Date: 2006-07-09
From: The Secret Shelter

To: NJ 94 Vernon, NJ (St. Thoma)s Episcopal Church
Miles today: 13.6

Last night¢s stay at the secret shelter will never be forgotten. One of the donkeys called all through the night and early into the morning. If this wasn¢t funny enough every now and then you could hear the female kick the piss out of the male. WHAP! I believe she was a little annoyed with him. I exited my tent and walked over to the shelter to greet everyone that was already awake and stirring around. I gathered up a couple of things from my supply bag and fixed a quick breakfast and sat around on the porch talking about the noises of the night while at the Secret Shelter. We had only planned to do just over 13 miles today over to Vernon, NJ but we wanted to beat the heat and try to make it in town as early as possible. I finished eating and headed back over to my tent to start packing things up when I realized the down side of sleeping on a nice field of grass. The heavy dew leaves everything completely soaked including your tent and your shoes. It wouldn¢t be the first time that I have packed up a wet tent but when you pack it up wet it is wet when you get it back out. I hit the trail at 6:45 am and skipped across the Vernie Swamp on the puncheons that were built. The land here is covered by a lot of swampland so the local trail crews have built walk boards to traverse through the swamps. Some times they are stable but other times when you step on them they sink down several inches and the swamp water pours in your boots. After a couple of miles most of the group was hiking together and someone mentioned a place just ahead in Unionville, NY so we took detour into town and found our way over to Sara¢s Soda Shop. We dropped our packs on the curb and went in to order. It was still early enough to get breakfast so I ordered up some bacon, eggs, toast, and had to settle for hash browns over grits. I didn¢t see them on the menu and already knew what kind of response I would get if I asked for them. We ate and made our way out to the porch while several stopped at the post office and others picked up some supplies at the local general store before heading back to the trail. Once we got there Jangles wasn¢t feeling to well so her and Baro decided to stop for the day and try to rest a little. They set up camp just beside the trail and the rest of us continued on toward Vernon. By midmorning we entered the Walkill National Wildlife Preserve, which was a former sod farm. The area had a lot of standing water and was a haven for mosquitoes. We didn¢t stop the entire trip through the preserve attempting to escape getting bitten or swarmed by them. They ended up following us all the way to the next shelter at Pochuck Mountain. I needed a little water so Shasta, H-Bomb, Donkey, and I stopped for a couple of minutes but was forced to keep moving. While there Shasta quickly read through the register and found out that there was a drive in Movie Theater just outside Vernon that would let hikers in to set on the lawn. That really sounded pleasing so we pushed ahead with thoughts of a good evening at the theater. Just after county road 517 the trail crossed a raised platform for at least a half-mile before crossing the Pochuck Creek on a suspension bridge. This section of trail was really interesting and nicely constructed. Across the bridge and just after the railroad tracks was NJ-94. Donkey, H-Bomb, Shasta, and I hitched a ride into nearby Vernon with an old farmer and his pickup truck. He was delighted to give us a ride and from talking to him he does it quite frequently as hikers pass through town. He dropped us off at the local hostel hosted by St. Thomas Episcopal Church and then drove off. We checked in and walked up the road to get a snack and took a trip into the grocery store for a few supplies including some mosquito repellent before returning. By this time there were several other hikers that had checked in so we spent some time catching up with everyone there and greeting the ones that we had not met. We looked up some information on the drive in Movie Theater that Shasta had ready about earlier today and found that we had a couple of hours before tonight¢s movies started. To kill time I washed a load of cloths and took a nice hot shower. Also during this time I got on line to send a couple of emails back home letting everyone know that I am still alive and kicking. Donkey, Shasta, H-Bomb, and I ended up being the only ones that wanted to catch a movie so we walked up to the corner and hitched a ride from the parking lot with a couple that was heading to the movies as well. It was only about a 10-minute ride so we kicked back and enjoyed the wind blowing through our hair. They dropped us off at the gate and we choose to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Since we didn¢t have a car we walked down front on the lawn and sat around several others that had brought radios to broadcast the show. After a trip to the concession stand and laying out our thermal rest we had a relaxing night at the movies. After the movie ended we hitching a ride back to Vernon and calling it a night. Tonight in Vernon: Bare Bear, Jelly Bean, Shasta, H-Bomb, Donkey, Hot Srings,Tex, Mike, Zan, Dirt, Gretchen, and I.