Date: 2004-08-06
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Forest Motel, Culvers Gap
Miles today: 17.9

Trail Day 137 - Culvers Gapdaily miles 17.9 on AT, plus 2 miles of road walk.Another cool day, 50 degrees at daybreak. I was awakened by a white quilled porcupine digging at the back wall of the bunkhouse. On the ridge trail, which overlooks houses, farms and forest in the valley, I met a local man taking a morning walk. He asked if I had seen any of New Jersey's bears. I said no, what would they do up here? He pointed to the valley and said, "That's right, all the garbage is down there." He spoke about bears turning over garbage cans and the community conflict over a solution. He and his neighbors want a bear hunting season while the "goody-goodys" in town want to protect the bears. I did not want to get into a discussion, but I think he is right. The bears will stay away from people if they are hunted. Bears always lose when they get around people. They need habitat, but their fear of man must be preserved as well for their survival.   I passed a fire tower on a bald. The stairs were not blocked off, but "no trespassing" signs were posted. The AT followed a gravel road and a NJ Power & Light truck came up it; the guys inside smiled and waved. They were probably just up there on the ridge slacking off on a Friday. I found a hiker named Bamboo and his dog at Brink Road Shelter. He had 25 lbs. of food and asked me if I would take some as he wanted to reduce his pack weight. I declined but ate some of his gorp. His little dog, which he had found in Virginia on the AT, was madly digging away at a dead tree stump behind the shelter. The shelter was small, old and dirty, and it was down in a dark cove. There was another shelter 6.6 miles north on the other side of the gap that I thought I might just go on to but Bamboo said he saw six bears near that shelter this morning. He spoke well of the Forest Motel where he had just stayed for two weeks while attending a ceramics camp. I knew there was also a tavern in the gap known among hikers for its great hamburgers. It all fell into place and I said goodby to Bamboo and headed for Culvers Gap.It was only 4 miles to the highway and 1/2 mile down the road to the tavern. I enjoyed a couple of beers and a hamburger and set off for the motel. Unfortunately the busy 4-lane highway had no shoulders and was on a steep grade so there was no way to hitchhike. I walked 1.5 miles down to the motel, knowing that tomorrow I would have walk back up this steep hill. But it was getting late and I had no other option. The Forest Motel is an old, cheap motel that caters to laborers. They had a room available so I rented it. It was very small but adequate for me. It even had HBO, so I watched a Woody Allen movie while eating a sausage sandwich from Rosie's Italian Restaurant across the highway. All was well until 1:00 am when I was awakened by a stream of loud vulgarities coming from the next room. The walls were thin and I could hear every word. One man was particularly loud and obnoxious. He went on and on complaining about this and that, people stealing his money, etc. They were State Fair workers or "carnies" returning from their night jobs. I found a solution in the window, a 1950's model air conditioner about as big as a hatbox that put out a noise like a jet engine. The "white noise" lulled me to sleep.