Date: 2014-07-15
From: Mashipacong Shelter, Mile 1326.8

To: CR-517, Vernon NY, Mile 1350.6
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: light rain

When I got up, I saw that the couple had hiked on yesterday after I got in my tent. Just one guy had spent the night in the shelter, Fire, I think, and he was up so I had breakfast at the picnic table there before hiking out. After five plus miles I came to the High Point State Park HQ building and stopped to use the bathroom (flush toilets are simply amazing!) and refill my water bottles. A young woman hiker stopped by and we recognized each other but couldn't remember names. She was Nora V, whom I had met back on May 24 when AZ Cruiser and I stopped by the shelter for lunch and a group of hikers were celebrating her birthday. I've met lots of joyful hikers on the trail, but she probably radiates it the most!We hiked on together and had similar paces (the young folks keep me from slowing down too much on the uphills), and ended up hiking together the rest of the day. She's just out of college, having finished a semester early in December. Her dad worked for an international company and she grew up in Austria until high school. Her family then moved to Charlotte, NC. Sounds like she's got a really neat family!A little after noon we hiked the 0.4 miles off trail into Unionville, NY for lunch at a deli/grocery store. I had another sub sandwich and a pint of ice cream! I also got an extra sub to save for dinner. :-) There were several other young hikers there whom Nora V knew but I just met - Moses, Slayer, Bobcat and Not Yet. Bobcat had a couple of slices of pizza left over from the pizza place next door, so I ate one of those, too!Nora V and I hiked on ahead of this group, but were soon joined by Simple, who hiked with us for a while. He's on the older side of the young hikers I've met and lives in Atlanta. An entrepreneurial type person, he does some work in the film/TV world, so we chatted about that some. We all planned to go into Vernon NJ that evening and stay at a church which opens up its basement as a hiker hostel.The AT crosses two roads that go into Vernon, 517 and 94. 94 is a little over 2 miles further down the trail, but is a direct hitch into town with more traffic, so that was our goal. My feet were really bothering me from being wet and I started thinking about stopping and just tenting for the night. Just after Nora V and I crossed 517, southbound day hiker Bill and his dog stopped to chat with us. They were headed back to his car at 517. He seemed really nice and mentioned having given rides to hikers going from the church hostel to the trail that morning. After he headed on, Nora V and I looked at each other and realized he would probably give us a ride into town if we asked. So she ran back to ask him while I walked - my feet were getting some good sore spots. Bill gladly gave us a ride right to the church!We met a couple of really nice women at the door who were decorating for Vacation Bible School coming up soon. They told us we were at the wrong church, but directed us to the right church across the lot. They also invited us to the town pot luck dinner tomorrow night! When we got to the correct church, there was an AA meeting going on downstairs and nobody else around so we waited outside until it was over. Simple soon joined us - he wasn't with us when we met Bill and he had hiked on to 94 and hitched in. When we finally went downstairs, we discovered there was an alternate entrance around back we had missed, and several other hiker were already there.I got a nice shower and did laundry, sharing a load with Simple. My feet were now happy! I also set my shoes in front of a dehumidifier so they dried out, too! Some more hikers came in later, with at least 10 or more of us spread around on the floor. They were all new to me, although Simple and Nora V knew most of them.A nice dry night with clean clothes! Aaahhh, the simple pleasures of life!