Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 51 – In my deli blazing era
15th September 2023
Pawling (742.8) - RPH Shelter (762.7)
Daily miles: 19.9
Total miles: 770.6
It was so cold last night. And so wet. So much condensation. Lemonhope got up from the cowboy line and set up his tent at midnight because he couldn’t deal with the bugs.
The Cowboys woke up with slugs on them which is so gross and the reason I will not be cowboy camping! Everyone suffered with condensation and wet sleeping bags, including me. There was a heater on in the mens bathroom so a couple of people went to hang their bags up in there. I had already packed my sleeping bag up but I went to hang my tent in there and the smell of stale urine was so overwhelming it made me gag. I had to run out of there and take deep lungfuls of clean air.
Cowboy camping hiker slugs
Tents pitched next to the cowboy camping hiker slugs
Dirty mirror selfie
We were told there was a shower at the park and we didn’t notice at first but it is right there in the middle of the toilets. I’m glad we used the one at the garden centre!
We deliberated for a while on what to do; it was going to be hard to hitch from a park, we would need to get back to the highway which was kind of far away, so we looked for Ubers. Around a 45 minute wait.
So we decided to walk the mile back into town and go and get coffee (hot chocolate for me, the child) and maybe a pastry. When we arrived at the Sunflour Bakery it was so warm and cosy and welcoming. Super hiker friendly.
There was a lovely lady customer in there who had the best positive energy. She thought we were all in our mid 20s - including me! She asked for help setting a reminder on her phone so Cal helped her. She asked if he worked in tech.
Do you work in tech?
The breakfast sandwiches were irresistible so I got a cheese, egg, hash brown and ketchup on a brioche roll. It was perfect and I have been looking forward to a decent egg and hash brown sandwich since I hiked last time, and New York is the only place you can get decent bread! They also made vegan breakfast sandwiches for the vegans using vegan egg.
Beautiful breakfast bap
Toilet mirror selfie
Hanging out outside the Sunflour bakery in Pawling
It was so delicious and the temptation to get another one was high but I knew it would be a step too far. We were struggling with an Uber because there were no drivers in the area but the lady in the bakery said there was a local taxi company and they were cheap so we got a taxi back to the trail for $10 between 6 of us, what a bargain.
Taxi back to trail
We went over to the pavilion in the garden centre and hung some of our wet stuff in the sun for half an hour; most importantly the sleeping bags. I think my sleeping bag may be developing some mould which is really horrible.
I ended up hiking out with Toe, May Queen and Pyro at 9:30am. We passed the Appalachian Trail train stop and onto some nice board walk before climbing up a hill. I wanted to try and keep up with them today and not be behind or last to the deli. All I had to do was push myself up those hills and I would be fine on the rest.
Appalachian Trail train stop where you can go to NYC
Toe was in front setting a good pace. Then Pyro. Then me. Then May Queen bring up the rear. The uphill was a struggle and it was comforting to me to hear May Queen behind me breathing hard, because for Pyro it was basically a stroll in the park! I could feel myself getting slower and apologised to May Queen but she agreed it was a fast pace for this early in the day. So I created a slight gap but kept going and caught up when it flattened out. We were going fast. 6 miles in 2 hours.
Boardwalk
Fields
Fallen trees
Hiker train
They stopped to get water and I hiked on with Toe. I was still keeping up which was great. Toe stopped to pee and I hiked alone for about an hour. I took out my phone to see how far was left to the deli and I tripped on a rock and scraped down the front of my right leg. It was pretty painful, very superficial, but you know when you’ve just scraped that top few layers of skin off it really stings! So I sat in the trail for a moment and then got myself up. Toe caught me up as I was leaning on my trekking poles taking a moment to gather myself. We hiked together for the last 2.5 miles.
I fell over, again
Just before we got to the road we saw Pyro’s pack on the ground and he was sitting in a tree waiting for us. We had done 15 miles by 2:30pm so we kept up a 3mph pace! We all hiked the 0.2 road walk to the deli together. It was a bit of a sketchy road walk, cars would cut the corner off and not give us a lot of room, but we made it alive.
The deli was great. One side was pizza and ice cream and the other side was deli sandwiches and drinks. I got a Ginger Ale - still obsessed – and a delicious sandwich which was bigger and half the price of the sandwich I got in Hanover (still salty about the price of that sandwich!).
Deli blazing
It was excellent bread, as expected, filled with fried chicken, bacon, cheese, lettuce, avocado and chipotle Mayo. Oof, it was delicious.
Ooh that sandwich was good!
Pyro also ordered a sandwich and Toe got a jar of pickles! Cal caught up and he said May Queen and Lemonhope were really far behind. Unusual.
We hung out there for a while. The people working there were great. Super friendly and they let hikers camp out back. They said they have been really busy this year. Normally people arrive, get pizza and beer, party, fall asleep and wake up for breakfast sandwiches before hiking on.
Lemonhope rolled in and got Pizza. Cal and I got an ice cream chaser and went for the “Inner Barbie” flavour. It was like a strawberry shortcake thing and it was very nice!
Barbie ice cream
Living our best life
I was getting cold so kept going to stand in the sun. We stayed there for a couple of hours before needing to move on. No sign of May Queen but she had some personal stuff she needed to sort out so said she would see us at the shelter.
I hiked out with Toe, Pyro and Lemonhope and we only had 5 miles to get to the shelter. I was determined to keep up again and aside from falling a tiny bit behind when it went uphill I was right behind them all the way. We lost Lemonhope at some point but he is a fan of the nature poop so he may and ducked off trail to take care of business.
It was a nice straightforward walk to the shelter. We were up above the road for a lot of it so it was pretty noisy, then there was some plane noise and I could hear anything Toe and Pyro were talking about because it was so loud. Being in nature is great!
Still going the right way
Hiker train
That time Toe nearly got run over
We loaded up on water just before the shelter and then arrived at 6:50pm. It was a nice shelter. More like a cabin I guess, no front wall so very open, but 3 bunks inside. It got chilly quickly tonight. The weather is definitely on the turn and it feels like the official start of autumn. I am weirdly apprehensive about it getting colder. I was a nice temperature today while I was hiking but there were a few times when the wind blew that I felt on the edge of being cold. I feel like I may need another layer as I go further south. I worry about my sleeping bag being warm enough which is odd considering it was warm enough when my water froze in the Sierra. But it’s old now and probably not rated for the same temperature as it once was in its glory days.
Ralphs Peak hiker cabin
Very strange
Inside the cabin
Sunset
I changed out of my hiking clothes and into my sleep clothes straight away. This is more like it. Getting warm and cosy. I set up all my stuff and then sat at the picnic table with everyone to eat dinner. I had hardly eaten anything out of my food bag today; I had half my packet of M&Ms and a bag of liquorice.
For dinner I ate a handful of Pringles but I wasn’t hungry really. By 8pm I was ready to be horizontal and tucked up in my sleeping bag.
As I write this I am very cosy and warm so although cold outside tonight I should be nice and toasty in here.
Cal has hiked on further. He wants to do a really big mile day today to test out how he’s feeling for a potential project later down the trail. He needs to get an early start and he said he won’t do that if he camps with us. We are bad influnces!
