Date: 2005-07-21
From: Rutherford Shelter

To: Lott Rd; Unionville, N.Y.
Miles today: 11.4

Started @ Rutherford ShelterDestination: Lott Rd; Unionville, N.Y.Miles today 11.4Total Miles: 1330.5Stayed in tentDay 132Happy birthday to Toto today. I told him I'd buy him a meal when we got to Unionville--they have 1 restaurant called the Back Track Inn. When we got here we found it is more a bar than a restaurant. As we walked into town we met up with Adumb who was on his way there also. Adumb and I split a large pizza and Toto had chicken strips and steak fries. Food was good but our waitress was more barmaid than waitress. She forgot to bring things like our drinks, napkins, etc. She was hustling tips from the guys at the bar.There is a little space to one end of the building that they let hikers stay in for $3. However, there is no place to shower and when the bar closes at 2am there is no place to go to the bathroom. And I am sure the bar does not open early in the morning when hikers are up. So we opted for this little park where hikers can tent. We set up our tent in a gazebo to keep the tent from collecting the dew. It is cool outside the tent but a bit stuffy inside. Hopefully it will cool off later.Adumb was going to hike on to the shelter about 5 miles away. He had been waiting on his friend No-show to show up but was not going to wait any longer. Apparently, on his way out to the trail he met No-show and was talked into staying in town so they are both here tonight, also. For Toto's birthday cake and ice cream we bought a package of 2 cupcakes and each of us had a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I had the strawberry cheesecake and Toto had the pistachio. We certainly enjoyed them!The trail today was rocky at the beginning of the day but after a point it was not so rocky. Toto does NOT like the rocks!..Niether do I, but I think I am just more used to them. We had thought about stopping short of town about 2 miles at a shelter which is offered to hikers on his property. We stopped there to take a shower--yes!--a hot shower!! There was one inside and one on the outside of the shelter. There was also a stainless steel sink for washing out pans, clothes, etc. It also had electricity for recharging things, lights, and a fan was in the sleeping area. There was not a lot of room for sleeping inside but plenty of tent space and there was good cold well water from a spigot. But we decided that after the shower and a nice rest we could easily do 2 more miles. We were sweaty again but we knew we were fairly clean. We had even rinsed out our clothes and they were almost dry by the time we left. From the "secret shelter" we had some boggy areas to hike through but there were raised board walkways to walk on--the easiest hiking we did for the whole day. Just before getting to the road where we got off to come into town we had a steep climb and then a descent. Toto's feet are sore--as are mine--but he is not used to sore feet. He will hopefuly be more comfortable in his boots although he may sweat more in them.We saw a doe at one place where we stopped for a break today. It did not seem afraid of us at all. Toto said it was nodding its had up and down like the one I saw back in Virginia that was doing the same thing to me as I stood and watched it.Tomorrow we hope to do 12 miles but it will all depend on what time we get out of town. We need to wait until the post office opens and then we have to pack our packs with our food and other supplies we get in the mail.