Day 33: Woods and Meadows, Forest and Fields, Bogs, Boardwalks, and Bears

Summary
May 28th

High Point to Pochuck Mtn Shelter

NOBO mile # 1350.4

Tolmann’s daily mileage 12.4

Tolmann’s total mileage 326.7

Woke before 6am this morning with a bit of a headache. 

There was already movement in camp and, in fact, nearly everyone was on trail before 7am. T&H and I took longer to pack up and have breakfast. 

We had very specific plans today: get to Unionville, NY and resupply, then hike the remaining 5 miles to Pochuck Shelter. This would be a first for me; resupply without a night in town. 

As usual, I was last out of camp. My intention was to keep it low key today, not to break any records. The trail came down quickly and crossed a road, then began a stretch that moved from woods to meadows and back, over and over. There were small ponds, and the trail meandered through wetlands, sometimes on boardwalks, some times through mud and rocks. The air was thick with the scent of meadow flowers and bird song. 

I caught up with T&H mid morning, then hiked with them into Unionville. 

We resupplied and got sandwiches at the general store. It was a far superior experience compared to the concession stand!!

Then it was another 5 miles to the shelter, and we hiked together most of the rest of the way. It was a nice change from the solo hiking I’ve been doing every day. The trail entered New York for a little while when it took us on a road walk (for the first time). That was a little tedious. Then it took us around Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge. We stopped at the beginning of that section for a bit, and I pulled out the guitar and introduced T&H to Stan Rogers. It was very cool. The Refuge was beautiful (we saw a pond with 14 swans), but the trail almost brought us back to where we started, and felt a little gratuitous. 

Then it was a last push to an abandoned house with a working water tap on the outside to collect water, then up a 1/2 mile steep incline to the shelter, where there was no water. 

There we met up with Cheese and Coyote (pronounced Ky-ote) a young couple newly-wed, whom we had seen earlier when resupplying. We decided to join them in the shelter, since the forecast called for rain overnight, and packing wet tents/tarps is messy and adds weight ( I think I noted that in an earlier meander).

That added up to 5 people in a six person shelter. Then a mother and daughter came into camp (Goddess and Boss); it was clear they were hoping to get spaces in the shelter, but there really wasn’t room. So they went off to set up their tent. 

Then, while dinners were being made and eaten, someone said, “Look, there’s a bear!” 

Sure enough, a small black bear was standing in the woods behind the shelter. Hmmm, this made our stay more complicated. I would have loved to sit and watch the bear for a while, but they really shouldn’t be encouraged to hang around shelters and people. I yelled, and the bear just looked at me. I yelled again, and moved, and the bear sauntered off.

The shelters in New Jersey have beer boxes, metal cabinets with special mechanisms that are supposed to be beyond a bear’s ability to open, where we store our food bags and other smelly stuff (like toothpaste, etc.). So we were not concerned about our food so much as the bears taking an interest in people. Still, the chances were good that they would leave us be.

Later, after dark, a father/son duo came in (Bearbait’s Dad and Bearbait). Tilly warned them of the bear activity, then they went back to the tent sites closer to the trail. 

And so another day comes to an end.