Two Appalachian Trail thru-hikers, Russell and Jessie, have crossed the Delaware River and left New Jersey behind — and their latest trail diary is a useful snapshot of what the mid-Atlantic stretch of the AT actually feels like in late July.
The pair kicked things off in unusual style: a night at the Warwick Drive-In, where they watched movies from their tent before a late start the next morning. Resupply came courtesy of the Shop Rite next door, and the hitchhike they'd been nervous about turned out to be a non-event — a local offered them a ride before they'd even left the car park. It's a recurring theme in this section: hikers report that people in New Jersey and New York towns along the trail are friendly, curious and quick to help, which matters a lot if you're relying on road crossings to reach food and lodging.
New Jersey earned a fond goodbye. The state's notorious bug pressure had finally eased from, in the writer's words, cataclysmic to merely annoying, making the miles walkable again — a key seasonal note for anyone planning a summer AT section hike. July is peak mosquito and yellow jacket season, and this hiker counted 14 yellow jacket stings on his trip so far, including one on the first day in New York.
The New York border brought a change in terrain. Instead of Pennsylvania's punishing loose rocks, the trail here is a long sequence of short boulder scrambles — steep ups and careful downs that the writer found genuinely fun, if tiring. Highlights along the way: Bellvale Farm Creamery, an unofficial institution where hikers refuel on ice cream (self-control apparently optional), and a waterfall campsite where the pair fell asleep to the sound of falling water and ate breakfast beside the cascade the next morning.
The bigger picture from these entries: New York's section of the AT is surprisingly scenic, with open hardwood forest, scattered ponds and big boulder fields, plus distant views toward the city that give the stretch its nickname among hikers. It's harder than it looks on the elevation profile, but rewarding — the writer's verdict was that New York is 'kicking my ass' in the best way.
For travellers, this is a good window into a lesser-known corner of the AT that's within day-trip distance of New York City. Warwick, the Bellvale Creamery and the surrounding Harriman–Bear Mountain corridor all work as weekend hiking bases, and the trail culture here — easy hitches, trail angels, roadside ice cream — makes it one of the more sociable sections of the whole route.
