"People are more important than miles" - Spider

Location: NJ/NY Appalachian trail
Campground - Pochuck Mtn Shelter at mile marker 1346.1 with 839.8 to go
Mileage: 4 miles saturday backpacking into campground, 3 miles sunday backpacking out, 15 miles day hike
Total: 22 miles
Elevation: About 2,500ft
Sightings: lots and lots of bugs in the summer season. Daddy long legs were the most plentiful. Every where you looked. Lots and lots of mosquitos. Centipedes. A baby deer, Frogs, mushrooms. Some bugs sneaked into my tent as I awoke to see a daddy long legs next to me :) Needless to say I have plenty of mosquito bites.

This weekend I did an overnight. I would like to first recommend the following book: The A.T. Guide A Handbook for Hiking the Appalachian Trail. It is extremely helpful in planning hikes with regards to parking, water sources and shelters. You will want to get the most updated version each year. I parked along Oil City Road in New Jersey. (N41 17.005, W74 31.562) This parking lot is also for the Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge, which is a nice open field. It is then about a 3 mile hike to the shelter with a little bit of up hill once you get towards climbing Pochuck mtn. Right before the uphill climb to the shelter there will be a water source trail off to the left just a short ways down.

This was my first overnight I was attempting alone. I am really glad I ran into some true thru-hikers. They offered helpful advice and company for the majority of the hike and overnight. I am always happy to see people who on their way to Maine, coming all the way from Georgia. I am always amazed no matter how many I run into. The first two that came along were Turbo and Matt. I say Matt because I can't recall the exact trail name. He mistook me for another thru-hiker named indigo from afar and also has quite the sense of humor. Matt is doing a fundraiser for diabetes for his trek. You can Donate here.  Both were in their early 30s. They accompanied me for the rest of the short hike up to the water source where we ran into 3 more thru-hikers! Red specs, Spider and Spider's friend visiting for the week. I camped with them at Pochuck mtn. shelter. Here is a picture of all of them!

Matt, Turbo, Spider, Friend, Red Specs

Red Specs is here all the way from Germany. Since I have been having some trouble setting my tent up, Spider was nice enough to help me out and showed me how I had been putting the stakes in incorrectly. They are supposed to go in slanted as opposed to straight in. I also learned to make sure I'm on complete flat ground next time, as I slid all night into the corner of my tent. Oops. Here is a picture of my tent.

Lightheart Gear Duo Wedge

There were more thru-hikers already at the actual shelter, so we had set up camp with our tents. All 3 set up a campfire and broke down branches to make some benches. We then set up to cook dinner and read aloud from a book that was left behind Barjack. It was a really good first overnight. It was definitely better than what I had been expecting. Which was to be alone in my tent listening for noises of bears prowling with fright. Instead what I found was this great sense of community within the network of the trail. The Appalachian trail is an entirely different world than the everyday life you might live in an average suburbia with a 9-5 lifestyle. The sense of community can be found in many towns in America. But on the AT it is different in that you're with people who are all there with the same goal and similar mindset. Spider talked of many things that stuck in my mind and will probably stay with me forever. He was very helpful with a caring spirit and advised that "People are always more important than the miles." It doesn't matter how fast you go. What matters is the people. He also said "Hiking a week with someone is like spending half a lifetime with them." This is entirely true. You can really get to know someone when spending day in and day out with them. When you backpack with someone for any length of time it forms a bond that lasts a lifetime. I'm not so sure spider is an appropriate name for ad-man spider. It was thrown upon him from outward appearances without getting to know his soul. I then had to rush out the next morning to meet my hiking group I was day hiking with the next day. I'm sorry to say I did not get the chance for a proper good-bye. I think they are all well on their way to finishing their hike.

Breaking trees for benches

Reading and eating time

Red specs starting a fire

The next day I then returned to my car and met the hiking group up at the lot on NJ94 to hike 15 miles to Bellvale (Mile markers 833.3-818.3. It started off with a few hundred feet of uphill climb then leveled off to only little uphill and downhills for the remainder of the hike. It is along this portion that you will cross over the NJ/NY border. If you are an ice cream person, there is a Bellvale Farms Creamery just down the block on the road at the end.

View

Bee hive - picture by hike leader

Mushrooooom

Border. Yes, that is a motorcycle tire there. It is accessible by bike apparently.

Only 819 miles to Maine. Let's go!

Our hike provided by hike leader

One last picture:

Weird looking spider?

I didn't want to come back home after my night out in the woods. I wanted to keep trekking with everyone else, despite my aching feet. It is an odd kind of ache to yearn to be somewhere. I understand the driving force behind all those hikers out there. I hope to join you someday. :)

-Angela