Date: 2015-06-16
From: Murray Cabin Mile 1343.2

To: Wawayanda Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: overcast clouds

We planned an early start but didn't get out quite as early as we hoped. Everyone was up early. Roadrunner whom we had not seen since the Mothers Day Hiker feed was there and we chatted. He had 4 blisters on the balls of his feet and had yellow blazed 10 miles to get here. We also met Peter Pan who had passed by on the Palmerton climb, Kyle and Teana. Roadrunner was waiting back at the trail because he wasn't sure which direction was north. At the next road crossing he decided the pain was too much and decided to try to hitch a ride. He was meeting friends in NYC anyway and decided he needed time for his feet to heal. We hiked on covering 5 miles by 9 am. Much more productive than yesterday! We walked around the perimeter of Wallkill Reserve which was odd because we basically walked 2.5 sides of a big rectangle. The mosquitoes were relentless! I may survive the AT but not the mosquitoes! We finally returned to the woods. NJ has a lot of boggy trail with boards built over the swampy muddy ground in places. Sometimes the boards help, sometimes they are very slippery since everything was soaked from the rain storms. NJ is also not flat and there are very steep climbs up from the road. Pochuck Mountain was a very steep and rocky climb. We paused at the Pochuck Mountain shelter where we found Firestarter. Moving on we had another very bouldery Rocky climb. Prime passed by. I stopped in front of a large mushroom growing at he base of the tree. It looked like a Chicken of the Woods mushroom. I lifted it up to look under and heard it snap. I accidentally had harvested it. So I put it in a Baggie and took it with me in order to not waste it. I hiked ahead hoping walking solo might increase my chance of seeing a bear. Some hikers have seen 6! No luck! The trail went onto a boardwalk over a swamp for a bit. I tripped on a rock and felt my right calf muscle pull. Ouch! This happened to me in TN too. It felt very sore but I kept walking hoping it would be okay. Though it was more of a limp. Less than a quarter mile from the end, we saw a familiar figure hiking toward us. It was Andreas back from Germany! We thought we would meet him 8 miles ahead on the trail but he knew we were behind schedule from the rain and had gotten a ride to Vernon. He had traveled from DC by bus all night and morning to catch up with us. We hiked through a pasture full of cows and then 0.1 miles off trail to Heaven Hill Farms for fruit, ice cream and baked goods. It was about 1 pm. We hung out waiting to see if the severe storm with hail happened at 2 pm as the HHF employee said. It rained but stopped so I dried out my tent. (Love how quickly my tent dries!)We finally decided to just hike at 2:30 and started up the very big rock climb out of Vernon also known as the "stairway to heaven". It was a very steep and long rock climb which was fun. Better than switchbacks or plain trail climbs for my still sore calf. Some may call it stairway to some place else. We met a local day hiker with his dog nearly at the top who chatted with us and told us about he view he called Hawks Rock years ago but is now called Pinwheels Vista in our book. On a clear day, he said you could see Wind Gap so basically you can see where you've hiked in NJ. Crafty and I went to the view and wanted to liner but we could see storm clouds and thought we had less than 2 hours to make it 3.6 miles to the shelter. So we moved on and found Andreas waiting for us a bit further. We started moving again when the skies suddenly darkened and it started down pouring hard. Immediately cold water poured down my back between my pack and we were drenched in less than a minute. We could only keep hiking as the trail became a stream of running water. It didn't last long and the downpour slowed and then stopped altogether. Drowned rat hikers, we could only keep hiking. Eventually the skies lightened again and the storm was over. By the time we made it to the shelter, the sky was blue and clear. We set up our tents. Crafty and I walked a lot longer than guidebook's 0.1 mile for water. It was more like 0.25 miles but it was a spigot at the park office and there was a bathroom with soap and hand dryer. Ah the little things....We cooked dinner and enjoyed a beverage Andreas had brought us from Germany. He also brought us European Nutella (even in glass jars!), French cookies and chocolates. The weather was nice and less humid than before. It was nice to have Andreas back with us again! Now only if caterpillar poop would stop falling constantly from the trees onto my tent and the ground ... It's the only noise outside!