Date: 2023-06-08
From: SOLA in Unionville

To: Wawayanda Shelter
Miles today: 16.8

Hiking Day 85,  Ending Elevation 1193 feetA slow start today. We slept in because coffee was promised for 7 a.m. and we went to sleep late. We had a nice chat with Malia, the SOLA intern and then headed out for breakfast at the Horler General store. That¢s when Kerry discovered that his (beloved) Tilley hat was missing. Malia said she would check with Annabel¢s and the ice cream parlor when they opened to see if it had been found. In the meantime, Kerry found a hat in the hiker box to wear to keep the sun off his face. As we were standing outside at SOLA we had some excitement: a deer decided to walk across the back of the yard, and stupid me, Felix had not been leashed. As soon as I saw it, he saw it but for once I was quicker than him and grabbed him before he got any ideas about giving chase.Finally, we left, and as we passed the pizza parlor, I walked up to it, and there in the window was Kerry¢s hat! There was a guy, John, painting the fence in front of the restaurant and he offered to go in and get the hat for Kerry. Needless to say, Kerry was over the moon and I told John he had made our day. He took the borrowed hat from Kerry and said he would return it to the hostel.Things only got better from there. At Horlers Grocery and Deli, we each had a wonderful breakfast sandwich of sausage, egg and cheese and another cup of (decaf) coffee. The serving lady gave us 2 dog biscuits for Felix just because she liked him! It was after 9 a.m. when we finally returned to the trail, but we were enjoying ourselves. The sky was much clearer today and the lady at Horlers told us the smoke should be mostly gone by tomorrow. We walked up and down on steep terrain multiple times and in between we walked over long stretches of ¢bogs¢¢¦.that¢s what they call them here, they looked like marshlands to me¢¦on miles of elevated boardwalks. We saw a blue heron take wing gracefully over the grassy wetlands and heard redwing blackbirds singing; that may be the only birdsong we recognize because we have them at home!We finally understand how New Jersey got its moniker, ¢the Garden State.¢ We walked through fields with harvested hay, over miles of wetlands teaming with grasses. We saw wild iris in yellow as well as in lilac/purple and at one point I looked at a mass of what I thought were white flowers, but turned out to be sunlight shimmering silver on green leaves.In the afternoon, near Vernon at route 94, we went to a Heaven Hill Farm and had ice cream, well, I did, Kerry had a root beer float. Kerry¢s dad, Jack, would have been pleased¢¦he loved ice cream. After that, we walked up another mountain and another 5 miles to this shelter where we are now. There are a lot of other campers here. We¢re not sure if we caught up with them, or they caught up with us. One of the men we met today is Chestnut. He is a retired nuclear power operator and he started from Georgia on March 4, just a few days before us. His wife died last August 14 after a long and painful illness. He walked 24 miles today, and I think he¢s feeling a bit lost. It must be very hard to lose someone that way. It¢s very late, well past hiker midnight and we have not found anywhere to stay tomorrow¢¦it¢s hard to find somewhere that is close enough to the trail that a shuttle is available for, and where we can get to for services (food and re-supply) on foot or public transportation.