I really want to backpack, but we decide last minute to do a 20-mile slack pack to take advantage of the low temperature, combined with the fact that there isn't suitable overnight parking until the end of the 20 miles stretch we can cover today.
We bustle around, reorganizing our gear and our cars before we leave the hotel, guzzling fresh coffee and grabbing a pile of food from the breakfast buffet to fuel our morning.
We leave the hotel at 7:30 am, hitting a nearby Walmart to buy water and electrolytes for the crazy hot days this week.
The drive to Wawayanda State Park takes an hour, and with the drive back to Gemmer Road where we finished yesterday, we are on the trail for a late 10 am start.
Almost as soon as we start the hike, the trail crosses a mucky mess in the low-lying areas, of which there are a lot. The trail takes us down to a pond, which is so flooded the trail reroutes around the pond and comes out on a country road before turning back into the woods.
After passing the pond, we immediately cross another mud pit, but then we walk on a boardwalk of sorts, where the trail crews suspend 2 x 10 boards on 4-inch square pieces of lumber to make a bridge over the mushy spots.
When we get back onto terra firma, we walk on a near-level trail behind some beautiful residential areas. The terrain is so amazingly easy that we hike six miles in the first two hours.
The trail leaves the residential area behind and I am treated by a stiff cool breeze as we walk across pretty pastures of grasses and wildflowers. I spy ripe blackberries next to the trail, and soon Kelly and I pick some for a small trail snack.
The trail leaves the fields and we come to a road. Confused, we look around for a blaze to point us in the right direction because we can't see a trail. We can't find a blaze because the road is the trail, which we only figure out after consulting our FarOut app.
The trail follows the country road, passing a few cute houses, and after a half mile, we enter the Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge. A bridge crosses the Wallkill River, swollen and brown with the thunderstorms last night, and a bench located beside the river look like the perfect place to stop for lunch.
Kelly carried fresh berries for a treat, and while we enjoy lunch next to the river, a man passes by that is carrying a small backpack with all kinds of stuff hanging off of it, swinging like crazy. I see a jet boil stove and two pairs of shoes tied off. Nothing drives me crazier than things hanging off a pack!
After a nice break beside the river, we hike another half-mile and happen to see a sign in front of a neatly manicured home offering trail magic. A refrigerator and cooler are next to a bench under a carport, where the hiker with the swinging stuff is sitting and talking to a man, presumably the homeowner.
I squeal in delight because I am running low on water and we have a decent climb with no water sources for miles. We approach the men and say hello.
The owner is named Birdfeeder because his trail magic is the birdseed and he puts it out and watches what shows up.
I grab a cold root beer from the fridge and Kelly gets a Sprite as we talk to the men. The thru hiker is Planet Caravan and he is from Georgia and started March 17. He explains his name is from a "trippy Black Sabbath song."
I see Birdfeeder's car is tagged in New York. Confused, I say that thought we were in New Jersey. Birdfeeder states that we are technically hiking in New Jersey, but his house is in New York.
Planet Caravan says goodbye and then Kelly and I do the same, depositing our cans in Birdfeeder's recycling bin. We sign the guest book and I top off my water before we leave, continuing on the road around Birdfeeder's beautiful property.
The trail leaves the road a quarter-mile from Birdfeeder's house, and for the next two miles we follow a gravel path around the wetlands of the Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge, passing several mulberry trees with fruit ripe for picking. We grab some as we pass by.
The wetlands are comprised of several ponds and marshes that provide habitat for migratory birds. There are no birds today, just some smelly hikers passing through.
The wetlands are flat and open, and we can see Planet Caravan on the trail ahead of us for the 45 minutes it takes to walk around the refuge. The trail makes a 90-degree turn to the left and I see Planet Caravan in the distance turning and leaving the road. A few minutes later, I see a big shape emerge from the woods where Planet Caravan just entered.
"Bear!" I yell excitedly, pointing ahead to the road ahead. Kelly looks up and we both get out our phones to get a picture. The bear is heading away from us up the road, and even at this distance I can tell it's huge! We video the bear, watching it lumber slowly on the road until it disappears over a nearby rise.
I say it looks like it came out from where Planet Caravan entered the woods. We wonder if he scared it out.
When we arrive at the area, we follow the blaze into the woods and see Planet Caravan standing on a boardwalk a short way up the trail. He says to be careful because he saw a big bear just now. We said we watched it walk down the road.
He pulls out his phone and we watch his video of the bear on the boardwalk maybe 50 yards in front of him, staring at him about 20 seconds before nonchalantly moving off the boardwalk and into the woods.
We all walk together for 15 minutes along the boardwalk until the trail leaves the wonderfully flat terrain and starts up a steep hill with several switchbacks. Planet Caravan quickly outpaces us as we head uphill for the next 1.5 miles.
The temperature has climbed considerably since we started this morning, and I am sweating like crazy as I climb laboriously up the incline. I am so thankful for Birdfeeder's hospitality and that we took advantage of it.
We pass the turn off for the Pochuck Mountain Shelter, but we don't want to stop again so soon, so we continue up the hill and the trail turns from a dirt path with rocks to straight up boulders, which we climb for another 300' of elevation gain until get to the top.
At the top is a rocky outcropping where we look across the valley to the west. Kelly points out the High Point Monument on the ridge, where we were just this time yesterday and 14 trail miles ago!
We take a few pics and then start down the hill, where we cross our halfway point for the day. 10 miles down, 10 miles to go.
We go down a very steep hill and come out of the woods onto a busy road crossing where several cars are parked on the shoulder. A trailhead kiosk describes the trail is now a 1.5 mile boardwalk traversing the wetlands in front of us, with pictures displaying the boardwalk construction.
The Pochuck Boardwalk is impressive, as are the wetlands we walk over. Cattails grow along both sides of the boardwalk, and I show Kelly how to harvest the shoots, which she doesn't like very much.
I then show her how to eat the pollen, shaking the bright yellow powder off the male cattail shoot onto my hand, which I lick off. She tries it and likes the taste much more than the shoots, and soon we are both covered in cattail pollen and laughing.
We.get off the boardwalk and cross Pochuck Creek on a cool suspension footbridge. The trail continues through the marsh, flooded by the thunderstorms yesterday, and our feet get wet from the ankle high water.
The trail leaves the wetlands and crosses a cow pasture to head for a busy road crossing, where several cars are parked. We are now fifteen miles into our hike, and it's been relatively easy, but we still have five miles to go and we have a doozy of a climb coming up.
The trail quickly becomes a boulder climb for the next mile, which takes almost an hour. Kelly is ahead of me, and neither of us stop once the entire time for a breather, continuing our forward momentum until we get to the top, near a sign pointing to a view off the trail. By now it is 6 pm, and we really don't want to stop because we want to be off trail by dark, so we pass the view and keep hiking.
We go down and up repeatedly for an indeterminable time, and both of are desperate for a break. We have only hiked an hour from the view point, but we are so spent it feels much longer. We look at the map and see we only have another hour at most to reach the car, and only a few hundred more feet of gain for the day.
At 8 pm, just as the sun is setting, we arrive at Wawayanda State Park, where the truck is parked. We are blissfully happy, but exhausted. Another 20 mile day in the books, but we are plum tuckered out. We did 4,000 feet of climbing today, about twice the elevation that we did on the other two 20-mile days, and I feel it!
We drive to get Kelly's car, and by the time we check into the hotel, eat and take turns showering, it's 11 pm.
Good night!
Today's Stats: 20.1 miles, 3,700 feet gain
Trail Stats: 1366 miles, 268K feet gain
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