10-30-05 -- Karen is planning to return to the trail on Tuesday, November 1, 2005.  She will begin where she left off last spring at Wind Gap, PA.  She hopes to hike for about 2 weeks weather permitting.  She already postponed her departure date slightly due to a snow storm in the area.  (Hey!....  She IS learning from her past experiences!)   You can send goodies to either of the mail drop locations shown on the “Contact Karen” page.  But check again just before shipping in case her schedule changes.  Pray she will have good weather and a safe journey.

10-31-05 -- Karen called at 7:18 a.m. from near the trail.  The weather has cleared and she plans to begin hiking tomorrow morning.  Her friend Harrier will be taking her to the trail.  The weather forecast is upper 40’s daytime and mid 30’s at night with no precipitation predicted for the next week.  She said the tree colors are still nice and she is looking forward to a great week of hiking.

11-2-05 -- “Scarf” (as she referred to herself) called at 6:59 a.m. this morning from the Presbyterian Church of the Mountain Hostel near Delaware Water Gap.  She was having breakfast before heading out into New Jersey this morning, “...another state conquered!”, she exclaimed.  She covered 15.7 miles yesterday, her first day back on the trail.  She said the temperature has been in the low 30’s at night and 50’s during the day.  So far, she describes her journey as, “very pleasant”, and she sounded enthusiastic.  Sounds like “Scarf” is, once again, in her element.

11-5-05 -- Karen called Northern Harrier around 8 p.m. and here is his report.  “Scarf just called from Vernon NJ hostel.  Doing well - is ahead of schedule - 79 miles in 5 days.  She has had gorgeous weather - not at all cold - very un-seasonal and the leaves are still changing colors. She should complete NJ tomorrow and cross the Hudson River (near West Pt) on Tuesday.”

11-5-05 -- Karen called about 9:30 p.m. from Vernon, N.J. where she is staying the night at the St. Thomas Church Hostel.  She will cross into New York tomorrow.  Here’s her recap of the week since Wednesday.  She covered 10.5 miles on Wednesday and stayed the night at the Mohican Outdoor Center near Delaware Water Gap.  She said the fall colors are peaking right now with very bright colors.  Local residents are telling her the peak colors are late this year, fortunate for Karen.  Thursday she enjoyed a great view from the Catfish Fire Tower, then covered 14 miles staying the night at Brink Road Shelter.  On Friday she climbed another fire tower, this time at the invitation of a worker on duty.  He showed her many landmarks from the tower and awarded her with a button saying, “I climbed a New Jersey Fire Tower.”  She covered 21 miles.  Today, Saturday, she covered another 20 miles to Vernon, N.J.  She says it gets dark about 5 p.m. each day so she has been getting an early start (5:30 a.m.) to make the most of her day.  She said the weather is 60’s daytime, high 30’s at night and no rain.  She plans to keep going as long as the weather holds out (and her feet - “no blisters so far”, she reports.)

11-7-05 -- Here’s a report from Bill Cooke today at 6:37 p.m. -- “Karen is spending tonight at Fingerboard Shelter.  Tomorrow, I join her at Bear Mountain and will hike with her for about 10 days.  To make sure we connected, I parked my car at NY Rt. 17 this morning and hiked south.  At about 11:15 AM, we met at East Mombassa Rd.  We hiked together back to Rt. 17 and then she continued on to Fingerboard Shelter.  I drove to Pawling... and tomorrow morning, I'll catch a bus, then a train, finally a cab to Bear Mountain and wait for Karen.  It will take us about 4 days to hike north to Rt. 22..... (then) continue north into CT and MA.  She's looking and feeling good!”

11-8-05 -- Here’s a report from Bill Whitehead today at 4:43 p.m. -- “Jeremy, Douglas and I met Karen at the Fingerboard Shelter last night. She is doing well. We spent the night with her at the shelter and had a wonderful time. The shelter has a fireplace inside and we spent time by a warm fire. Karen told us many of her trail stories, like the naked night hiker. It was great. A very enjoyable evening. We hope that she does well the rest of the way.”  (The “Naked Night Hiker”?  I can’t wait to hear that one!)

11-13-05 -- Karen called at 7:16 a.m. this morning from Pawling, New York.  Here is her summary of the week since Monday.  Karen spent Monday evening at the Fingerboard shelter.  Already there were three other hikers, two Baptist ministers and their friend (see 11-8-05 report above from Bill Whitehead).  They welcomed Karen with a warm campfire and delightful conversation.  She said it really lifted her spirits.  The next day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, Phad took a picture of Karen with one foot in New Jersey and one foot in New York.  Her three friends hiked about 3 hours with her.  As planned (see 11-7-05 report above) Bill Cooke joined her at Bear Mountain.  By now the leaves were collecting heavily on the ground making for a slick surface.  Karen had already fallen many times.  Sore, bleeding, and discouraged, having a hiking buddy join her (Bill) was a blessing.  At one point, they could see the New York City skyline about 30 miles away.  She described it as surreal.  I was a little alarmed when she told me she had her picture taken with a bear!  Turns out, the trail goes by a zoo and they offer free admission to hikers, so... well, you get the picture... so to speak.  They didn’t make the shelter that night.  The slick leaves slowed their progress, so they “stealth camped” as Karen termed it (sleeping in your tent... wherever.)  On Wednesday, Nov. 9, it rained all day - her first rainy day.  The rain beat the leaves down making walking a bit easier, but still slippery.  She said she is amassing much useless information, such as when a trail maintenance leaf raker informed her that, “oak leaves are more slippery than maple”.  She had failed to observe that distinction while falling.  Her sleeping bag got soaked today and she spent a cold a wet night, again not making it to the shelter.  She woke up on Thursday to snow flurries and 20 degrees.  It was a sunny day, near a lake, but not warm.  The leaves dried a bit, but still slippery.  Lots of deer and birds.  Her sleeping bag and leaves still wet, they did not make it to the next shelter and stealth camped again Thrusday night.  Friday, they arrived at their mail drop in Pawling, NY, only to remember it was Veteren’s day - the post office was closed.  They had to wait until Saturday to get their packages.  Pawling has a subway station right on the trail.  (Now that’s something you don’t see every day.)  They took Saturday off to dry out sleeping bags and rest.  Today, Sunday morning, they are getting ready to leave and will probably cross into Connecticut in a few hours.  Daytime temperature is in the low 60’s and 30’s at night.  Very few hikers are on the trail.  Her cumulative miles so far this November hike is 169 miles.  All the leaves have fallen now, but Scarf’s spirit continues to soar.

11-13-05 -- Karen called again at 1:15 p.m. (If only Daniel Boone had had a cell phone...)  They were having lunch at Wiley Shelter and was only one mile from Connecticut.  She said they plan to hike through Thursday now rather than Friday since bad weather is predicted for Friday.  They will probably get off the trail at Salisbury, Conn.  Tomorrow is the dreaded St. Johns Ledges, an especially treacherous section of the trail.  But Karen is happy.  Her sleeping bag is dry.  Contentment is relative.

11-14-05 -- Karen is off the trail.  Northern Harrier sent this report at 9:34 p.m. tonight.   “Cooker called earlier and said they had gotten off the Trail.  They are headed here and I told them I would wait up for them.  Now expect them about 11PM.  Sounds like they bailed just north of Kent, CT. Apparently the newly fallen leaves have been treacherous the last few days (the leaves have come down more or less all at once up here!).  The leaves disguise rocks and are slippery themselves making footing hazardous.  With rain anticipated for tomorrow and Wednesday, it would only be worse. So they are on the way here.  Cooker says he wants a shower!”