Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 50 – Entering New York New York
14th September 2023
Mt Aglo Shelter (724.3) - Pawling (742.8)
Daily miles: 18.5
Total miles: 750.7
So I ended up putting my long sleep legs on. The feel of the mat and the sleeping bag on my skin was making me uncomfortable and made me feel more sweaty. So although this seems counterintuitive to letting my skin air out, actually putting in something clean and dry and not full of salt I thought wouldn’t be too bad.
I had to get out my tent for a wee around 10pm and as I peed in the bushes so many worms were scattering.
I slept so well. I was happy with all my choices. To sleep in my tent. To put sleep clothes on… after all I’ve been carrying them and not using them and it’s always been a ritual I have loved in the past. My ear plugs drowned out the noise of all the bugs, there could have been some frogs in the mix too.
I woke up around 4am needing another wee and I procrastinated for about 10 minutes before going to disturb the worms again. I knew I wouldn’t get back to sleep if I didn’t get up.
At 6am I knew I had to move but didn’t really want to. I ended up hiking out at 7:15am. 18.5 miles to the road and I planned to just keep hiking until I got there.
The view from my tent
There were a few climbs in the morning and a whole lot of slab rock which made me even more grateful it wasn’t raining. It was such a wonderful temperature this morning and there was a nice low-temperature-light-wind to keep things cool.
I tripped so many times on the trail today. Lots of roots and sneaky hidden rocks with lots of fallen leaves covering them. Some parts of the trail were really crunchy going through the leaves.
Lemonhope passed me. 7 miles in there was the option to detour to Bulls Bridge store. I decided not to go as we were going to town this afternoon. I wondered if the others would go?
Early morning trail
It’s me
Getting out the trees
Nice views today
Dirt road walking
River crossing
On this great bridge
Impressive stone steps
I came to a shelter and wondered if Lemonhope took a break there. I wasn’t going to stop. 11 miles into the day I stopped to get water and eat a snack. May Queen caught up to me and said the others weren’t far behind. She walked on, needing some time on her own and I followed shortly after because I didn’t want to be overtaken by everyone and arrive last!
I passed the Connecticut state line and I’m now in New York. Just as I came out onto the road I could hear voices so I stopped to wait for the others. It was Toe, Pyro and Cal and they said Lemonhope was behind.
Goodbye Connecticut, hello New York
Snacking on the move
There was a couple of miles of road walking so I knew I could keep up with them there. Then there was a bit of a climb which I just had to manage to keep up before the trail flattened out and then went downhill.
I did manage to keep up although the hill made me sweat and lot and breathe heavily, but walking with them was good because it pulled me along quicker that I would have done if I was by myself, and the time went quicker because there were people to talk to.
It was mostly forest and then we had a walk through cow pastures with a lot of long grass. I was very grateful it wasn’t wet or raining today because that would have been pretty unpleasant. There were fewer mosquitoes today too and I hope that’s a sign of things to come!
Road walk
Hiker train
Me again
Through the fields
Wildflowers
A cute round hut thing
We made it to the garden centre – which is right on trail – just after 3pm and this guy came out to speak to us and seemed kind of off that we were on his property, but I explained we were hikers and heard we could have a shower there and then he was much more friendly. He was probably being friendly before but it came across a bit strange.
They had soda and ice cream and snacks for sale so I got a Root Beer and an ice cream. They also provide a shower which is outside behind the garden centre. Rumour is that it’s hot water.
May Queen was already showering and confirmed it was actually cold water. As there was only one shower I went with Cal and Lemonhope to the Malaysian food truck just up the road. I ordered veggie noodles and tofu. It was nice but not worth the half hour wait for it.
Malaysian food truck
Tofu and noodles
When we got back the others had finished showering and wanted to start to hitch to town. We needed to eat our food and have a shower so they went ahead.
I took a shower which was… an experience. The wind kept blowing the curtain so it was quite exposing! The water was so cold it took a few minutes to work up to getting it on my body. It was a quick sloosh rather than a proper wash but at least it got most of the grime off. And there was soap. And there was one towel which everyone had used before me which was gross but I tried not to think about it.
The outdoor shower at the back of the garden centre
Cal got in the shower and I looked for a trash can and I could see the guys were still trying to hitch. We agreed that if no success by the time Cal had finished his shower we would get an Uber.
But they were no longer there so we set about hitching. It was definitely the longest we had to wait so far, but after about 20 minutes - and it was a busy road - a nice lady stopped to pick us up. It was a funny ride. We both were in the back and she had the thickest Latin American accent it was so hard to understand what she was saying. When she laughed I laughed.
We got dropped off at the CVS and by this time I really needed a poop so went to look for a rest room. No luck. We went to find the others at the laundromat. Chucked our clothes on to wash and hung out there for a while. Some of the others went to eat town food. I went in search of a toilet. No toilet at the gas station. I didn’t want to go into a restaurant as they all looked a bit clean and fancy. So it’s now about 4 hours that I’ve needed to go.
Laundromat or laundrette, depending on where you live
The beginnings of a hole in my shoes
Pyro
Laundromat but make it fashion
Hikers doing it in style
Eventually we needed to leave the laundromat, with our stuff dry, relatively clean and not that great smelling still, we went to the CVS to resupply. Very limited choice and very expensive, but it was only for 2 days and I have planned a deli stop in there too.
I got the worst food; basically just chocolate and sweets and crisps!
We sat outside on the grass and organised our food. We really brought the hiker trash to this town.
We then walked the mile out of town to a state park where they let hikers camp. It was pretty dark now but we found the park and there was a whole lot of activity there. A fire truck and water hoses.
We were unsure where to camp, we probably would have just slept on the porch of the pavilion but it was very loud and very bright. Someone came over to ask us if we planned to camp here tonight. We thought we were going to get told off and moved on but the guy was really nice.
He said he would make sure there was no water sprayed over here from the firefighters training, they would be gone by 10 and to be careful because the hurricane, which is a little further north, will bring bad weather and 30 mph winds over the weekend. He said to be careful of the trees because it has been so wet they were unstable and the wind will blow them over.
There was one debate from the others over whether cowboy camping was ok or they should set up their shelters. I had already decided to pitch my tent. It seemed like there was already condensation in the air and they had already mentioned slugs in the bushes. There was no way I would be waking up with slugs on me. All 5 of them are cowboy camping.
The lights were very bright
It’s now 10:10pm and the very bright and very loud fire truck has just left. It’s pretty cold tonight.
