Date: 2021-05-19
From: Pennsylvania/New Jersey state line

To: Stealth site in NJ
Miles today: 14.46
Weather: overcast clouds

I consulted with my sports psychologist/hiking coach this morning  and came up with a slow-walk plan for the day: leisurely exit from the hotel and see whether it would be a 4 mile day or a whatever mile day. In conjunction with this, NJ native and faster-hiker-than-me Easy inadvertently threw out a ¢New Jersey Challenge¢ for me in the Guest Book. He was kind enough to list some cool spots and highlights of the NJ section that I then took as a throwing down of th gauntlet: game on!Leaving the hotel at 8:30 after making some adjustments to my pack straps and suspension (either my hip bones are moving higher or there¢s less of me hiding them away)  I walked by the Village Farm and Bakery and saw two hikers I know sitting and having breakfast. (Some sources report that a certain gimpy hiker may have had a piece of pie and a large coffee, but these reports remain unconfirmed as of this writing). It didn¢t sound like anyone had a big day planned as Grumpy Cat had three weeks to do 300 miles before he flies out of Albany to Colorado for his Army retirement and Sugar Man was just taking a short day. Retraced my steps back to the Tollbridge and the NJ border, crossing the painted line at 9:15. By the by, I intellectually understand the engineering principle that flexible structures are more durable and resilient than rigid structures, but when you¢re walking across a four lane concrete bridge 50 feet over a river and every time a semi passes you feel the bridge bounce, it¢s a little...disconcerting. After the road walk ended I stepped into a NJ park and the first 1/4 mile hiking up a falling stream was more pretty than the last 45 miles of Pennsylvania. I had an idea for an ad campaign the Pennsylvania tourist bureau to try and lure daredevils, thrill seekers and masochists to their stage: ¢Come hike Pennsylvania - WE DARE YOU!¢Now, there were still rocks. Geology generally doesn¢t respect state lines,but for the most part they never went over a 7 on the horror scale. A few miles in I stopped at an actual spring fed stream and was getting water when Grumpy Cat came up. As he was filtering he found two ticks on his arm. Yikes!  Another half mile up I took my first shoes off/socks off break of the day on top of Raccoon Ridge (the first stop on my NJ challenge) and had lunch. As I chilled another.hiker came up (didn¢t catch her name) and as she sat she found a tick on her leg. Double yikes!Move ahead another 3 miles (about 10 total for the day) and I came to the road that leads to the Mohican ATC center where cold drinks beckoned. I took the .3 mile gravel road to the center for my second break of the day. Got a. Iced tea and sat in the shade in an Adirondack chair for a good 45 minutes. GC, Sugar Man and three other hikers arrived and all decided to call it a day. They did have a good $10 hiker camping special that as really tempting, but I eventually decided to move on a few more miles. As I was re- shoeing myself to day hikers sat down nearby and one of the ladies found a tick on her neck. TRIPLE YIKES!  Paranoia eventually set in and I felt as if I was crawling with ticks. I sent all my hiking clothes to a company that tears them with permethrin and says it will resell tics  thri 70 launderings. So far, so good. No tics on yours truly. After leaving the Campground, there was a climb and then an awesome ridge walk with views for miles and miles and miles to the east. It was still rocky, but I could stop occasionally and soak in the view. One day in and I like New Jersey, this being the first time I¢ve ever been to the state. Around 5:30 I came to the Catfish Fire tower and lo and behold! Someone was in it. There was a picnic table at the base so I stopped to eat dinner (being that I don¢t want to eat where I camp and invite bears to snoop).  As I was unpacking the man up in the observation post at the top of the tower leaned out and shouted down that I was welcome to climb the tower for a better view, but then I couldn¢t go the observation deck due to regulations. As he was apparently at least shirtless, the distinct lack of personal space up there made me glad I didn¢t have to decline an invitation to go son the way to the top. He was there to monitor a industrial fire about 30 miles away as it is very dry in the region. Luckily, the winds are low.m, keeping the threat of a spread low. Hiking forward, I next came to a beaver dam and there was one of the critters chilling in the waters edge about 30 feet away. I also heard two loud snacks from my left - like a beaver tail hitting the water - and two more seam into view. Cool!About 1/2 mile away was my proposed camping spot for the night, but it ended up being to close to a road and brought back memories of earlier in my hike and the Night Of Tripping Mad Balls. Ok, head off another 1.2 miles to a stealth site. On the way there a came across a juvtsnake about 8-10 inches long that was a rat snake,  garder snake or ring neck snake. It coiled and looked menacing. Hopefully I got a good enough picture to identify it tomorrow. Last but not least, the gaiters. I bought gaiters that attach to the top and back of your shoes to keep debris and dirt out. First day of using them and I¢m a fan. When I got to camp tonight and did my tic and toe checks, my feet were clean and nothing got into my shoes. All in all, even given the rocky trail, Harry and Dudley are content tonight. The next test will come in the morning. I won¢t stay up studying.