Date: 2018-05-27
From: Brink Rd Shelter

To: Rutherford Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

This would have been a fine day to stay in bed, calling room service for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Brinks Road Shelter was very nice, and I had it all to myself, but room service was not an option. My Neoair mattress is comfortable as far as sleeping pads go, but it doesn¢t encourage indolence. When I wake up and accept the inevitability of a new day, I reach behind my right shoulder and open the mattress valve. When the hissing has ended and my back is feeling the wooden shelter floor or a rock beneath my tent, there¢s a certain imperative to getting up. Needing to pee only accelerates the process. At least the forecasted rain showers hadn¢t materialized overnight. I could hear thunderstorms in the early morning hours but the only sound to greet me at 5:00 was bird calls. The air was heavy and still, warm and suffocating. I didn¢t think twice about either putting on my pack cover or not donning my rain jacket. A nice brief shower would have felt so good. What we got, however, about 30 minutes into my hike, was not a brief shower but a heavy cloud burst for about an hour, leaving me cold and thoroughly drenched.When I got down to Culver¢s Gap, I didn¢t expect to find anything open where I might enjoy a hot breakfast, but to the West, I could see a neon open sign. I walked down the highway only to find a fishing shop with bins and bins of artificial lures and flies. The only fresh food was nightcrawlers and shiners. I wasn¢t tempted but a minute and returned to the trail disappointed. I could have walked a mile to a diner in the other direction, but it just seemed too far when I had already eaten bacon on tortilla. I stopped to filter water from the stream by Gren Anderson Shelter. It was lightly tannin colored but tasted fine. Then I stopped for my morning snack at Sunrise Picnic Pavilion atop Sunrise Mountain, where I met a ridge runner. ATC granted the State of New Jersey funds for three ridgerunners along the Appalachian Trail. They have no law enforcement powers, but try to educate trail users in Leave No Trace. They also perform light trail maintenance, pick up trash, and deconstruct fire rings at the shelters. Open fires are not permitted in New Jersey. The Sunrise Pavilion is popular with locals, especially on a Sunday morning, because there is road access to a parking area just below the Pavilion. I met a nice couple who offered me a snack. We had been talking about Trail magic and it might have seemed like a clever Yogi to them. I fear they felt obligated to offer me something, so I declined. Magic should be freely given. Besides, I had just eaten my snack. I stopped at Mashipacong Shelter for lunch, about 30 minutes later. The ridgerunner came in and deconstructed its fire ring, finding the cremains of some fraction of an animal, possibly a rabbit. By now it was lightly raining again, a gentle mist, that lasted the 2.6 miles to the side trail to Rutherford Shelter. It¢s nearly 1/2 mile off the trail, probably the farthest I¢ve ever walked from the trail for a Shelter. I¢m hoping the distance will keep the numbers down tonight, especially since the rain continues. It¢s an older shelter set in a grassy meadow. There¢s a well-maintained moldering privy, a bear box, and access to a clear running stream very near the shelter. A thru hiker from a couple of years ago, Sandy, and her friend Mickey have come in. After a couple hours of hiking, my lungs cleared this morning and I felt like myself again, walking up the hills without concern. Today was 15 miles and I felt like I could easily have gone on. Tomorrow will be only 11.7 miles to Unionville, NY where I can reprovision and spend the night in the town pavilion. Perhaps Tuesday, I¢ll try a 20 mile day and declare myself healthy once more. In spite of the satellite dish atop the roof of this shelter, there is no cell phone reception.