On the Bed & Breakfast Trail

Ted. On our road trip Judy and I have stayed in hotels and Airbnbs and in the homes of friends and family. Now we decided to try a different style of accommodation: traditional bed & breakfasts. It seems to me that their popularity has diminished in the Western and Southern US,  but they appear to be flourishing in the Northeast. We enjoy bed & breakfasts because they are typically family-run establishments with less than ten rooms. One gets to visit with the innkeepers as well as other guests, and there are often good stories about the property. They are a bit pricier than hotels but often more comfortable. And of course, the breakfasts are often superb. 

On leaving Lake Sunapee, we traveled south to the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts. This is a beautiful area with lots of well-preserved old towns. 

Wilder House B&B, Sheffield, MA

Our inn was very near the Appalachian Trail where it crosses East Mountain. 

A tricky bit

The Housatonic Valley

NY's Catskills in the distance

After a relaxing stay with good breakfasts and nice folks, we drove south following the Housatonic River for a while on our way to New York’s fabled Hudson Valley. Along the way we took two short AT hikes. In Connecticut, we strolled along a gentle path from a covered bridge called Bulls Bridge to the point where the Tenmile River enters the Housatonic. 

Housatonic River

Our next stop was at the Bear Mountain Bridge in Garrison, NY. This is where the Appalachian Trail crosses the Hudson so we were able to walk the AT across that famous river. 

Getting back into our faithful truck, Raymond, it was a short drive to another gem of a B&B. The rooms were museum-like and the grounds were beautifully landscaped. 

The Inn at Stony Creek, Warwick, NY

This location also served as a base to take two more hikes on the AT. First up was the Mombasha View Point hike. 

Fitzgerald Falls were pretty pitiful

We finally encountered thru hikers who had started in Georgia

Indian (Ghost) Pipes are a rare sighting

Canadian wildfire smoke partially obscured the view

We then made the short drive across the state line to New Jersey to stroll the Pochuck Boardwalk, the longest elevated boardwalk on the AT (making it wheelchair accessible). Unlike the boardwalk in Atlantic City, this one crosses one of the largest wetlands on the trail. Yes, we needed mosquito spray, but the walk was nice and flat.

The blaze is familiar, not the boardwalk

The smoke was getting worse

This was a birder's paradise