Date: 2008-05-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Ok so this entry is to sum up my backpacking trip I had with Will last weekend...here's how it went:Day 1: Drop cars and head down to starting point at Stokes State Forest. Somehow in the planning I managed to screw up a little, and start BEFORE the point I THOUGHT we were starting at, didn't realize it until half the day was though. So needless to say, it racked up extra miles I had not intended on. Ok anyway, it was raining all day and I had a bad cold to boot, so I knew this would be an extra fun trip. I was so excited to be on the trail that I did not care that I felt sort of crappy. We hike a good part of the day as it downpoured, and finally arrive at a shelter. There were two other people there and I ask them which shelter we are at, pull out my notes and map, and realize "oh crap, we have another 7 miles to go, oops!" Nothing too noteworthy to write about from day 1, other than it was wet, fun and a little tiring. Oh wait, we did climb culvers fire tower and snap a few cool pics. The day ended up being a 16 mile day, something I had not planned. Day 2: Well, I hardly slept the night before because I took day time cold medicine that kept me up. So the 2 of us get up to a cool morning and lots of wet clothes. I run to the bear box to get our food, make breakfast, we putz around taking our time breaking camp, and off we go for another 16 mile day. Thankfully, the weather was really nice, and we got some nice views of NJ, and also of the high point monument. About half way through the day, my body starts to shut down, my feet hurt worse than ever before, and I'm wondering HOW am I supposed to push another 7 or 8 miles? I'm not used to going 16 mile days w/ a 30 lb pack, but I know I'll eventually build up to that plus more. However, Will was such a good partner, he took a little weight off me and kept on going, despite that fact that he was hurting a little himself. I knew I had to keep on going to get to the shelter, otherwise I would be sleeping in the middle of the trail. We hiked all along a wildlife preserve, which really didn't look like anything too special, but I did see a lot of swans which I don't see too often. So once we got to the shelter, I was SO happy to see that nobody was there again, so we didn't have to worry about waking anyone up or bothering anyone, since it was starting to get a little bit late in hiker time. I laid down for a solid 10 minutes, letting my feet recover a little bit before I made dinner and turned in for the night. Soon after, dinner made, clothes changed, and ready for bed, and I finally slept, no cold meds that night!Day 3: An early start, we were much faster at breaking camp this time, but we had much less miles to walk, about 7. It was a beautiful morning, slightly cool out. I was feeling great and ready for another day of hiking. The scenery was so pretty, we walked though some more farm land, just like the day before, which I did not mention above. Lots and lots of farm land, grassy fields with cows and BIG cow pies all over. Sweet! Welcome to NJ! So a short day with good hiking and good views, couldn't complain one bit. As we got closer to the mountain where I knew my car was parked, I did get a little sad that the trip was over, but there will be many more trips to be had before the BIG one. Will was such a trooper and fun to backpack with, I hope he will do it again. Maybe I'll leave the planning up to him next time Looking forward to my summer trips and testing out my gear. Now it's time to get ready for Utah next week...Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon, here I come!