Thirty-five.

I exited Delaware Water Gap by crossing the Delaware River via the I-80 bridge. This marked the end of Pennsylvania and the start of New Jersey. Immediately, I was greeted with a nicely maintained section of the Delaware Water Gap State Park. There were still some rocks, but overall, it was a much better experience than what I was going through.

I only spent a few days in New Jersey, but it was a great little stretch. I visited the Mohican Outdoor Center, which was a nice little cabin that served food to hikers right off the trail. I also visited High Point State Park, which marked the highest elevation point in the state. There were even a few places to get off the trail and grab some pizza and barbecue from local restaurants. It ended up being a great state to hike through.

At one point during this hike, I knew I wanted to push myself to do a big mileage day, bigger than anything I’ve done before. Well, my birthday was coming up, so I decided I’d do a big day on that day. I decided I was going to hike 35 miles on my 35th birthday. I have not done anything over 27 before so this would certainly be a challenge.

I did prepare for the day. The day before, I had a light day and filled up on a good meal at a restaurant. On my birthday, I woke up early and started hiking around 5:30 AM. The day started out great. I hiked a section of the trail that was a flat boardwalk going through some swamps for a couple of miles. The rest of the day would prove to be not so simple.

The climb out of New Jersey is dubbed “The Stairway to Heaven” because, essentially, it’s a vertical Rocky climb straight into the sky. Then, crossing the border into New York was one boulder climb after another. One boulder was too tall to climb over, so a metal ladder was installed to allow hikers to scale the rock. Welcome to New York—the rocks are waiting for you. I was quickly realizing that this particular section I was attempting to do my longest day just so happened to be a rather brutal section. Not only did the boulder climbs slow me down, but the elevation gains were starting to level up.

The first half of the day went slower than expected. I was able to get some ice cream at a creamery a short distance off trail which really lifted my spirits. I originally planned on getting to my destination before the sun set, but I was soon running out of daylight.

As the sun set, I found myself still a few miles short of my intended destination. Physically, I felt fine, but sleepiness was beginning to set in. I donned my headlamp and ventured into the darkness. During my trek, I encountered a section known as “The Lemon Squeezer,” a notably narrow rock formation that necessitated me to squeeze through for approximately 100 feet. With only about a mile remaining, I resolutely faced the challenge head-on, relying on sheer willpower and determination to make it through. A little past 10 pm, I finally reached the campsite, utterly exhausted. I swiftly set up my tent and removed my shoes and socks. Too tired to inflate my air mattress, I opted to sleep directly on the ground of my tent and promptly fell into a deep slumber.

But I did it. It ended up being thirty-six miles because of a miscalculation and over seven thousand feet of elevation gain. It took eighty-seven thousand steps to complete. I am proud of myself for proving that I am capable of that, but I am absolutely never doing that again.

The next day, I was completely in a fog. I still managed to hike 17 miles to Bear Mountain Inn, where I had booked two nights. I needed to rest and take a day off. I deserved it.