Date: 2005-08-08
From: Pochuck Shelter

To: The woods north of the New York State line
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: light rain

The following will give you a sense of a day (at least THIS day!) in the life of a Long Distance Appalachian Trail Section Hiker.6:15 am Awake. My clothes are still too wet from yesterday¢s sweat and stink to put on. (The same is true for everyone else though, too.) Breakfast with conversation about stops, re-supplies, water, and the number of days to get to get to one place or another interspersed with good hearted zingers and laughter. Pack, and call in my journal. By the time I am ready to leave my clothes are dry from the outside air temperature and my body heat. 8:15 am Stopped to check map/guidebook for distances and elevations. Clothes are soaking wet a gain from the humidity and sweat from a 300-foot climb. 10:10 am Quick break to hydrate with a liter of "tepid tea" (it sure as hell isn't "iced" out here in this weather!) Check the map and hikers guide again, to be sure I don't miss the ice cream place that¢s on one of the upcoming side roads. 10:20 am Walk on an elevated wooden walkway through cattail swamp (officially, a "Wetlands Preserve") interspersed with purple flowers. Very lovely! 10:20 am Stopped by a 5-minutes of ¢Trail talk¢ with South Bounder, ¢Blaze¢, while standing on the wooden walkway.11:00 am I enjoyed a hot apple dumpling a la mode with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream at the Heaven Hill Farm and Garden Shop with ¢Cherry bomb¢ and ¢Flatus.¢ Re-hydrate and water up for the trip ahead. 11:45 am ¢Cherry bomb¢ and ¢Flatus¢ left. I phoned my daughter in NC to check in and say "hi from the AT.¢ Sat on bench and relaxed while transmitting pictures from my phone to be posted to my journal. 12:30 pm About to leave when ¢Caboose,¢ ¢Spartan,¢ and ¢The Dude¢ arrived. Decided to stay and join them for lunch. Clothes now dry but still stink. 1:30 pm Left Heaven Hill and followed ¢Spartan¢ up the 1,000-foot climb up Pinwheel Vista. Within minutes clothes are completely soaked again. "Spartan" hikes like a machine, seemingly unphazed by the degree of difficulty presented by various terrains.2:10 pm After a brief rest at Pinwheel Vista with ¢Spartan,¢ looking straight down on Heaven Hill Farm where we had enjoyed our ice cream and lunch we returned to the Trail and continued on with "Spartan the Mechanical Man!" 3:00 pm We were joined by "The Dude" as we refilled water containers from jugs left by thoughtful ¢Trail Angels.¢ 4:10 pm The three of us stopped at The Wawayanda Shelter where "Caboose" (who passed us while we were taking in the view at Pinwheel Point) is waiting, book in hand. After a privy break followed by a 30-minute nap and light snack a local Ranger stopped in to be sure we were aware of the recent bear activity (the bear box behind the shelter had the lid torn off the other night by a very hungry bear!) He also pointed us to a spigot only 1/10th of a mile away (as opposed to 4/10ths as mistakenly indicated in "Wingfoot's Thru Hiker's Directory." 5:10 pm. We decided to avoid the bear and packed up and left. 5:20 pm Stop at the Ranger Station for water.5:35 pm Leave for... well, wherever we decide to stop for the night. 7:00 pm Crossed the New York/New Jersey line. Took commemorative pictures of the four of us. 7:05 pm We started to look at possible campsites for the night. Decided to move on.7:10 pm We considered second campsite. 7:15 pm Final campsite selected.7:30 pm Bear bags strung.8:00 pm Tents are erect up with rain flies in place. Gear organized. Very light drizzle beginning.8:30 pm Dinner sits on the rocks in light rain. If it pours I doubt any of us would move a muscle. Easy conversation tonight. I think everyone is "heat-beat tonight.9:00 pm Took heated soapy-water ¢mini bath¢ before bed too cool off and take off some of the stink. Clothes still wet, still stinking.9:15 pm Time for bed¢¦.. 10:00 pm No sleep! Can¢t get comfortable. Move everything (including all my gear, which is inside the tent to stay out of the rain), to the opposite end so as see if that would work any better. 10:30 pm Still, no sleep¢¦. Too many rocks this way, ground too hard! Move everything back to the way it originally was. 11 pm Take two aspirin.11:20pm (est.) Sleep. *Note I crossed my 14th state today! Too tired and pooped to celebrate tonight