond the thrill of the halfway point but still unimaginably far from the end of the trail. So far New York has been so much more difficult than I had ever heard about during my pre-hike planning, with areas that are just as rocky as PA and some very steep climbs. Unfortunately, the terrain in those first few miles was pretty rough, featuring a steep climb and a bunch of rocky scrambles including the Lemon Squeezer, where I had to take off my pack a couple times to squeeze through the narrow rock openings that made up the trail. I was a little bummed as we packed up the motel room, since dad was heading home today, and the feeling persisted for the first couple miles on the trail. I resupplied and we got a delicious veggie pizza but we were both struggling to stay awake by 8 pm after the tough day, and we turned off the lights early to grab some sleep.

We could hear the road for a long time before we finally reached it, and when we finally made it down to street level we caught a ride to the nearby Tuxedo Motel for the night. The final descent from Arden Mountain was crazy steep, and my knees were aching while I took my time carefully picking my way down the mountainside that looked as if it was dropping straight down. We were definitely starting to feel like we were ready to stop soon as we made our way over the very steep Buchanan Mountain Outlook and around a beaver made pond, and we were just barely crawling as we made our way over the very steep and rocky Arden Mountain. After descending from the high point we grabbed lunch across from a busy road, and sat around for a bit trying to figure out our plans for the rest of the day. The climb up to Mombasha High Point wasn’t super steep or rocky, but we were starting to feel worn down already in the warm weather, and we were moving slower and slower. After a couple miles we came across the Fitzgerald falls, and the trail wound up right alongside it before continuing on to Mombasha High Point. We paused at the Wildcat shelter for a break and to eat a snack, sitting at a nice picnic table is always a morale booster.

Wooden lemon squeezer