Date: 2016-07-03
From: Liberty Corners Rd

To: Longhouse Drive/Brady Road
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: overcast clouds

A little known fact is that New Jersey has the most bears per square mile than any other state and I am still looking to see a Jersey bear! After another good breakfast at the hotel we headed to the trail to start our day. Yvonne will be dropping me off where I left off yesterday and she will go ahead to set up for trail magic. On the way to the start we came across a few hikers on a road crossing and stopped to offer them some snacks and drinks. It turned out to be Joker, Jake, Taylor and another hiker. We stayed and chatted a while then headed off again. Yvonne dropped me off and headed down the road to find the trail magic spot for today. The hike began with a steep climb but I was thankful that it was not too long. I had a good view off Pochuck Mountain. After about 3 miles I crossed a road and entered a swamp/wetlands area where I walked mostly on boardwalks for about a 2 miles. There were many day hikers in the area enjoying the long weekend and the nice weather. As I came out of the area, I crossed another road and headed up a steep climb in an area called the 'Stairway to Heaven'. This was a challenging climb. Near the top there was a side trail to a beautiful vista on top of some boulders. When I say boulders, it is not always round rocks that I am talking about. They could just be some big slab of rocks that you can easily stand on unless they are at a slant which they are at times. I stayed for a bit to enjoy the views along with many day hikers. Todays hike had many rocks and crossed many roads, paved and unpaved. Finally, I saw a bear! I saw him before he saw me so I inched closer to get a picture. When he saw me he took off running for a ways then stopped and looked at me then he just walked out of site. Along the hike I came across a couple of trail magics left on the trail near a road crossing, there was an ice chest with drinks and snacks. On the second trail magic a lady was there replenishing the drinks. I helped her carry things from her car and struck up a conversation with her to find out what her story was. She is the mother of a through hiker who is about 5 days behind me and she leaves trail magic in this area because it is close to her house. Some ladies from her church also make cookies and snacks for her to bring as well. I thanked her and let her know that all her generosity is very much appreciated by the hikers. I continued on and reached Yvonne. After resting and cooling down for a few minutes we packed up and left for Yvonne's sister's house in the Bronx NY. The first order of business was to get a shower. That always feels so good after coming off the trail. Here is Yvonne's account of today...I woke up with my calves feeling a little tight. Quite honestly I was surprised that my entire lower body was not in pain but I was very happy.Oscar went off to hike this morning from where he left off yesterday so I was left to find my way to the meeting spot. I took my time as he was going to be at least four hours so I stopped at a supermarket and at a few stores to shop. Today¢s meeting spot was going to be Wawayanda State Park but, unfortunately, when I got there at 10 a.m. it was filled to capacity so they were not letting any more cars come in. There goes that plan! I was hoping to do a ¢walk in the park¢ before setting up at the trail head of the AT. Oscar and I had looked at a few possibilities so I went on ahead to the other areas. They were parking lots so they didn¢t have the same draw as the state park. Needless to say, I had no problem parking there. There were not a lot of people on the trail today. My guess is that some had left for the holidays or decided not to do too much so they could celebrate the holidays where they were. That made for a very quiet trail magic day. It has been really nice meeting some of Oscar's trail family. It is nice to put the faces to the names. When I needed a break from the monotony I paced up and down the side of the road and then I left the cooler on the trail so that any hikers walking by would be able to help themselves to refreshments, and I took off in the car to drive around a little. I actually challenged myself to walk a little way down the trail to meet El Tejano when I anticipated that he would be coming up. I experimented by walking into the woods to see how far I could go and feel comfortable. It wasn¢t far.My calves got tighter and tighter as the day went on. Everytime I sat down it was harder to get up. When Oscar finally came, I actually had walked in a very short distance so I actually did meet him on the trail. I was ready to hit the road to visit my sister in New York. Tonight¢s plan was to see Hamlet in a town¢s performance of Shakespeare in the Park. The weather was going to be good for that.Tomorrow will be a zero day for us