Date: 2014-06-27
From: Murray Property

To: Prospect Rock
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: clear sky

Up and out at first light and into Unionville to resupply at Hostlers Grocery and get a breakfast sandwich. Was also able to post a card to friend back home. Again only cash and they had an ATM. I wonder how long this is going to last and if it is only going to be around the NYC area. Nice trail road and a walk around the Walkill Reserve which is split by NY and NJ. Only saw a few birds but nothing as special as I have seen at home at Upper and Lower Lakes. Water access is still a concern and as I head up a Pochuck Mtn. I am appreciatively suprised by a private home owner who is only a .1 off the trail and let's people use their outdoor spigot. I was also able to eat my first black caps of the season. There were only 2 but they were really sweet and I look forward to more berries as the next few weeks unfold. Met Mud, Neck Bone and Sole at NJ 94 deli where they gave me a piece of an apple pie they had bought. These kids (mid 20's) are real interesting and have a great zeal for life. It has been fun to be around them over the past week as we leap frog each other during the day and end up at the same shelter. I am also able to get a milk shake, home made donut and a soda while charging my phone and using the deli/farmers market out door furniture to rest and relax in out back. They also had a restroom which made things real nice. We hung out here for a couple of hours until the high heat of the day began to subside. Using the outdoor spigot I was able to again water up before heading up the mountain side. As I was leaving I ran into Oconee and he and I walked out together. It was nice to have someone along as this was a pretty steep hill and talking to someone made it go by quicker. After going up and over the mountain we came out to Long House Drive mm 1359.8 where we found the crew talking to 2 other guys along the road. As we ambled down we could see they were drinking some beers so we joined them. These guys were former thru hikers who now lived in the area and had been planning on camping about a mile in with a gas grill, hamburger, cheese, beer and other wonderful items. Their trail names were Anonymous and Big Bud and they had a nice lab Otto with them. We had a few more beers which began to give all of us a little bit of a buzz so before we got to far along, we helped them carry the gear back in and while we got a fire going Anonymous cooked up some turkey burgers for the first round and I will have to admit, I don't know if its because I haven't had anything off the grill yet this summer or what but boy did they ever taste good. Well after a few more burgers and beers it was about 10 pm and we decided to hike onto Prospect Rock which is the highest point on the AT in NY and which was about a mile and half away. So with headlamps on and Mud in the lead I did my first night hike. It wasn't as bad as I had envisioned even with the amount of large rocks we had to go over and the fast pace that was set, but in less than an hour we were scoping out flat spots on the cliffs sides looking down into the valley. There was a real nice breeze that kept the bugs a bay for the most part. It was a new experience for me to cowboy camp on the side of a cliff in a spot that I wasn't suppose to be. I don't know if I will ever night hike again but the cowboy camping was fun. Life is definitely good.