Kill-ing Time

Okay, it is July 25th, and this post will span two days. Jon and I are in a room at the Brooks Motel in Hillsdale, New York, right now. S. was kind enough to find us this place. Apparently, most of the lodging options in this area are bed and breakfasts that cost approximately seven million dollars per night. The Brooks is a little further away from downtown and more affordable, and it’s turned out to be a great place. Very cool Scandanavian vibe.

Yesterday morning, we woke up at the Pine Swamp Brook campsite, where we’d been able to dry our stuff out a little bit. We were hoping that it wouldn't rain again, and thankfully, it didn't overnight, but when we got up, the skies certainly looked threatening. So we had some quick breakfast and hustled out of the campsite fairly early, probably a little bit before 7. We didn't have very far to go to get back to Jon's rental car, which was good, though the woods were still extremely wet from the rains of the previous couple days.

So we were just hiking along, and suddenly, we stumbled across the highest concentration of horseflies I’ve ever seen. Normally, bugs don't like me very much. Like, mosquitoes generally tend to leave me alone, relative to other people. But for some reason, these horseflies just loved me and were biting me like crazy. I was slapping every part of my body, trying to get rid of them.

Jon and I kicked into high gear and started hiking as fast as we could to get away from them. Fortunately for Jon, the horseflies didn't seem to like him as much, but they were absolutely attacking me, and the little buggers definitely hurt whenever they’d bite.

So we kind of ended up doing double time as much as we could to get back to Jon's car as quickly as possible. But we could only go so fast, because the trail was pretty rocky and wet. We had to do some fairly careful stepping.

By the time we got back to the car, both of us were completely soaked from head to toe, and as happy as we were to be done hiking for the day, we didn't want to get into his car in our sopping wet clothes. This turned into sort of an interesting exercise, because Jon’s car was parked right on the road. It was this little gravel parking lot where the Appalachian Trail crosses the road, and other people were parked there, too, to do day hikes. So Jon and I had to get creative about changing our clothes without attracting the attention of either passing cars or people returning to the parking area.

In the end, we were successful, but thanks to our speedy hiking, it was way too early for us to check into our hotel. It was still before lunchtime, but we weren’t in an acceptable state to go to a restaurant. So we decided to hit a laundromat first and wash all our disgusting clothes.

Then we went out to lunch at a place called the Black Rabbit, where I got some clam chowder, a chicken sandwich, and, of course, a beer. After spending several days on the trail with the heat, humidity, rain, dirt, bugs, and everything else, I’m not sure a beer has ever tasted so good. As we were finishing up, I got a text saying that our hotel room was ready, which was great. We drove straight over, showered, and took a quick nap.

We were feeling pretty refreshed after that and decided to check out the Roe Jan Brewing Company in Hillsdale, which was maybe the fanciest brew pub I’ve ever been to. It was very high-end, very nice. And Roe Jan is a nickname for Roeliff Jansen Kill, which is the river that goes through the town. [Wife note: The river is reportedly “named for Roeliff Jansen, a Scandinavian who immigrated to the area in the early 1600s and worked as a tenant farmer on land to the east of the Kill, near what is now Hillsdale.”]

And fun fact — I just looked this up — if you’ve ever wondered why there are so many towns in New York with the word “kill” in them, like Catskill and Fishkill, “kill” is a Dutch word meaning “riverbed.” These towns were all on rivers, so “kill” was added to their names. And the Roeliff Jansen Kill is near two tributaries of the Hudson River. So... the more you know... Queue the shooting star.

After that, we went back to the hotel. Jon was able to get YouTube onto the TV, and we watched some Flight of the Conchords before hitting the sack. Our original plan had been to get off the trail, resupply, and get back on, but the forecast was calling for even more nasty weather. So Jon and I decided that four days on the trail together was enough, and we’d just enjoy a day hanging out in the area, and he’d drop me off at the trail the following day. I was able to get a bit of a discount on our room when I booked a second night, so that was a plus.

On the 25th, we got up and had breakfast at a nearby diner and then started looking for any breweries in the area that opened before 4 o'clock. Apparently, in the Hudson Valley, most of the breweries don't open until late afternoon. I guess that might be more of a commentary on us than them, though.

Anyway, I found a place in Chatham, New York, about 20 minutes away called Chatham Brewing, and they opened at noon. So that was lucky. We went there and got a flight that was unfortunately underwhelming.

Next, we headed to the town of Hudson, where there was another brewery that was open, called the Hudson Brewing Company. So, a bit of a trend there. We tried a flight of their beers, which were just okay.

Next, we went to a brewery in Hudson called the Union Street Brewing Company. I'll give you one guess where in the town it’s located. Apparently, we’d saved the best for last, because we got a flight of their beers, and they were head and shoulders above the ones at Chatham and Hudson. Nonetheless, we had a great time visiting them all and seeing what they had to offer.

So, over the course of the afternoon, we hit three different breweries and tried a bunch of different beers. By then, it was definitely time to make our way back to Hillsdale, where we found a pizza joint for dinner. Now we’re ready to call it a night. I’m actually feeling a little beer-ed out, which is rare.

It’s been great having Jon here and hiking with him. You know, I'd started to get burnt out on the trail, and I attribute some of that burnout to the searing temperatures and high humidity of late. I mean, heat and humidity are just not my friends. It certainly took the shine off of hiking for me a bit, but I’ve really loved having Jon here. I’ve enjoyed his company immensely.

He also has provided some validation for me with respect to the weather. He typically sweats just as much as I do, if not more, and he was very empathetic about the situation. Instead of coming in and hiking a bit and saying, “What are you talking about? It's not that bad,” he very much agreed that the heat and the rain were making the trail extra challenging, so it made sense to him that I’d been so uncomfortable.

I’m really hoping that the coming days and weeks bring cooler temperatures and lower humidity as I head further north, because if the weather stays the way it’s been, I'm not sure how much longer I’ll be able to handle it. So, fingers crossed that the weather turns my way a little bit and doesn't force me off the trail from just pure misery. I guess, as usual, we'll see what happens.