“If You Can’t Stand the Heat”

AT Day 76

Miles Today: 25.78

AT Mile: 1376.0

(Lake Lodging Motel; Greenwood Lake, NY)

Yama talked to his phone, but I couldn’t understand him.

Then we both waited for a moment, and his phone talked back, but this time I understood, unlike when Yama had been talking.

And since Yama and I can’t talk directly, I responded by talking at my phone, which of course he couldn’t understand until I pushed the button that translated English to Japanese, and we both listened as a computer voice read back what I’d written, but in a tongue that Yama could make sense of.

It’s an absolutely incredible future that we live in today! A world in which you can literally speak into a translation app on your phone, and it’ll convert everything to almost any language of your choosing in just a couple of seconds.

Yama is from Japan, and this is his first thru hike. He speaks about 5 words of English. I can only imagine how his experience of hiking this trail is so different than almost anyone else out here this year. He’s 48 years old, wife and two sons back home in Osaka.

We’d crossed paths a few times back in the earlier parts of the trail, but never bridged the cultural and communication divide. But he was also there at Palmerton when Plinko and I camped at the trail angel’s yard–the lady named Squeak who introduced herself by declaring that she was “born indecent.” I can only try to imagine what Yama must have thought of that lady and her place! He was there for two or three nights while he recovered from an injury that required some stitches and time off trail. Plinko had talked to him a bit that night through Google Translate, but for whatever reason I missed the opportunity and never did so myself.

But when we met back at Sola yesterday afternoon, it wasn’t an opportunity I was going to miss twice.

—

We planned all day yesterday to go back to trail in the later part of the afternoon, and everything went according to that plan until we stepped out into the direct sunlight and started our walk out of Unionville at around 5pm.

It was incredibly hot. It was a kind of hot that I haven’t experienced before this week. It’s a record breaking heat wave all across the eastern US. And as Plinko and I talked it over, we decided that it didn’t make sense to be out here.

Pastor Doug had said several times that we’d be welcome to stay a second night if we wanted, and we’d politely declined the offer. But as we got out into that heat again, we started to question whether we’d made a bad decision.

Stranger went on ahead, and I respect him for his independence. But goddam it was hot out last night. And the forecast called for temps to stay high mostly through the evening.

Skip forward–we met Stranger again this afternoon and he said that he ended up camping about 10 miles up trail with Waterboy, in the Mosquito Hellscape, and that he had to sleep in his bivouac because they were so bad, but the temps were so high that being in there was like being in a sauna. He also said that sometimes the face bug net of his bivi would touch his face and he’d immediately get a misquito bite through the mesh, so he had to wrap his face in a shirt to prevent bites.

Sounds like his night was miserable.

Plinko and I on the other hand…

I think that we both felt some weirdness about going back to Sola for the second night, but it wasn’t guilt. We just felt strange after all the miles we’ve plowed through on this trail and on our other trails. This just felt so antithetical to so much that we’ve done before this. But in the end it was the right decision for us.

We ended up sleeping significantly better. We got to hang out with Yama and have that conversation over Google Translate. And Plinko and I both got a much better night’s sleep than we would have if we’d been out on trail with Stranger.

Again though–more power to Stranger for his independence. I don’t envy him for it, but I do respect him for it. I told Plinko that I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up connecting with the group of “5 guys” who I’ve talked about in previous entries.

—

There were only the three of us at Sola last night–Plinko, Yama, and myself. Yama rolled in right as we were leaving, so he was surprised when he saw us come back in about a half hour later.

We sat together talking through Google Translate for almost 45 minutes. It was fascinating to get to know him! I told him that he was inspiring. He told me that he remembered me from early on in the trail, because he saw me doing pushups.

—

We were ready to get back to trail this morning though.

Today was another one of the 4am alarms and 4:30 to trail days. I don’t think I’ve had nearly this many starts so early on any of my long trails. Let that just be a testament to the intensity of this heat! It’s no joke!

It was 26 miles to where we’d hitch into Unionville for resupply. Along the way we got a mile-long boardwalk, unfathomable swarms of mosquitos, and a steep-ass climb in the heat called “Stairway to Heaven.”

—

The mosquitoes were absolutely oppressive! It was insane!

Both Plinko and I carry Pricardian, but it seemed to do nothing against them. Or, it could be that by then we were sweating so profusely that it just washed the bug spray off so that we were exposed again.

For much of the morning I wore a gator around my face and neck to keep them from biting and swatted continually at my arms and legs with my camp towel to keep them off. They were too much!

They bit through clothes. They didn’t care about bug spray. And they were nonstop during the swampy sections of trail today.

The only places that I’ve seen mosquitos like that would have been in Alaska and in Louisiana swamps.

—

As bad as the bugs were, the heat was at least on the same level. I know that I’m coming to this trail from Arizona, but the heat out there compared to the humid heat here are completely different. This eastern heat is oppressive. Forgive me if I’ve called it that already. But it feels like it’s holding you down.

My clothes were drenched through and through for most of the day. I kept using that camp towel, and I’d wring it out, then wipe again, then ring, and that cycle went on for many hours. It was hard to stay hydrated.

—

Crossed into New York.

Sweated on some rocks.

Expected but didn’t find any snakes on the rocks.

Got some tail magic at the side of the road with some of the group of 5 guys (+ a hiker named Buzzkill).

Visited the top rated ice cream creamery in the United States and ate 4 scoops of ice cream with Plinko.

Talked a bit with Boots and Hemlock to coordinate their visits.

Looking like Plinko might join me off trail this weekend so we can continue hiking together after Boots heads back home.

Splitting a motel room in Greenwood Lake and resupplied here as well.

Back to trail tomorrow at 6am.

Looking to get some miles tomorrow, but also looking like the elevation profile starts to climb again this week.

Temps are looking so much better the next 3 days that it’s hard to believe that these were the same places experiencing such an intense heat wave just two days ago.

Writing until I’m so tired I a barely stay awake. As usual.

Wormwood.