Today was a near perfect day. Seriously. A late start to the day (9 am); it was already getting hot, but a nice breeze today, for which I was very grateful – the temp hit 91. I had only 5 and a bit miles to go before the shelter I was aiming for tonight – Pochunk Mountain Shelter. So I was taking it easy, and ran into…
… Section hiker and trail angel Dee, aka TreeSniffer. And she was indeed a true angel! We hiked together, chatting along the way, and she and her husband Mike offered me a ride from a trailhead into a nearby town with a boot outfitter. So grateful, I did not realize just how much my feet had swelled and how cramped my toes truly were until I tried on a pair of Keens the next half-size up. Pure bliss. I left the old boots at the store. Then Mike and Dee treated me to lunch, though I wanted to treat them! Dee, if you are reading this – thank you again! The AT turn we were searching for was the barred gate we passed on the right hand side of the road from the parking lot. And I found your boy scouts at this shelter.
Then, back on the trail for 2.8 more miles, hot, sunny, breezy. An easy, if pointlessly long, walk around a swamp… Why is God’s name lay out a trail with 3 right angle turns and a lot of walking, when one left hand turn and a lot less walking would have reached the exact same point?
Swamp, a lot of boardwalks, and a hard climb up part of Pochunk Mountain. It rose 300 feet in a quarter of a mile. Steep, and I felt dizzy, but made it to the shelter. Lying down now, listening to troop leaders and Boy Scouts chatting outside.
My hiking partner went ahead to Vernon, which I will reach tomorrow for my nearo, about 6 miles away. He sent me a picture of free ice cream, watermelon, cake, I am drooling. Very hot, but cooling down. It is supposed to storm tonight, that will cook it down a lot.
These kids are pretty …. Um, boisterous. They’re kids. 🙂
I hike on.
TRAILS, TRIALS, AND TRAVAILS 