Date: 2004-07-25
From: Murray's Secret Shelter

To: Vernon N.J.
Miles today: 13.6

Start Murray's Secret ShelterDestination Vernon New Jersey It was just before daylight when the most awful racket broke out down at the donkey's pen. I jumped out of my tent and peered down the meadow. It sounded like a bear was tearing apart those poor donkeys. But then as I stood there, I wondered" okay, what in the world was I going to do? Run down and man handle a bear? Grab my one inch camp knife and rip him to shreds?" I slunk back into my tent and laid there trembling like a chicken on its way to the cooking pot. By the time my poor heart quit pounding, I could not go back to sleep. I fixed some hot chocolate and cream of wheat. By 7:00 I was on the trail. The skies were filled with clouds and there was coolness in the air. There were more ups and down today, but I think less rocks than previous days. The trail came to the Wallkill National Wildlife Preserve. There was a wonderfully wide and well tended path to walk on. I saw a heron, a baby rabbit and one small snake. I also assassinated at least three dozen yellow flies who insisted on taking blood samples from my neck. Then came Pochuck Mtn. which was a really tough climb and the reward was a great view of the rolling hills below. The reward did not quite equal the climb though. The nicest part of the hike today though was over a wide board walk that took you over a swampy area. It came complete with several places to rest on the side. It seemed to go on and on. Since it was out from under the canopy of trees though, the sun beat down unmercifully. It seems like some of the small streams have dried up and the ground is just a mucky mess in places. Finally after what seemed like a very long time, I came to a road crossing where I ran into two little boys out hiking with their Grandma. The older of the two asked me if I was that old white haired man's hiking partner, (referring to Trail Dog). I laughed and said ¢Well yes, I guess I am!" I had a delightful conversation with them and an even more delightful time telling Trail Dog about the incident. He did not think it near as funny as I did. I don't understand because the other hikers I told about roared with laughter! When I got to the road crossing that would take me into Vernon, Spncylcle was waiting for me. He did not know about the ice cream shop just up the road and when he found out, he made fast tracks to get there. After some refreshing ice cream, the three of us got on the side of the road with the little, hiker to town bandanas, and within minutes we had us a ride. St. Thomas Episcopal Church has a hostel here for thru hikers. For a mere five dollars you can have a hot shower, do your laundry, eat any of the selection of goodies put out on the table, use the phone, have access to the internet, kitchen privileges, TV and have a dry place to sleep on the floor of their fellowship hall. You can get cold drinks for a quarter. Each hiker is asked to do one chore that ranges from cleaning the bathroom, sweeping or washing a load of towels. It has been the nicest hostel to date. After we all had a shower and clean clothes we headed down to the local pizzeria for supper. How I long for a real meat and potato place to eat, but this will do. I ordered spinach alfredo and once again got more food than I could eat, so I decided to carry my leftovers for supper tomorrow night. Since we were walking, the walk to the Dairy Queen gave me enough of an appetite for a chocolate chip blizzard. There are twelve hikers here tonight, if any more had of come in, they would have had to go down to the pavilion to sleep, as there is a limit to how many can stay here. Rally had divided us up into three groups and pulled the room dividers to form three sections for us to sleep in. One section is for snorers, one section is for sometime snorers and one for non snorers. As hard as I tried to get into the non snorers, Duke blew my cover when he said he heard me snoring back at the Murray property. So I was assigned to the sometimes snorers section. That's okay since it was closer to the bathroom anyway.Total miles 13.6