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  1. #1
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    Default Pochuck Mountain Shelter - NJ

    Info, questions, comments, experiences (good or bad) regarding - Pochuck Mountain Shelter

    Past/Present hikers - what can future hikers expect here? Have any good stories or memories from here?

    Future hikers - any questions?

  2. #2
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    Before getting to this shelter there is a steap climb and part way up is a new water source from a house that the A.T.C. just purchased off to your left mak sure you get your water before going allllllll the way up.The shelter is fairly new and in pretty good shape. To the left of the shelter is another bear box for storing your food for the night and a few spots for tenting out.This shelter has an out door privy it's just a box with a toilet seat on it down to your left on a side trail.Not a bad spot to spend the night.
    EZ-DOES-IT
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    If you don't mind it doesn't matter

  3. #3
    692 miles tribes's Avatar
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    Default Pochuck Mtn Shelter

    Spent the night there this past Saturday night. It is settled in about half way up Pochuck Mtn overlooking the old sod farms that now make up the Wallkill Wildlife Refuge. The views are breathtaking in the winter, but a bit blocked by foliage during the spring and summer. It was 13 degrees on Saturday night and the wind really rips though the valley and up to that shelter. Luckily we had a tarp large enough to block the shelter opening making it comfortable inside. The once "open air" privy has been enclosed obscuring the nice view of Pochuck valley but affording a bit of privacy to users. Nobos will find water about a quarter mile south at the blue house on the left. There is a sign posted leading you through a hedgerow to the back of the house and a spigot. Surprisingly, the water was turned on Water for sobos still remains a problem I think. I thought that Heaven Hill farm had put a water stash just south of the shelter but I did not see it this weekend. Maybe they just maintain it during thru hiker season???
    without love in the dream it will never come true...

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by ez-does-it
    Before getting to this shelter there is a steap climb and part way up is a new water source from a house that the A.T.C. just purchased off to your left make sure you get your water before going allllllll the way up.
    I lived about 15 minutes from there for 14 years. I wanted to buy the house you're talking about, but my wife refused to move out of the Warwick, NY school district. The house is in the Vernon, NJ school district. I wanted to open a B&B for hikers & birders. Glad to see the ATC owns it now.

    By the way, the Wallkill Refuge is the ONLY place on the entire AT where you can reliably see Short Eared Owls, Northern Harriers (aka marsh Hawks), and Rough Legged Hawks. All three species overwinter here. The owls can be seen at dusk like clockwork - flying low over the fields like giant moths.

  5. #5

    Default Porkchop Mountain Shelter

    I was way too mosquito-ridden to stop at this shelter.

    The only climb that I remember in NJ was the one out of Vernon. The rest are nothing.

  6. #6
    Registered User snowshoe's Avatar
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    Actually the NJ Park Service ownes the house and property. Wawayanda park administers this area.

  7. #7
    Registered User NJPacker's Avatar
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    10-15-2003
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    Default Pochuck Mtn. Shelter

    I did a dayhike from Ferguson Rd./12 miles south yesterday and stopped fpr lunch at the Pochuck Shelter. Nice, clean shelter with near-by tent sites and a privy. As ez-does-it said, be sure to get your water at the bottom of the hill. Overall, it's definitely worthy of a night's sleep. The view of the wildlife refuge is awesome.
    Steppin' out.................:)

  8. #8
    Registered User neo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bearbait2k4
    I was way too mosquito-ridden to stop at this shelter.

    The only climb that I remember in NJ was the one out of Vernon. The rest are nothing.
    i did the climb up at midnight,yes i agree the climb up from vernon nj a little work,my mosquito net saved me from the mosquitos that night neo

  9. #9

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    The only thing I can add about Pochuck is that NJSP service has done a great job maintaining it. Last time I did an overnight there, it was dank and not very clean. After a 14 miler in from High Point on a hot August day, my butt was kicked and in no mood to complain. We tented it because of the condition of the place.

    I've been back twice since...once wile on a Sobo section from Waywayonda SP to Culvers Gap in 03 and again on Labor Day 04...just passin' by, but it's a lot better now. Enjoy it...they even cleared some of the brush away so you have a view of the valley HP tower and opposing ridge.
    ...just a regular guy
    Stomping around in the woods allows me to lose the stresses of everyday life while finding myself

    http://www.summitpost.org/show/mount...untain_id/5055

  10. #10
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    Default Pochuck Shelter

    Spent the night here alone 10/2/05. Even though I'm a "tenter", I splept in the shelter since I didn't see any decent tent space, except for a spot down next to the privy. Bear box was in working order and there's a nice level picnic table.
    I swept some of the cobwebs out of the privy. Did not notice any mice or droppings in the shelter. Shelter had lots of hooks for hanging pack or clothes.

    Heading SOBO, I got some water at a Trail Angel box about a 100 ft off the trail about a mile north of the shelter. Looks like a permanent box, but i don't know if it's maintained during the winter.

    Awoken by a rooster crowing at 5:30, but it didn't get light until 6:30. The Walkill Refuge in the valley was in a thick fog that morning.

  11. #11

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    april 2006

    I stayed here on a hike from Culvers gap to Wawayanda. I had planned to go from High point to wawayanda day 2 and sleep in for a 12 pm pick up at wawayanda but the nonstop rain turned into freezing rain and snow and I wanted to get out of it.

    The freezing rain finally stopped and I slept in my bivy outside the shelter. There was a nice sunset visible through the trees

    The water wasn't turned on yet from what I read in a Tail log, but I didn't need any and wasn't willing to stop in the freezing rain.

    It was clean, no complaints

  12. #12
    Moccasin, 2008 Thru-hiker TrippinBTM's Avatar
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    New bear box and privy in 2010 (Thanks NYNJTC!). The water is still at the house down the hill.

    There's also a collection of junked cars a couple minutes walk north of the shelter on the right, a little back in the woods. It's pretty spooky.

  13. #13

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    I saw a bear there last fall (actually, just the eyes). I had gotten up to relieve myself, and looking around with my headlamp I spotted it about 75 feet away, beyond the bear box. I must have disturbed his inspection of the box . We watched each other until I was done, then I worked my way back to my hammock, hung just the other side of the shelter, where I lay awake listening for something to go bump in the night - for all of 10 minutes. I was much more tired than scared.
    As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11

  14. #14
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    I pass this shelter regularly during day hikes. It is in very good shape and has new bear boxes as noted above. The composting privy is a 'must see' too.
    One very cool thing in this area, one mile or so north of the shelter is the 'great wall of pochuck', a farmers rock wall that is constructed with amazing care. It is about three feet wise and four feet tall, running for a about a hundred yards through some rough terrain. Definitely worth keeping an eye out for.

  15. #15
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    When is water available?I am hiking from rt519 to pochuck 3/31 to4/1. It would be nice to resupply at that house. Any parking nearby? thanks for any info.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by snorz View Post
    When is water available?I am hiking from rt519 to pochuck 3/31 to4/1. It would be nice to resupply at that house. Any parking nearby? thanks for any info.
    There are several watering spots in that area; follow the signage. If you need a shuttle, shoot me a PM. This is a nice area...enjoy!

  17. #17
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    Stayed here last night (4/1-4/2) coming up from Pochuck Swamp on the way to High Point Monument. Shelter was in great shape. Only problem was that several entries in the log book indicated mice in the bear box. Didn't see any evidence of any in there but hung the food bag just to be safe. There was some trash in the bear box though. It was quite cold, but everything else was a-ok. A thru-hiker I stayed with (Teddy) indicated that the water was not on in the house at the bottom of the hill.

  18. #18
    The other white meat
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    Scanned this old pic from when we were building this shelter in 1989.
    Carrying all of those extra-long, pressure treated 6x6's up from the road at the bottom was a feat in itself.

    pochuck shelter.jpg

  19. #19
    wanna be hiker trash
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    Nice job! Just a couple years ago huh? Are you still active with trail maintenance?
    “Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.” Thoreau.

  20. #20
    The other white meat
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kenai View Post
    Nice job! Just a couple years ago huh? Are you still active with trail maintenance?
    Not officially. After 21+ years of being the maintainer/caretaker for this section, I moved in 2009. I still do some maintenance on the AT and other trails, but not in affiliation with the NY/NJ TC or ATC. Thanks for the acknowledgment.

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