Where am I going?

Highlight Hiker Blog

New Blaze: Bearfort Ridge Trail, Green Loop, Abram S. Hewitt State Forest

September 6, 2020

One of my favorite things about hiking are the people you meet along the way. While I seek out solitude, it’s such a pleasure to stop and have conversations with people who share my passion for wandering the woods. Sometimes it’s just a hello, but sometimes it’s a great way to stop, rest and trail talk with fresh faces from different walks of life. With a pandemic going on and months upon months of isolation, I have to say it’s really nice to talk to people, no matter how brief the interaction is. I miss the human connection. And, a personal note to the awesome couple kicking ass on the trail that I met during my last mile: I was so dehydrated and tired when we were chatting roadside that I kept saying “Wanaque” when I met “Waywayanda”. I realized my mistake after I got home. These are the things that happen to your brain when you push past the limits of what your body expects!

In any case… another benefit of meetings along the trail is that it gives me an opportunity to learn about myself, and I’m sure most of the people I cross don’t even know they are instructing me. The power of observation and willingness to learn, adapt and change make my short interactions with others very important. For example, I’m the kind of hiker who doesn’t stop. I take a slower, more steady pace, sure. I stop to take photos and videos, yes. But I don’t know how to take an earnest break. Y’know: sit a spell. Take off my boots and socks, stop to recuperate or just to take in the beauty around me. I just GO.

I am keenly aware that before I thru-hike the AT (one day), I need to change this habit. I need to STOP. I need to be ok with resting more than a few minutes. Give the human machine a break. I was thinking about this all morning and promised myself I would take a break on today’s 6-miler through Abram S. Hewitt State Forest. And wouldn’t you know it…? The first couple I met on my way, within the first mile of climbing up Bearfort Mountain… were taking a long break on the side of the trail. They were simply relaxing. He was lying down in the grass, she was sitting comfortably next to him. They were talking. They were chillin’. And I thought to myself, ‘Well, if that isn’t confirmation of my needing to take breaks, nothing is!’. Lovely couple, by the way and I would run into them later. But they would leave the park far ahead of me why….? BECAUSE I TOOK A LONG BREAK! So thank you to them for A. reinforcing my lesson and B. the good laughs at the Earnest Walker scenic viewpoint.

I met a lot of other people along the way, most of them my age (which rarely happens, its usually the 20-somethings here on weekends), and I tried to learn something from each of them. From one couple I learned not to be the beast of burden for my hiking partner. Lesson learned: if my hiking partner is perfectly capable of carrying their load, then they shall. Side note: that actually is a good life lesson for an old broad who doesn’t always know when to say no. Don’t take on the burdens of others when others are capable to carry their own. From a group of hikers I learned that if you need to stretch your boots, you can take out the soles, dampen newspapers, cram those bad bays in your boots overnight and when they have dried? Voila! Stretched boots! You think that works??? And lastly, from a short observation of three young ladies I learned how cooperative hiking helps everyone in your party, especially when faced with a trail challenge.

Now, about the trail itself… when I arrived, I had planned to hike north on the Quail trail (orange blaze), connect with the Earnest Walker (yellow blaze) and then travel south down the Bearfort Ridge trail (white blaze) to take in the scenic views on the latter half of my hike. I estimated it would be 5 - 6 miles of walking. I had some familiarity with the terrain here from my previous hike, and I knew it was going to be a monster of a loop. I thought I was pretty well prepared with three 32 oz. Nalgene bottles in my pack, but found out on trail that the protein in my last 32 oz. bottle was bad. Nasty. Undrinkable. Spoiled. So I had to hike the last 2 miles in the heat with 12 oz of water, which hasn’t proven to exactly be enough for me in the past. And, of course, I had made the decision to end of the hike with the toughest section, where 32 oz. of protein water would have come in handy! Once I realized that my drink was spoiled, I added my emergency single portion of collagen protein and a squeeze of Mio Energy (with caffeine) to stretch the last 12 oz of water through the last push. It… woooooorked….? Maaaaybe? I mean, my body made it, but my brain was foggy and my energy was completely tapped until I got food and water at home.

The other component that I was aware of (but willfully ignored) was that this was my first hike back after vacation. I knew that I had used very different muscle groups walking through sand during our two weeks on the Cape, and so maybe choosing a hike with 1,500’ elevation gain wasn’t exactly the best plan, but I figured…. WHY NOT? In reality I just limped through the last 1.5 miles. For real. Because I had a quarter size blister that, despite my treating halfway through the hike, continued to expand and grow. I got through despite all this agony and actually will still tell you I had fun on this hike because A. I’m stubborn and I GO, and B. When the going got tough I was smart enough to STOP.

All that being said, let’s talk logistics. The NY/NJ Trail Conference is in the process of creating a new blaze, and with that they have also decided to update the current trails at Abram S. Hewitt. So now, rather than the Quail and Bearfort (orange/white blaze, respectively) they are creating one continuous loop, named the Bearfort Ridge loop and blazing it green. This was my loop. They are also creating a new trail which will be pink to the west of the former Bearfort Trail. I saw the new trail head for this pink trail, but since it hasn’t been completed, I didn’t want yet to tread on it (that was before I realized that my protein drink had spoiled). If you’re interested in learning more, check out their latest update here. The signage they left wasn’t clear of the changes in progress and there was a lot of trail talk about the confusion of the new blaze color.

I’m very excited for the new pink trail. I don’t think they’ll be done this season, which means I can still technically get map 116 completed yet this year. I’m really close, folks! Only four more 6+ milers and I’ll have hiked all marked trails on map #116!! WISH ME LUCK!

But for now, on to more important things…. like the story that the pictures tell of my massive adventures into the rocky wild of Abram S. Hewitt State Forest!