Sunday, May 8th

Pochuck Mountain Shelter (1353.9 mi) to NY Route 17A, Warwick (1375.5)

Hiking Miles: 21.6

Total Ascent: 3,785.8 ft

Total Descent: 3,569.9 ft

Total Grade: 341.1 ft/mi

Steps: 51,584

Today we hiked 21 miles to a trailhead off of Rte 17 in Warwick, NY (Yes – another state crossed).

Early in the day (about 8 miles in) while we were still in New Jersey, we climbed an awesome rock mountain that consisted of a continuous uphill slope. Although it was strenuous and I was sweating most of the way up, I found the climb very refreshing and exhilarating. It took 45 minutes to climb to the top (Wawayanda Vista Trail), and on a tree was mounted a colorful mailbox with a journal inside for hikers to leave messages or simply their name. To date, it was one of my favorite climbs.

Half-way through our hiking day, we reached the 500 mile mark since being on the trail. It felt so good to have achieved another milestone to help with keeping motivated. There was plenty of fresh grass on the ground and we wanted to try and stay creative with documenting our 100-mile markers, so we formed a green marker to represent our accomplishment.

We Facetimed Teresa, Tarryn and Nick for Mother’s Day while we hiked, and it was then that we crossed into New York shortly after initiating the conversation. Not too far into the state, we climbed some steep rocks (they don’t go away just because you switch states) and continued hiking along a challenging ridge line, and moving at a slow pace.

The views were very pleasing and they made up for the tough terrain. A greater challenge that day was finding a ride to the Warwick Drive-In in time to catch a movie once we reached Rte 17. Whereas it was Mother’s Day, shuttles were scarce. Luckily, Stevie was able to reach a trail angel named Jess who picked us up at 7:30 pm and drove us to the Drive-In in plenty of time. Jess had been at her Mom’s house in New Jersey for Mother’s Day and called us when she returned home. She was not too far from our pick-up spot. Jess also offered to pick us up in the morning to bring us back before she had to drive her son to school.

Once at the Drive-In, we set up our tents, then walked down to the concession stand and bought a cheeseburger, hot dog, a pretzel, fries, ice cream, and a hot chocolate – TIMES 2! It was a bit nippy out and also the sun was going down. We found a nice grassy spot near our tents to sit, and we ate our dinner. The great thing was Full-Tilt, Hardway, Thank You Laura, Trail Breaker and Flower Power all showed up for the experience! Thank You Laura snuck over a few times and grabbed some of our fries! (-:

I went to bed relatively early, however Stevie stayed up and watched Dr Strange. Camping at the Warwick Drive-In is definitely a worthwhile experience while on trail. The long line of Porta Potties (there must have been two dozen of them) were remarkably clean. Overall great day!