Date: 2015-06-07
From: Liberty Corners Road

To: High Point State Park HQ
Miles today: 13.6

Today was a short day for us and tomorrow is even shorter. We did this stretch with Professor T last year and his knee was really hurting so we didn't push hard. We could have done considerably more today and we thought about it, but we decided to stick with the plan. The route today was really enjoyable, a lot of variation and a number of short climbs and descents. The first couple of miles was around the Wallkill Reserve - a plank walk through a swampy area and then a long walk around the perimeter of the reserve. It was early morning and still cool, so it wasn't too steamy. Much of the rest of the hike consisted of short segments through woods, up and down hills, plank walks across marshy areas, past ponds, through meadows, over old stone fences, rock hops across small streams, and so forth. The weather was beautiful, sunny most of the time and creating highlights as it filtered through the first canopy. A few rocky segments, but they were short. I tried to push a little too fast and managed to trip and fall again, so I added a couple more scratches to my knee - no serious damage. The last couple of miles at the end of the hike were quite different. We had been climbing gradually for quite a while and the trail turned uphill quickly as we headed up toward the High Point Park HQ. The rocks returned and initial sections of the climb were very rocky. Then the rocks changed to the larger longer rocks that I mentioned yesterday; they were dry and much easier to move across. Wallace provided some interesting insight into these rocks in our guest book and his description is quite accurate. These continued all the way across the top of the hill. I climbed up a short observation tower on the trail and it yielded a good view of the 220 foot Monument to War Veterans erected at the highest point in NJ. It was several tenths of a mile off trail so we didn't hike up to it. There were also good long distance views, but I didn't recognize any specific features. After leaving the tower we crossed several other rock outcrops and then began a descent to the park HQ where we finished yesterday. The only downside to the hike today was a tick that Princess found when we finished. I've included a picture to show you how small they can be. It's hard to see in the photo, but you can see legs. Almost all of the grassy areas we went through today has been recently mowed to minimize exposure to ticks, and the brush was cut back. But there were still a few areas where maintenance could be improved. All-in-all, this is one of the best maintained sections we've seen in a while. We met a friendly hiker we have seen several times just in front of the HQ and we talked with him for a bit. His name is Six Pack. He started a hike some years ago, but had to leave at Harpers Ferry. So now he's come back to finish the rest. We also met another hiker today, Happy, that we've seen several times and we talked with him a bit. And we met Rock Doctor again. We first met him in Delaware Water Gap and we've seen him often since then. I've included his pic, and also Six Pack. I may have talked about it before, but we've met a number of flip flop hikers this year. FFs are hikers who start somewhere near the middle of the trail and hike to one end of the trail. Then they return to their starting point and finish by hiking toward the other end. Often they start at Harpers Ferry and hike north during the summer months and then hike the southern part of the trail after things start cooling down in the fall. The AT Conservancy supports this approach since it "levels the load" on the shelters and campsites. Each year the number of thru-hikers has been increasing and the hiking movies coming out will probably draw more people. If everyone started in the south in the spring, the southern shelters would be swamped (I think about a quarter of the thru-hikers start at Katahdin and go SoBo). So flip flopping distributes the load more broadly along the trail. Tonight we're spending our 2nd and last night here at High Point Country Inn. We've had a good time here, especially with Ron who manages the inn and also runs the shuttles. Princess has a good time talking with him and he's been very accommodating. We can see some improvements in the inn since last year, and it's full tonight. It's only a mile and a half off the trail and Ron will pick you up at the park HQ in a matter of minutes, no charge. That works for us.