Date: 2016-06-29
From: Kitattiny Visitor Center / Pequannock, NJ

To: Brink Shelter
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Jun 29, 2016 - This entire trip, I have been an ambassador for Taylor Ham (pork roll) to other hikers. Now that I had kidnapped 10 other hikers and had them trapped at my house, it only seemed right that I feed them the sandwich that I've been raving about for so long: Taylor Ham, egg and cheese on an everything bagel with salt, pepper and ketchup. I ordered 13 sandwiches (I fully intended to pack one out) and my Dad graciously picked them up from Bagel Heaven down the street. The breakfast sandwiches went over wonderfully as I expected, of course. My parents drove us all to the Delaware Water Gap around mid morning and our they hike resumed. We all made it a few miles to Sunfish pond before we broke for a break and a snack. It's always tough to get back into the groove after a zero. We couldn't resist a swim in the beautiful and super refreshing Sunfish Pond. The rest of the day was a casual hike through the thankfully less rocky NJ terrain. I mean I can't tell you how happy we all were to leave the rocks of PA behind us. I had intended to stop at a campsite 20 miles in, but the water source was extremely stagnant. I hiked on over Rattlesnake mountain because there was supposed to be a reliable spring on the other side. However, the spring was dry - the lack of water in PA followed us through the first part of NJ. I would have loved to cowboy camp on top of the breezy summit of Rattlesnake Mountain, but I just didn't have any water. Dehydrated and parched, I pushed onto the shelter where I completed my 23.5 mile day. When I finally made it to the shelter tonight, it was obvious there was a large crowd already there. Obnoxiously loud laughter and yelling emanated from the wooden lean to while I filled and treated my water. I walked a little closer to check out the source of all the noise and found 12 young people horsing around with small piles of garbage and beer cans littered everywhere. I asked if they were thru hikers and they enthusiastically answered in the affirmative. However, one look at their gear, their countenances, and their general attitudes proved they were definitely not thru hikers. Sorry, but thru hikers don't wear Timberland boots or sound like that after 8 pm at a shelter. People like this are why thru hikers and the Appalachian Trail are starting to get a bad reputation. The trail is supposedly transforming into this out of control party atmosphere. I strongly disagree with this. We thru hikers may drink often, smoke a lot (not me, but it is definitely part of the culture) and otherwise have an incredible amount of fun, but the thru hikers I know only have one goal in mind and that's Mt. Katahdin. The trail is, without a doubt, a social event, but just like anything else in life, it's the people and the relationships with those people that make something worth it. We continually put in our miles, respect each other and respect the trail and all the various constituents that make the AT such a unique place. The key to hiking the AT and doing anything else in life is balance: we work when we have to and we play when we can. I ended up camping with only Treebeard, Waterfall and Olive Oil. The others must have stopped to camp earlier.