Date: 2010-07-11
From: Camp Ken-Etiwa-Pec

To: Gren Anderson Shelter
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: scattered clouds

~~~Chipmunks, Snakes and Bears - oh My~~~Got packed up and left the camp at 707 as the mother porkypine waddled across the field and took a lovely photo of the lake as I was leaving. Hoping that the instamatic camera does it some type of justice. I hiked out with Eric the Red and his father, poor man, who has a large external frame pack borrowed from a friend. It's a Hillary, which indicates that the pack is from the 70's, at least, and doesn't even have clips at the hipbelt. It threads thru a bracket. Jeez, the pack alone must weigh 7 pounds before you put a single item in it. Needless to say, it will be the last time John borrows this pack.This poor man was struggling to keep up with Eric who is of slight build but a strong hiker. I brought up the rear and I was panting as well. After we stopped for a break, I took off on my own to give them that father/son time and I didn't want them to think I was tagging along. So I hiked my own hike.I was thinking that I have yet to see a bear and at every shelter, we are warned about bear activity and why is it that New Jersey, of all places, has so many freakin bears? So, I talked to my brother, Stephen and said, hey I would like to see a bear. Really, within twenty minutes or so, I see out of my peripheral vision, this brown thing. Turns out to be a bear munching berries. I stop. He stops. He looks up at me, brown snout and black nose. Looks me over, says yeah, whatever, and goes back to munching berries. Got my photos and left him alone. So, saw my first bear !The trail is sometimes lined with hundreds of blueberry bushes and you can eat galore. They are smaller than the supermarket berries but really tasty and, of course, free. Hey, 50 thousand NJ bears can't be wrong!Brink Mountain Shelter, where I was going to take a break was .2 off trail, more than I wanted to hike, so I took my break on a rock on trail with no 1/2 mile of extra footage. Yeah....smart.Lots of exposed ridge today. Lots of sunburn because my sunscreen is sweated off. Okay ~ "everything in the data book is a lie" moment. In Culver's Gap, .8 off trail, which means almost 2 miles of extra footage, there was supposed to be a farmer's market, meaning fruit, breads, baked goods, cold drinks and such.Nope...it was a fruit stand where I had to buy at least $10 worth of items in order to use my debit card. So, two peaches, two plums, four snapples and a black cherry soda later (and no baked goods), I park myself in the shade in the parking lot and drink the black cherry soda and two snapples, with no problem actually, and pour the other two snapples in my Gatorade bottle to save weight on the glass bottles. Then, I hoist myself up and hike, along side a busy road, back down to the trailhead, burping once to give me a better fit on my hipbelt.Got to Gren Anderson Shelter with my fruit bag tied behind me, not knowing just how badly I was bruising my peaches with every step. I caught up with Freeman and a ridge runner, Tuit, at a fire tower and followed them in. Shared my fruit and Freeman moved on to the next shelter while Tuit and I hunkered down. Set up my hammock and had a good running stream near the shelter, which was a nice surprise as there have been so many dry streams. They also had, and I have to say I did't use it, an open privy. By open I mean it was a type of comode with a mulch pit and it was open to the public, off to the the back side, but open for all to see.   Nope, not this backpacker. Trees for me, please. Other hikers, Eats More, Sleepy and more came in. I met, briefly, a woman, Jaybird, who was told to look me up from Tiptoe, the hiker I talked to on my way into Boiling Springs. I didn't have a chance to talk to her more as when I got up at 6am, she was already gone. Too bad. There are very few women in my age group out here and I would have liked to hike with her for awhile.