We came home yesterday night from McGraw, NY and we will be getting back on trail in Hoxie Gorge. Since we were just going to be road walking to this point, that is why we made this decision. So far, the minimal maintenance in the Catskills and DEP lands combined with the wet (but beautifully maintained!) other portions of the eastern part of this trail have really gotten me in a funk.
I am hoping the days off will recover my feet, which are starting to peel so badly I wonder how in the world there is any skin left! I've never had foot problems on a hike before and I know it's probably just due to the perpetually wet conditions of this trail so far. We are hoping that the summer weather kicks back in soon! I haven't really hit my stride yet on this trail and it kind of has me a little nervous. I think it's probably just due to the fact that my feet feet so miserable, but I'm really hoping to start enjoying myself more soon.
So far we have spent 13 days on trail. The breakdown is five nights in a tent, three nights in a shelter, three nights in private homes, and two nights in a motel. For this reason, we have nicknamed this trail "The American Camino" or "Camino de American" haha! We have been enjoying the road walks into these little towns, but it's going to start getting expensive if we keep going in to enjoy them! We have already had to send back a box full of food due to not being behind schedule, but overindulging in towns to where we don't need our boxes. This weekend home I plan to look more closely at our maps and plan our days loosely to make sure that our resupply plan suits us, especially since we have about a month left to hike on this trail.
We have resealed our tent (AGAIN) to hopefully keep out every single drop of moisture. It's waterproofed very VERY well right now, but due to the high amount of rain it's still getting some minor dripping at night. Hopefully this third time is a charm and we won't need to do it again. We also waterproofed the bottom of NoKey's pack and have washed and dried all our gear. I'm enjoying the comforts of home, but I'm already wishing to be back on the trail. That's the thing about a thru hike, it's all about the journey. Some days on this trail haven't been all that enjoyable, but not every day will be. I'm glad we were able to get home and get some rest so I wouldn't push myself to hard and just want to quit. I was seriously ready to never come back to this trail before we hitched into McGraw yesterday afternoon. Here's to hoping for better weather in the coming weeks!