Date: 2015-06-30
From: Vernon, NJ

To: Wildcat Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: overcast clouds

When I signed in at the hostel yesterday, I met George, who is a church member that helps out with the hostel outreach. I asked him how I might find a ride back to the Trail the next day, and he told me he could drive me, so we arranged for an 8:30 pick up. This morning, 5 hikers left the hostel at 6:30, and 5 of us were left...the 4 guys with me were hoping George had a big enough car to drop them off too. At 7 I decided I had plenty of time to walk to A&P for one last Starbucks, and then to Dunkin Donuts for a donut. I also stopped into the old, carpenter Gothic style church building on the property, and was pleased to find the doors unlocked so I could take a peek (see pics). Time for our ride came quickly, and hikers started out the door and up the stairs leading to the parking lot. I was ahead of DG, who said, "um, Outlier, there's a bear behind you". I thought he was kidding me, as we had all just been talking about bears, in the hostel, so I said, " haha, yeah sure". To which he replied, "No really, there IS a bear!" I turned around to see a bear walking through the church parking lot, just as George arrived in his Jeep SUV (yes, 5 hikers plus gear all crammed in). George told us it isn't uncommon to see that in Vernon. The bears there are like possums and raccoons, looking for food in the garbage. Yikes! This bear didn't want to leave even when we made noise, but did eventually lumber off. That's bear #10 for me. I haven't yet seen any while alone, and I'm glad about that. So, George left us at the trailhead, and I started up the big climb with my very heavy pack (food resupply does that...), but the guys found trail magic- beer, and couldn't resist. They passed me later in the day, then I repassef them...happy leap-frogging. After the initial climb, the hiking was rather easy today, except for the voracious mosquitos (I gave in after awhile and applied deet). It threatened rain, spit a few times, and even thundered, then spit some more, but no rain yet, thankfully. We hiked on miles of rock slab today, steep in places, and at one point assisted by an aluminum ladder. I'm so thankful it stayed dry for this section, as it would have been slick and dangerous otherwise. Partway through the day we crossed out of NJ and into NY! (we do straddle the border for the next bit...I may still see another NJ bear, who knows?). A few miles short of camp tonight, I came to a road crossing at which my guide told me I could turn off and get ice cream at a creamery. Yum! I opted to add half a mile round trip for a triple chocolate named "Bellvale Bog", delicious. While there I used their outside spigot to fill water bags, used their outlet to charge up my phone, and used their rest room for, well, the obvious. So nice to wash hands with soap and warm water in a real sink!!! I arrived at the shelter to find most of the early departers from the hostel last night already occupying it, and some tents already set up. Now it's quite a full camp, with at least a dozen tents. Seems like a bunch of us are on a similar hike plan this week. It's nice to have good company.