This was going to be an 8 section hike over 7 days on the NY Long Path, northern sections 28 thru 35 the end. These were the final eight sections Dr. Dave was hiking in his quest to complete all 35 sections of the NY Long Path hiking trail The NY Long Path starts in New York City, crosses the George Washington Bridge and winds it’s way 356 miles to John Boyd Thatcher Park. Our plan was to complete these 8 sections on Tuesday May 30th. That meant hiking by milage not by section. This was our plan; Day 1 (13 miles), hike section 28 plus 3.5 miles into section 29. Day 2 (10 miles), hike the remainder of section 29. Day 3 (11.8 miles), hike section 30 plus 3.2 miles into section 31. Day 4 (13.55 miles) start at section 31 plus 3.2 miles and hike to section 32 plus 4.75 miles. Day 5-7 were to be part of a 2 night 3 day backpacking hike covering the remaining 38.3 miles. We arrived Tuesday night at Nickerson's campground, our base camp for the next 4 nights. Dr. Dave had a large tarp which we set up over our tents because a lot rain was expected and we wanted some dry space. We also setup a canopy over the picnic table.
Day 1 -Wednesday morning we were up early and by 8 am we were at the trailhead of section 28. We hike north through section 28 and 3.5 miles into section 29. That made the campground and right up to our tents the finish line for day one. Day 1 was a 13 mile day.
Day 2 -Thursday, we drove to the end of section 29, Westkill Rd. and left a car there. Then we planned to hike back to the campground finishing section 29 (10 miles). Well as it happened when we got on the trail we headed the wrong way. We went northbound into section 30. (basically doing day 3 of our plan on day 2) We were really having such a great time that we didn't discover our mistake until we were in about 6 miles. So now we had a choice to either hike back to the car, 6 miles, or hike on to the end of section 29 (3 miles) which is the West Fulton picnic area and maybe we could find somebody nearby to give us a ride. We pressed on. When we got to West Fulton Rd we found it was empty, no wonder it was now raining quite hard. We were soaked but needed a ride. All four of us set out in different directions to see if we could find someone to give us some assistance. Dr. Dave went off to a barn that had several cars out front and looked promising. Fred went down the road and Lois and I went down in the another direction. Dr. Dave was unsuccessful in raising any humans at the barn but Fred seeing somebody just turn into their driveway, walked over and explained our plight, Fred convinced Betty to drive us back to camp. Way to go Fred. Betty explained she had no idea where the campground was but she was willing to give us a ride. She explained she was glade to help because in the past a stranger gave her the help she needed. While driving back to the campground we spotted Westkill Rd., the road where our car was parked, so we made a quick turn and drove to our car. We said goodbye to Betty and drove back to the campground. It was Fred’s plan to only stay 2 nights and with more heavy rain approaching, he was going to head home. Dr. Dave noticing that it was only about 1pm., and believing we had about a 2 1/2 hour window of little to no rain, felt we could hike the 3.2 miles from West Fulton Rd. to Mallon Rd. That 3.2 mike piece was in our plan for day 3 so by picking it up now, and hiking our day 2 plan on day 3, we would be back on track with our hike plan. Using two cars this time, we were able to hike the 3.2 miles and get back to camp before the rain returned. So it was a total of 11.6 miles for Day 2.
Day 3 - Friday we drove back to Westkill Rd park the car there and hiked section 29 southbound back to the campground, a total of 10 miles.
Day 4 Saturday - drove to Mallon Rd. left one car there then drove to Durfee Rd. left car 2 there. We hiked southbound 4.78 of section 32 and the rest in section 31. We went through the squeeze and through downtown Middleburgh. Leaving Middleburgh by route 30 and onto Vroman’s Nose. What a view. Then a steep decent and back to more road walk. During these road walks. Marty's knees began to act up and he had to stop several times by the side of the road in order to continue. He rallied and made it to the end. Total miles today 13.55.
Saturday night with his knees hurting and knowing that the next three nights were going to be overnights with a full pack Marty decided to forgo hiking the trail. He knew that if his knees failed during the next 4 sections it will be very very difficult to get help and would totally interrupt Dr. Dave plan.
Sunday - In the morning Dr. Dave declared that Sunday would be another day hike because with the heavy rain expected on Monday and Tuesday, David and Lois decided that it was just not going to be any fun to continue so they called off the rest of the hike. Marty decided not to hike but to stay back and strike camp. He drove Lois and Dr. Dave to Durfee Rd., From there they hiked northbound the remaining 6 miles of section 32 and 7.3 miles into section 33 finishing at Partridge Run Rd. for a total of 13.3 miles. While Lois and David were hiking Marty took down the tents, the canopy and tarp and packed the truck, then drove to Partridge Run Rd. to meet them, it was 3:15 pm. We went back to the campground took quick showers then it was time to go home. Everyone had a great time.
The trail will still be there and we will be back at another time. Dr. Dave has less than 28 miles to go to complete all 35 sections of the New York Long Path.
I want to speak a little bit about the blazing. In section 28 going northbound the blazing was superb easily to follow even though there wasn't much of a worn trail to follow. The blazing through the trees made hiking enjoyable. In other sections especially the southbound blazing, was so poor and so difficult to follow. One blaze showed this was the end of the trail, when it wasn’t, a turn glaze was 30 yards past the actual turn and the confirmation blaze was a 10 inch stripe of aqua paint painted on a 1 inch sapling, and the sapling was nestled against a much larger tree. Over and over again blazes were painted on very skinny trees and real hard to locate. Way too many turns were not even marked. Proper and consistent blazing makes for a better hiking experience.
Questions & Comments Crew@LongPathTrailCrew.org
(14) 5/24,25,26,27,28/17 Long Path hike Sections 28,29,30.31 and part of 32
