Date: 2011-05-08
From: Pochuck Mountain Shelter, NJ

To: Wawayanda Shelter, NJ
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: few clouds

"Happy mother's day to all the mom's! Today's hike took us through Heaven Hill Farm, Pinwheel's Vista, and Iron Mountain Road Bridge. The day ended at Wawayanda Shelter with five other hikers."We arose at 7:30 a.m. and had breakfast with "Oak". During breakfast, Oak told us his hiking philosophy of "NOW!" If you see a nice place to sit, then do it now and take a seat as there may not be a better rock or log ahead. If you see water, then top off your water now as there may not be water ahead. We agreed with Oak and related how we had bought only one bottle of HEET at DWG and left two on the shelf for other hikers. Horler's was out of alcohol when we went by yesterday. Had we bought sufficient alcohol for our trip the first time, we wouldn't be rationing alcohol at this point. Oak stated that he was carrying extra alcohol fuel and gave us the extra fuel he didn't need for his trip back to High Point. Oak's generosity ensured we had sufficient alcohol until our endpoint. In return, we gave Oak some Benadryl lotion packets for a rash he had developed. (Oak's wife changed laundry soap prior to his trip and he suspected his skin was reacting to something in the new soap.)As we were finishing breakfast, an older male hiker in khaki shorts and shirt arrived at the shelter and asked where the water was. He identified himself as "Half Fast". We told Half Fast the water source for this shelter was back down the mountain where the sign in the middle of the trail said "water." Half fast had seen the sign but assumed there was water at the shelter ahead. Half Fast decided rather than backtrack, he would continue on. Oak mentioned this was yet another example of NOW!After breakfast and Oak's departure, we texted a Mothers' Day greeting to our spouse, cleaned up and broke camp.We departed Pochuck shelter about 10:15 and resumed our trek up and over Pochuck Mountain and two additional rises beyond. By 12:30 we had made it over all the climbs and had descended to Pochuck Creek bridge. After the bridge the trail improved to a grass path and our feet and knee were much relieved.After an hour of over hill and over dale we popped out of the woods to find a paved road with a housing development to our left and cars lining both sides of the road to our right. Across the road we saw a wooden pier extending across a wetland. We had arrived at the renown Pochuck boardwalk and a much anticipated part of our trip.We donned our hat for the exposed section of trail. The boardwalk was busy with dozens of small families out for a special Mothers' Day walk. We spent a bit of time pulling into the many waysides to allow groups to pass. That was more selfish on our part than chivalrous - we didn't want to be bumped off the narrow walk into the muck below. After a while we came to a shady, dry land section of trail and took a break sitting on the edge of the next section of boardwalk. We took our break NOW! rather than continue on under the bright sun. While sitting we caught up our log and checked our map and elevations. A passerby asked if we were lost. "No, but thank you!" (Actually, we wanted to say no and then ask if they were lost.) We continued down the second section and soon arrived at the famous suspension bridge. We paused to take some photos sans groups of people and then crossed over to the third section.The third section continued its winding across the wetland and then abruptly came to an end complete with rocks and planks. Eventually the planks gave way to muddy trail. We were amazed at the families crossing the muck. Several groups were coming head on from somewhere ahead. We passed through some bushes and then found ourselves crossing a pasture. Up ahead on the trail was a familiar figure in khaki shorts - Half Fast. We caught up to Half Fast just before crossing some train tracks and a second cow pasture.While crossing the second pasture we caught sight of Heaven Hill Farm, a popular thru-hiker rest stop. As we would one pass this way onece in our life, we told Half Fast of the tradition of stopping for ice cream and fruit. We had hopes of a slice of water melon and a cold bottle of orange juice. Half Fast joined us and we entered the farm around 3:00 to find picnic tables beside the main building and a water faucet just over by the wooden fence. Half fast wanted to air his feet so we left our pack in his care and went inside first. We were disappointed to discover a single narrow cooler with just Coke products, a small bakery and a single small ice cream freezer. We bought a Dr Pepper for $2.50 and a single scoop of lemon Italian ice for another $2.50. We returned outside and watched the packs as Half Fast went in and returned with a package of pastry. "Tourist Trap" was how Half Fast described the business. While we enjoyed the cold refreshments, particularly the tangy lemon ice, we did not feel that Heaven Hill Farm offered good value compared to our previous day's venture into Unionville, NY.Around 3:30 p.m., we left the "farm" and returned to the trail head. The trail head was full of cars as Wawayanda Mountain is a popular dayhike for locals. It was starting to look like rain and we had a long slow ascent of the steep hill ahead of us so we where anxious to stat up. Half Fast delayed and was debating diverting into nearby Vernon to the Episcopal Church hiker hostel. We were surprised up the trail when Half Fast came by while we were taking a scheduled water break. Half Fast had an orange bandanna pinned to the back of his pack. We made it a game to try and keep the orange banner in our site as it told us were the trail turned and set a faster pace for us to get over the obstacle. By 5:00 we had reached the peak of Wawayanda.We then started the agonizing section of "down". Our left knee reminded us of its displeasure with down. Around 7:30 as the available sunlight was rapidly disappearing behind Wawayanda, we arrived at Wawayanda shelter. We met "Tulip" and "Crank" who were having dinner. As the water source was 1/4 mile from the shelter, I offered to get water for both ourself and Half Fast. Half Fast preferred to go himself, but needed a bag to carry all the water bottles. We lent Half Fast our rope daypack we used for packing our spare clothes. While awaiting Half Fast, we pitched our hammock which neither Tulip nor Crank had ever seen used before. Half fast returned about 8:00 and soon after we were joined at the shelter by "Sanford" and our trail friend "IRover". Although they had just met, IRover and Half Fast both had a shared experience in Unionville, NY. Both had planned on camping in the city park and discovered the practice had long ended. Both ended up spending the night at the local bar in a large closet known as the "Unionville Hostel".After dinner on the rocking picnic table, we stored our food in the bear box and hung our pack inside the shelter. We hit the hammock, reviewed our notes and fell asleep well after hiker midnight (9 p.m. for the non-hikers reading).Thus ended the seventh day.