Date: 2008-05-24
From: Mohican Outdoor Center NJ

To: Gren Anderson Shelter NJ
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: broken clouds

Day 97 ¢ Saturday May 24 ¢ Gren Anderson Shelter NJ ¢ Miles Today: 20.9 Total Miles: 1313.0We woke up on our little tenting platform about 5:00 and decided on a very early start, as we had a lot of miles to do today - over 21 total miles, due to a half-mile track back to the trail. It was 47 degrees, a bit chilly. At some point in time during the night or early morning, we had a few sprinkles though it does not appear to have been a long lasting one.Today's hike was rather uneventful. It was partly sunny with not only no rain but also no threat of rain! Wow. A pretty day overall, in the mid 70s. The trail had some rock and boulder hopping, but not much. The small toes of Grasshopper's left foot took a beating on the Pennsylvania rocks and are tender so we're hoping soon to have a day of fewer miles and fewer rocks to give them a chance for recovery. This afternoon we took a break at a trail junction to a shelter and ran into 3 day-hikers. We shared some stories with them and they offered us food or water, but believe it or not, we said we were quite fine. That must be the first time we passed on food! They said tomorrow they're going to have a donut breakfast at a pavilion just a couple miles past where we¢ll camp tonight. OK, now they have our salvia glands going. But since we will be camping so close to the pavilion, I don't think we're going to be able to delay our start that late to participate in the breakfast. With our planned long miles for tomorrow, we¢ll be doing another early start. Drat! Donuts sounded so good! We had a couple views today. The views, of course, are not mountainous, they're valleys and lakes. For breakfast we sat on a rock overlooking valleys with tons of trees and a few houses. For an afternoon break we looked out over a lake with homes all along the shoreline. The trail passed a couple fire towers today. We climbed up the first one, but the views are just not like the North Carolina mountains with the huge ridges. The views are pretty in their own way, but they're really just small hills.   When we arrived to the second tower, we opted out of climbing to see the view. We're both shocked that northern New Jersey, where the AT goes, has so many trees, state parks and protected lands.We saw a deer running through the woods today. And over these past few days, we¢ve heard the noise of a new animal ¢ crickets! Don't know if we¢re just hearing them for the first time due to the time of year or due to our geographic location, but it reminds us of home. Oh, and unfortunately the mosquitoes are still here.We heard a plane spraying for the gypsy moth worm today. Luckily, the plane was not flying over us. It sounded like the plane was south of us, in Pennsylvania, so perhaps Josh and Amanda got sprayed today. Who knows, in a few years, all four of us could be glowing green. We are still seeing the occasional gypsy moth worm, but not nearly to the degree that we saw them in Pennsylvania. We're at the Gren Anderson shelter tonight enjoying the quiet shelter area all to ourselves, which we find quite odd given that it¢s Memorial Day weekend! We passed a big group of kids earlier, but perhaps they are headed to the next shelter. One advantage of the New Jersey shelters is the bear boxes that are provided, so we don't have to hang our food bag, which is nice.We've spent some time tonight reviewing our schedule for the coming week and again are finding the shelters either too close or too far apart for comfort. We¢ve decided to skip the resupply in Vernon, which was about 4 miles off the trail, instead opting to go into Unionville, which is just a half-mile or less off the trail. So tomorrow is going to be a long 20-mile day to Unionville. Apparently, the Unionville mayor allows people to stay at his home! Gosh, I can¢t quite imagine staying at a mayor¢s home in our current condition of dress and cleanliness. Hopefully he does not come to the door dressed in a business suit! We're not quite sure of all the details, as our book doesn't mention his place. If we can¢t figure out the mayor¢s offerings, we can camp at the town pavilion. We plan on another early start tomorrow and we're just going to have to see what Unionville, with a population of 20-50 people, has to offer. It's 8:00 and about 60-65 degrees. We've done as much planning as we can do. It's supposed to be another beautiful day tomorrow, so we're off to Unionville to perhaps see the mayor. Goodnight.