Date: 2005-07-12
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: Murray Private Property
Miles today: 18.3

Up and gone this morning by 7:05 AM. The evening was uneventful and I did sleep good. Knowing "Big Hungry" was out there did not bother me at all. That Bear wasn't the least bit interested in us. He just wanted to see what scraps were left behind, that's all. He obviously showed no fear which made us place all our stinky stuff (even the tooth paste) into our bear bags and place them in the Metal Bear box located at the shelter.    In this box I also found that a Trail Angel left some food, medical supplies (like cold medicines, band aids and the like) plus some fuel. The gentleman's trail name was on the side of the Tupperware container that he placed the Meds in. I just cannot recall his trail name. The box was big enough for us to put all our bear bags inside of it. A bear box of this design, and size, was truly an indicator that there were bear issues in the past.   As I walked along the ridge line I noticed five Raccoons in front of me, One adult and four kit (young ones). Two little ones went up one tree and Momma plus two went up the other. It was interesting to see that the two went up a tree that was only about 12 feet tall and dead as a door nail. Momma saw me standing there about to take their picture and crawled down to a point where I thought she was going to pounce on me (if I made a move towards her babies). I took two quick photos and backed away, I even jokingly said aloud, "Don't worry Momma, I am outta here but, you may want to scold your little ones on what trees they choose to climb". I could imagine that if it were "Big Hungry" instead of me standing there, he would have had a little snack that day.   I took a break at the Sunrise Mountain Pavilion for a short while. It was a beautiful stone building with too many cigarette butts on the ground (some people just don't get it I guess). I then moved on to the Mashipacong Shelter. There I read in the log that Fig and Just Visiting were still on the trail. In fact they were just 2 1/2 days in front of me. I knew I would catch them some day, it was something to look forward to. No word on Blue Angel and Cloth Monkey (I did not know at the time that I would never see them again on the trail).   I caught up to Vapors, or vise versa, at the High Point Information Center. We both stopped in to take a break and fill up on water (not to mention check out the hiker box). Eventually Vapors continued on up the trail and I decided to stop in at the "High Point State Park's Recreation Area" (which was out the Information Center's front door and west). It was a mile off of the trail. There they had a concession stand, a beach for swimming, a shower area and it did not cost anything to enter. I spent the "heat of the day" there but did not swim. I took a nice shower however, and rinsed my cloths out. A couple of other hikers were there and after talking to them and some of the local folk, I moved on. Interesting note, the Rangers at the park handed out trash bags so visitors could pack out their own trash. What a great idea and a heck of a savings in cost for the Parks Department. Plus this had to be the cleanest park I have seen to date. With a trash bag in hand, people readily use it instead of tossing their trash on the ground. (Great idea)   I ended up staying at the Murray Private Shelter with Vapors and two other hikers (one NOBO and a section hiking guest of his). The place was outstanding. It had two showers, one inside and one outside. I took another shower under the outside faucet. There were also Donkeys kept on the property and they were incredibly loud when the would bay (bellow). One hiker wrote in the log that he had one Donkey put it's head near his face and then let out a noise that scared him half to death. He said it sounded as if Sasquatch itself, a "Big Foot Monster", was calling out it's mating call. I had to laugh, in fact I laughed every time I heard the noise. I am even laughing as I type.   I had to stay in my tent that evening. I tried staying inside in the loft, then out on the porch but, the mosquitos were out in "blood lust force". I erected my bug screen portion of my tent (free standing) under an outbuilding's porch. The critters were so numerous that I had to put in my ear plugs in to get any sleep. Ear plugs by the way are a great thing to have if you want to cut down on the shelter noise (snoring and such). Who knew I would need them to mask the sound of all those buzzing little bastards.