Date: 2012-09-04
From: Murray Farm

To: Brink Road Shelter
Miles today: 25.0
Weather: light rain

I am very late writing this after an exceptionally long day. We left the Murray Farm under overcast skies at about 8:30 AM. The miles passed quickly to High Point, the aptly named highest point in New Jersey. It was foggy and wet, so we didn't bother going to the famed High Point tower. At the base of the mountain, we stopped at the High Point State Park Visitors Center for lunch and were treated to free Sprites courtesy of the Friends of HPSP. The park really seemed to go out of its way to be hospitable toward through-hikers.Our group (Halfway, Cold Beer, and I) made it to our intended shelter at about 5:00 PM. A storm was obviously brewing, but nevertheless we voted to go into Branchville for town food. I felt as if I was acting against my better judgement, especially since we haven't exactly been starved of town food of late, but the meal was still just too tempting. We first tried going to the Blue Ribbon Restaurant and Bar, but, after they saw (and perhaps smelled) us and we saw the menu prices, there was a very mutual parting of ways. We then headed to a more fitting location, the Jumbo Diner for some jumbo, home-cooked style meals. We ate like pigs at the trough. Rain began to fall as we hiked along the highway back toward the AT. Cold Beer and Halfway decided they would hole up at the state park, an option I deemed risky (legally). I opted instead to throw caution to the wind (as to physical risk) and night hike to here. I realized about halfway here just how dependent I was on my headlamp. If it had stopped working, I would have been stuck in the middle of the woods for the night. Fortunately, I only missed one trail turn and was able to backtrack with no major inconvenience.When I finally arrived here, I was hoping and praying for an empty shelter so that I would a.) have a space and b.) not have to disturb people in the shelter who would have ample reason to be annoyed with my late arrival. I couldn't believe it when I arrived -- my old nemesis had struck again! It was another college orientation group, this time from Princeton! The good news was that they had their standard, ridiculously large, white tarp set-up nearby as their tent for the night. The bad news was that they intended to stay in the shelter until the storm passed. They were mainly worried about lightning. That sounded reasonable, so I sat there in my soaked clothes listening again to advice about what to do if one suspects he or she has contracted an STD, this time in the greater Princeton area. I was fine with that, but the last straw came an hour later when I was still sitting in my soaked clothes and, since they had completed their orientation session, they were playing the "Vegetable Game." For those not familiar with the Vegetable Game, it is where participants pick a vegetable and apparently try to speak in a manner that conveys characteristics of said vegetable. That was when I offered to trade the shelter for their tarp if I could just get away from them. Their student leaders finally admitted that the lightning, while still flashing in the distance, was probably far enough away for them to return safely to their tarp.I must say I earned this one -- karma caught up to me. I was the jerk who willfully showed up at a shelter well after dark and I was the one who complained about people doing the same thing in the past. I must say, though, karma plays for keeps, but now WE ARE EVEN!