Date: 2016-07-11
From: Appalachian Trail Railway

To: Mt. Algo Shelter
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: few clouds

It is so nice waking up next to a deli because I don't have to walk far to breakfast. I had sausage, egg and cheese sandwich, and orange juice...just what I needed. Gung Ho and another hiker said they did not sleep well because of the noise from the trains passing by. I hated to tell them that I slept great but I did! Yvonne suggested that I wear ear plugs and that worked perfectly. Today I hope to hike 18 miles to a shelter then go into Kent to the outfitter and buy a new pad. I started at 7am and the weather was sunny but overcast and in the low 70's. It is interesting that no day is like the other on the trail. You never really know if you are going to be walking in fields or forests. Today I started with a scenic walk through a series of fields then I went into the woods. The trail was smooth and again I had some hills to climb but it was not tough. Wiley Shelter is where I stopped for a break. This was my last stop in New York before entering Connecticut. Wow...another state completed! 9 states down and 5 to go. Yesterday I met this couple who were section hiking and came up on them again today. They are from Pennsylvania and will finish hiking NY today, so now they have finished Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York on the AT. They plan on doing 2 weeks per year until they finish the whole thing. I saw some groups of boys and girls hiking today. One was a Jewish group and their leaders were actually from Israel. The other group of girls were a Poconos camp and this was their 2 day hike. Yesterday I met a young lady from Israel who was section hiking for 2 weeks then she will go to visit her dad in Houston. It is really a small world. I hiked along the Ten Mile River. Now that was a great hike! I had lunch along the river while I laid out my tent to dry. It threatened to rain a few times today but when it did, we didn't get much. After lunch I came up on a couple of views so I stayed a bit on both locations so I could enjoy taking in the scenery. I saw quite a few nice homes down there. I wonder if they know that someone is admiring their property? The hike had been great until just before the lookouts. Leading up to the shelter, the rocks on the ground started showing up again and there were some steep climbs. It was slow going on the way down these mountains. I reached Mt Algo Shelter at 4:30p, claimed my spot in the shelter and left for town. It was 0.3 miles to the road then 0.8 to town. I called for a shuttle from the outfitter to pick me up. Guess what? The outfitter had no pads! I couldn't believe it. Another night of sleeping on a hard bed! They had a small deli there so I ate and got shuttled back to the shelter. I took my stuff out of the shelter and pitched my tent. The ground is softer than the wooden floor of the shelter. I moved on to plan B. Yvonne is going to order a pad and have it delivered to me two days down the trail. Now I wish I had acted on plan B a few days ago. Who would have guessed an outfitter would not have pads? NONE!!I ended the night how I have on many occasions...socializing with the hikers. Jarhead, Woody, Bougie, Sailor Jerry, Shadow Fox, Yukon and father son section hikers sat around the shelter talking until dark.