Sharpay Evans Would NOT Enjoy This

Updates from the Mountains

Episode #12: Sharpay Evans Would NOT Enjoy This

NJ, NY, CT, and MA

(I’m not going to format this email bc I’m lazy. Enjoy.)

It’s not glamorous out here. I mean, no one would expect it to be, but I mean it’s REALLY not glamorous out here.

Being a thru-hiker is an experience filled with many discomforts and challenges. And the past few weeks have definitely exemplified that. As I veg out in a motel, I’m reflecting on the rough times and the fun, rewarding times I’ve had lately. I’ve also been reflecting on the idea of “hiker trash” and how it truly is a real thing and how I’ve come to fit that description (along with many of the other thru-hikers out here).

Without further ado, here’s my most recent updates of life on the trail:

NJ and NY:

New Jersey and New York were hot. Like HOT HOT. Literally walking through a heat wave. For a little over a week, we had only about one day of respite from the scorching temperatures. It is summer and this part of the trail is at lower elevation, so hot days are inevitable. But normal people would take a hot day and decide to stay indoors with the AC or hop in the pool or something. Not thru-hikers. We hike on.

On the third day of high heat (and humidity) I broke down. There were many reason for this (which I won’t get into), but part of the cause was my thought of “why can’t I just be normal?” Why was I trying to hike 20 miles every day in 90° temperatures? I wasn’t sleeping well bc it was hot at night too, causing all of us silly hikers to admit to sleeping naked on top of our sleeping pads- no sleeping bags or quilts. So I was tired. And just pushing myself as hard as usual. It was a SLOG. A “normal person” would be inside enjoying an ice cold lemonade, I thought. Why do I have to do extreme things and be pushing through this up and down hills with weight on my back?

But the breakdown was a good thing. In hindsight at least. At the moment, sobbing in an empty gravel parking lot in the middle of New Jersey did not seem “good”. But it forced me to stop. Eitan and i reevaluated our plans for the next few days. We did lower milage and took longer breaks. During that heat wave, I often sat somewhere in the middle of the day for 2, 3, or 4 hours just to avoid hiking in the worst of the heat. The good thing was that NJ and NY are full of markets and delis near the trail, leading to what hikers call “deli blazing”.

Sure, it was frustrating to have to cut back on milage and stop somewhere in the middle of the day, but it was oh so pleasant when that “somewhere” ended up being a deli. Or when I slept poorly in the humidity but knew I could walk a little ways off the trail to grab a bagel sandwich and a coffee in the morning. One night we even camped AT a deli. Amazing. I had at least 4 egg and cheese sandwiches through NY and NJ.

The best part of New Jersey? I saw five (5) bears! And I was only in the state for 5 days, so that seems like a pretty good ratio.

New York lacked the bear sightings, but was still a nice place to hike through. The two states are relatively flat, and NY provided some little rock scrambles and pretty views. At one point, right at the 1400 mile marker, there was a view of the NYC skyline! Eitan and I also got to jump in a couple of lakes in NY. It sure felt good on those hot days to just throw myself into a body of water and trust that my shorts and bra would dry before I started hiking again.

CT and MA:

Oh I’m in New England now?? How did that happen? Just as we entered Connecticut, the worst of the heat was over. And the moss began! Connecticut was a pretty section of trail; I spent a lot of time petting moss, water became more plentiful, there were lots of white pine and yellow birch trees, and many blueberries to pick along the trail. Im not a strong believer in Connecticut being a real state. No one ACTUALLY lives there, right? I was just convinced that people made it up and that’s why I always forget it exists. But now I’ve hiked through it so I guess it’s real.

While in CT, I met three other younger female hikers: Chappy, Hawaii, and Red Maple. It’s not too often that I run into other younger women on the trail, and it was quite the pleasure to find a group of them! I spent a good part of the day hiking with them and have since run into them a few more times.

What I didn’t love about Connecticut was that it was FULL of PUDs (pointless ups and downs). Just constantly going up and down short yet steep hills. It was tiring. But I guess it’s just training for the northern section of New England. It also made it hard to gauge how difficult each day would be, and thus how many miles would be feasible. Eitan and i had a couple days where we tried to do more miles than we should have for the amount of elevation change we had to go over in those sections. Nothing says “classy” like hiking across a street in the affluent town of Kent, CT at 5pm dragging myself up a hill because I still have 6 more miles to go and it’s illegal to “stealth camp” in CT.

Massachusetts has been lovely. It’s like an extension of Connecticut in the way that it’s mossy and pretty and full of more northern flora. But the climbs are less PUD-like and taller. I’d much rather go up a taller, more gradual mountain than hike straight up a hill with no view. The views in MA has been great, too! We’re finally back in an area where the horizon is full of mountains rather than “hills”. There are nice rocky outcroppings where, if you’re there on a clear day, you can see for dozens of miles. We even got above 3000 ft for the first time since Virginia. And this far north, that means entering fir-spruce environments! The subalpine forest is so beautiful and lush. I love it.

The best day in MA was staying at a “shelter” (it’s actually a cabin) 0.5 miles from the AT. There were a LOT of other backpackers there (it’s the only place you can camp within like a 20 mile area), but there was still space in the bunk room of the cabin to stay inside for the night. Staying in the cabin was pretty cool, but what was even better was that it was along a pond and had canoes!! So Eitan and i went canoeing with Hawaii, Red Maple, and Chappy. It was fantastic. There was also a day that we walked through two towns, which meant I got a coffee in the morning in the first town and packed out a breakfast sandwich to eat in the second town, where I resupplied on some snacks. But then the whole time I was hiking all I could think about was the sandwich in my bag…

As I enter Vermont in the next coming days, I’m excited for the northern section of the trail! So many people have raved about how beautiful the Green mountains in Vermont and the White Mountains in New Hampshire are. And then it’s into Maine! I’m definitely nervous about the difficulty of hiking coming up, but I’ll just have to decrease my milage and/or my pace so I can tackle the steeper grades and higher peaks of this section. Can’t wait to get above tree line!

Getting into the northern section of the trail has been great, and I expect it to get better; More rewarding climbs, cooler weather, blueberries to pick, lush forests, and so on. But the trail has been really hard recently. As I said before, NOT glamorous. Random rainstorms and humid nights lead to getting soaking wet and hiking for 2-3 days in wet socks. I’m losing some feeling in the tips of my toes. My shoes have been most literally falling apart (I put too many miles on them… whoops). Dehydrated meals become a slog to get through. I’m just straight up tired. I miss my friends and my family and “normal life”. I’m covered in mosquito bites. And I’m wearing holes in my clothes and gear. Eitan and i talked about how the third quarter of the trail is mentally the toughest because you’ve gotten far past the “honeymoon” phase, you’re way far into a routine, you start missing normal things, your body is tired, but you’re not quite close enough to the end to have that push of excitement for the “final stretch”.

But I’m not done yet. I’m almost at that “final stretch”. Here’s to VT, NH, and ME reinvigorating the excitement of hiking, probably kicking my butt a little bit, and bringing me more amazing experiences. Sure, I’m tired and maybe I’m falling apart, but thru-hiking has been so rewarding and I know there are great things ahead. And there’s nothing quite like being a thru-hiker, especially amongst fellow thru-hikers.

That brings me to my final segment of this long, unformatted email: Hiker Trash.

What is hiker trash? Well I didn’t truly understand until I became it. It’s not something you can be just by being a day hiker or a weekender. You don’t realize you’re hiker trash until it’s too late.

Hiker trash is…

• walking around with torn up shoes and clothes (without realizing how bad it is)

• Eating lunch unapologetically on the ground on the side of a backroad

• Making friends with other thru-hikers at a water source that an hour later some day hiker is convinced you’ve known for months

• Sitting in a restaurant eating a tortilla out of your bear canister

• Wiping yourself down with Dr. Bronner’s soap and a microfiber towel in a public lake shower while other people look at you funny

• Hanging out in a random gas station parking lot while you charge your phone using the outlets outside

• Walking around a grocery store with your pack and trekking poles in the cart, buying mostly “junk food”

• Hanging out in the shade of a pit toilet building at a trailhead with other hikers

• Saying “I feel so clean now that I’ve jumped in the pond!”

• Trying to find a trash can or toilet paper when the trail leads to a popular tourist area

• Camping in a field outside a deli between a busy road and train tracks

• Responding “oohh that sounds good!” When somebody describes some wild combination of foods they plan on eating for their next meal

• Jumping in a lake with your hiking clothes on bc you have no other choice, and let’s face it, your clothes could use a rinse, too

And so on…

Sorry I’ve gone feral. Hiker trash is real and I am a victim. If you see me eating peanut butter and sweet potato chip crumbs on a tortilla along the side of a road with 1000 big bites and my shoes being held together with tape… no you didn’t.

finally, here’s some pictures from recently: