My wife and I were out section hiking the AT for 6 days when the blackout happened. We caught a ride into town for a hotel stay because we needed showers, etc. If we put it off, we'd have barely known about it.

First we stopped in rural Unionville, NY. We didn't realize there was no power outside of that town. They still had manual cash registers at the deli so we could buy drinks from the coolers. That town had no lodgings (just one of the less attractive hiker hostels), so it was off to Port Jervis.

We got dropped off in front of the Comfort Inn at about 5pm. They almost seemed to be trying to convince us not to stay, but were willing once we insisted we didn't mind the outage (got a nice discount for it too <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />). No power at all in the hotel other than the emergency lights, which failed by 7:30 or so, including most of the exit signs. There was no water service.

The internal digital phone system was dead. There was reportedly an operating pay-phone on the premises. About 50% of cell users seemed to be able to get calls through, our Verizon service worked fine. We had no radio with us, but the radio in the minivan we got a ride in was picking up stations.

The restaurant in the hotel was closed, but since we were carrying 35-45 lbs on our backs, we were pretty well prepared.Not that we wouldn't be normally, just more than usual. We set up the white gas stove out by the pool and prepared one of our dehydrated meals. I burned myself with boiling water in the dark before switching on the lantern, dark creeps in that way sometimes. I realized our hiking FAK was pretty lacking in the burn treatment department. It was just a bad first degree burn on one finger and minor first degree burns on 3 others on that hand, but I was ok for the next day, even with trekking poles.

The hotel card locks worked just fine. According to an employee they are battery operated, not attached to the AC at all. Makes sense once you realize that they are set in the door, not the frame. This might only apply to retrofits? I'm not sure. The card lock for the back door of the hotel was not operating at all. It was mounted on the wall, not the door. It was unlocked until the power came back on around 10pm. I guessed it failed open, but I suppose an employee could have unlocked it when the power went out.

Our power back home in coastal south Jersey never even blipped according to relatives, and the fact that no clocks needed to be reset.