Date: 2015-06-13
From: High Point Shelter 

To: Pochuck Shelter 
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Another early start at 5:30am and easier hiking today. Running out of food so we stopped in Unionville, NY at another cute little town just a mile off the trail. Horler's Store was mentioned in AWOL's guide and I highly recommend it. We sat on the front porch in chairs with outlets for our phones and cameras to charge while eating the best breakfast sandwiches ever. Mine had egg and cheese and hash browns on wheat toast. I love has browns but had never had them on a sandwich before. It makes perfect sense. I also inhaled a gatorade and banana and was so fill my stomach hurt. They have a great deli with boars head meat and cheeses. We bought a total of 3 pounds of salami and provolone cheese along with tortillas. I have discovered this is a perfect combination of protein, fat and carbs for me and it can make me feel 100% better when I feel sluggish. I never eat salami at home but is one if my favorite foods so far on the trail. This salami was extra delish. I had my eye on the fresh bagels and danish so I ordered a bagel with cream cheese and large danish to go. Also got some more food for resupply which made for an extra heavy pack again. Went to the park a couple blocks away to use the port a potty and to get water before heading back on the trail. Soon we were walking through swampy marshes at the Wallkill Reserve. More diversity to break up the forest which sometimes starts to look the same. Saw a beautiful doe peeking her head through the tall grass. Lots of birds and flowers. My pack was feeling really heavy at this point which made my feet hurt even more. I started thinking about what I could mail home to reduce weight. Everything I am carrying seems necessary especially because I am cold even in mild weather. I know my camera is extra weight but I am having so much fun with it and it is my most used gear other than my shoes and clothes I am wearing. Speaking of shoes, my brand new boots are getting even more torn up and I think they offer even less protection than my trail runners. I emailed Merrell about my boots coming apart after 2 days and they offered to honor my warranty and mail me a new pair to a post office in 9 days. The super glue I used on them is not holding and I have gotten branches caught a couple times in the part that us separating. I don't need anything else helping me trip and fall. The walk through the swamp was nice and different.   It reminded me of hiking on the Florida Trail.Water was scarce again today and it was very sunny and hot. We made it to an abandoned house with a water spigot a half mile before the shelter. All this very helpful and useful information is in AWOL'S guide which I puchased as a pdf on my phone. I was carrying pages of the book with me and was going to have mo e mailed to me when someone told me I could buy it for my phone. What a difference in weight this makes. It reads just like the book and doesn't eat up battery as I can view it while in airplane mode. The abandoned house was in a premier spot slightly off the trail and looked like a great place to have lived. We drank up and filled up our water bottles as their is no water at this shelter. Also had a nice refreshing bandana bath and shaved my legs under the spigot.What a very steep half mile climb up to the shelter. Got covered in sweat again but at least it was only one layer of sweat this time. It really helps to sleep if you can clean up some. The shelter is in another beautiful location and the privy is decent. More interesting conversations with other hikers especially with two 18 year old section hikers. The log book at the shelter says these rocks on Pochuck Mountain are over one billion years old. That is very cool and gives me something more to reflect on.Thank you to everyone who is reading my journal and sending encouragement or comments through text messages or the guest book on this site. It makes me smile whenever I get feedback, do thanks. A big part of my preparation for this thru-hike was reading these trail journals. Maybe mine will help someone decide to do a flip flop. Truck...thanks for following me and all your comments. Good night and smiles to all.