Miles: 1338.5 | A smoky motel night leaves us congested, irritable, and eager to escape back to the trail. What begins as a grumpy morning slowly softens into a bright summer day—drying gear at a pavilion, unexpected frozen Gatorades, and a quiet chess break help reset our moods. We linger through the heat, avoiding negativity, before pushing on to High Point State Park. A sunset cowboy camp atop an observation tower delivers sweeping views and cautious optimism, though late-night chatter and mosquitoes steal most of the sleep we hoped for.
By 9am the two of us were packed and out the door. The owners had told us they'd give us a ride at 9am. We showed up to their office by 8:55am. After 20 minutes of waiting they hadn't shown up. I called and they answered. They said they had forgotten and would be down in 5 minutes.
20 minutes later, one of them showed up and drove us back to the trail head in silence. Back on the trail we breathed in the 'fresh' air. We were still within a mile of the road but the air felt so good after a night in a smoky room. Both of us were severely congested. I was coughing, sneezing, and blowing snot rockets for hours.
It started out as a grumpy trudge through the damp woods. Miles started pointing little things out: the fresh air, the green light filtering through the tree leaves, the slight reduction of pointy rocks, no salt chafe, new shoes, etc. I started perking up. The weather started brightening and it turned out to be a beautiful summer day.
We hiked up to a cool 'mountain top' pavilion and finished drying out our gear.
Snacks were had and we kept walking. As we walked on trail, a man who carried a shark mascot and small cards with prayers on them stopped us and gave us some frozen Gatorades out of his backpack.
In the midsummer heat it was a blessing. The most refreshing thing I'd had in a long time. We thanked him and kept walking. I saved my Gatorade for later. This stretch seemed to have no water and we were running out of the town water we had.
We came upon a small shelter, one of the oldest on trail, and found a few 5 gallon jugs there!
An older section hiker was there taking a break from the sun. Miles and I both agreed it was hot and we should wait for the height of the sun to pass. We sat at the shelter drinking water and playing chess. Some of the section hiker's friends came upon the shelter about half way through our game. A ridge runner and local tail maintainer also arrived to bring more water. The five of them stood around, talking.
Their conversation began with a remark on the heat. It continued down a rabbit hole of complaints from all parties. Everyone complained about Carver Gap's motels, the heat, the lack of water, their body pains, etc. It had taken me so long to get into a good mood that morning that I didn't want to ruin it. I tried not to listen to their laments. I tried to focus on the chess game and stay positive. It really irked me. They didn't realize how toxic their complaints (and lit cigarettes) were to themselves and the people around them.
We quickly finished our chess game and packed up. We hiked off into the heat, despite the trail maintainer's suggestion to wait out the height of the sun. Neither of us wanted to be around the negativity. We kept walking through the heat and gnats.
Around 4pm, we arrived at High Point State Park Headquarters. Inside, they gave us free sodas! We also ran into Shirt Pants there! He hadn't gotten off trail yet! He told us he'd been yellow blazing and working around his injury. His parents were coming to pick him up that evening to take him on a road trip with his brother, Gene, (his dad and brother were also hiking the trail) for Gene's birthday. The three of us went outside and sat in the shade.
Miles and I got water from the tap there and cooked ourselves dinner. It looked like the next few camp spots had no water, unless we wanted to drink from a lake that was used for swimming. Snow Angel arrived not long after we had finished our dinner. We hadn't seen her in a while! She told us she was leaving for NYC that weekend for a whole week.
On a phone call at the park that evening, I discussed the possibility of meeting up with my parents in Pawling, New York once we got around that area. My mom said she'd see what she could do. I missed them and I was homesick. I, most of all, missed my cat Bonnie. But I knew she wouldn't do well on a 5 hour car ride, 10 hours round trip.
Around 6pm Miles and I set out for camp. We found a lookout tower just a mile from the shelter we had planned on camping at. Up at the top of the lookout platform there were benches and the view was gorgeous. The High Point monument could be seen in the evening light. There were no signs officially saying that camping was not allowed, but it seemed like a bit of a no no. We decided, if no one came up after 7pm we would set up our stuff and hope we didn't get caught. It seemed like the perfect spot to cowboy camp; there were no bugs! We played chess and ate candy while we waited.
Around 7pm a girl named Rocket came up. She said she was definitely going to camp there. I was glad that we weren't the only ones breaking the rules. She seemed nice enough. She told us about the big (26 mile) day she'd just had and made it seem like that was her usual routine. She was mostly hiking alone and had a deadline because of school. A New Jersey Native, she told us the rocks pretty much end after the High Point.
That was good news. We talked college and student loan debt while we watched the sun set and got our beds ready. As the sun went down, a couple of her friends arrived: two twenty something boys.
We all watched as the sun went down and bundled up when a little evening chill set in. As soon as the sun went down, mosquitoes came out.
Our perfect, bugless haven became a bit annoying. The boys put bug nets over their heads, Rocket didn't care, and Miles used his tent as a bug shield. I put on some Picardin bug spray and laid down. Everyone sleeping up there said they were planning on getting up early. Miles and I decided it would be good to get up and make some big miles.
At 9pm I tried to go to bed but the other campers were still up talking. At 10pm I was on the verge of falling asleep when laughs erupted from the group on the other side of the tower. By 11pm I was annoyed and couldn't fall asleep, the other campers were still up. Miles, apparently sweated all night in his tent and still got bug bites through the mesh. Neither of us slept much.