Date: 2011-05-07
From: Jim Murray Property, NJ

To: Pochuck Mountain Shelter, NJ
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: light rain

"After camping at the Jim Murray property, we were on our way to Pochuck Shelter. We were able to get a great meal of pizza, ginger ale, OJ and a banana as well as some ibuprofen for the knee pain."We arose at 8:30. Our plan was to clean up, sort our maildrop, and then head up the trail to Unionville, NY and our backup resupply point - Horler's Grocery. Our elder trail friends were packing up so we had breakfast and waited until they had cleared out before using Jim's shelter building which featured an indoor table and chair. We opened our box and sorted our food into five large ziplock bags. It was then we realized that we were hiking eleven days and not ten. Oops, one day short. Not to worry. We had planned to purchase a few meals along the way, so there would still be enough food to get us past the Hudson River six days hence.As Jim had a scale on the porch, we took time to weigh our now reloaded pack. The pack minus food & water weighed 24 pounds. Our Ursack with five days food weighed seven pounds. Our liter of water weighed two pounds for a total of 33 pounds. Our decision to hike earlier during cooler weather forced five pounds on us by using a full sleeping bag (+2) and larger pack (+3). We could have hiked a 19 pound pack and been below 30 pounds total.We sponged ourselves off, rinsed our shirt under the faucet, and set out for the trail.The trail southeast from Jim's property is good trail and we made good time to Unionville. Just prior to Lott Road, the trail passes a home with two large dogs that eagerly bark at hikers. A new memorial pond across the street sets a warm welcoming mood for visitors. We headed down Lott Road towards the town center. We confirmed the location of Horler's store with a passing teen on a bicycle. We checked the faucet at the town cemetery that guidebooks list as a water source. Off! Good thing we had topped off at Jim's place and didn't yet need water. We continued down the street to the T-intersection, turned left and had a short 1-2 block walk to Horler's store. Horler's features a wide porch wth several rocking chairs and low side tables. Per the notes taped to each table top, we dropped our packs and entered the store. Wow! Horler's is a great resupply and stopover. A three shelf grocery section contained nearly every desired hiker food: Pop-tarts, tuna packets, Ramen, mac & cheese, and more. A long ice cream freezer offered a bufet of treats. We were disappointed to discover that while Horler's carries HEET, they were out of stock. Troublesome, as we knew we were short fuel and there were no known sources ahead. We selected some orange juice from a wall of coolers containing most known beverages, including large individual beers. At the back deli we were also disappointed to discover the menu was mostly sandwiches. We were elated to be offered hot meat loaf that wasn't on the menu. $7 bought us a large chunk of meat loaf with two slices of bread, orange juice, a banana and a liter bottle of ginger ale. (We thought the ginger ale might help with our nausea and the empty bottle would provide extra water storage capability for the long dry sections ahead.) We sat outside in a rocking chair and slowly ate the meat loaf, unsure if we would be able to tolerate it as our appetite was non-existent. We managed to get everything down including a second bottle of orange juice.We had been told of a pizza place in town by the earlier teen and after lunch donned our pack and made our way to Annabel's Pizza just across the main intersection. Annabel's offers over a dozen pizzas by the slice at reasonable prices. Most of the days pizzas were based on chicken. They also offered a taco pizza and a Sicilian foccacia style pizza. For about $5, We bought two slices of the Sicilian as it was thick and sturdy and would likely survive when pushed into the top pocket of our backpack. The plan was to have a cold dinner and cold breakfast to save alcohol fuel and to cover the missing day of food. The proprietor topped off our water bottle as it didn't fit under the restroom faucet. With a fresh bottle of water, a liter of ginger ale, and short- and long-term food supplies, we headed back up the hill to the trail.We started following the white blazes a little before 2 p.m. The trail started off wide and level and then reverted to a narrower path crossing rock walls and damp muddy low areas. Before three we started a 2-mile road walk that took us across Pochuck creek and through the wildlife refuge. The long section of straight, flat trail enabled us to makeup lost time and provided some relief to our aching knee. About 3:30 we took a break just before leaving the refuge and started across more planks towards the ever looming Pochuck Mountain. I just love a long, steep climb after a day of backpacking, don't you?We crossed the highway and started up Pochuck. After about 15-minutes we were surprised to discover a wooden sign stating "water" and an arrow pointing to a white house off the trail. As a fellow hiker had reported the faucet off just weeks before, we didn't have much hope of there being water, but decided to check anyway. The faucet behind the abandoned house, now owned by the park service, was on and we filled both our water bottles. Now at an estimated maximum weight of around 38 pounds, we staggered back to the trail and continued the grinding slog up.Mercifully, Pochuck shelter is located just before the peak and we arrived at the blue blaze side trail around six. We dropped our pack on the picnic table and set about locating our trees for the evening. We had our dinner of pizza and ginger ale around 6:30. While eating, a dayhiker came by asking about the distance to highway 565. We figured he had about four miles to cover and less then 2 hours of daylight to get there, including doing two more short climbs after getting over Pochuck.Dinner done, we hung our mostly empty pack in the shelter and put our food and leftover ginger ale into the bear box. We discovered trash and two packets of M&Ms. We selected the peanut version and added it to our food bag for tomorrow's section. We retired to our hammock which we had sited to watch the sunset over Kittatiny ridge in the west. We could just barely find the High Point monument 2-days to our west.During the last moments of twilight, a section hiker named "Oak" came in for the night. Oak bushwacked his way towards our hammock and we visited for a few minutes. Oak had hiked from High Point and was flip-flopping back in the morning. We lit Oak's path back to the shelter with our headlamp.Thus ended the sixth day.