Date: 2013-07-31
From: Vernon, NJ (church hostel)

To: View Entry
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Slept fine last night. Smirks woke up feeling less sick than the previous day. The south bounders got up super early and left hours before any of the north bounders. I got up at 8am to reheat some left over bagels in a toaster oven for mine and Smirks breakfast. A lady came by around 9am to clean up the hostel. She told me there was a box of clothes by the hiker fridge. I already knew this. I told her there was nothing in the box that I needed but asked her if the church had any extra sheets or a quilt that I could have. She sorta said yes and sorta said no but ended up bring me a clean matching sheet, pillow case, and fitted sheet. Brother Bear stayed behind today this morning while Smirks and I walked a quarter mile to the A&P grocery store. On the way there we are passed by a familiar looking car... It's Jeff!! He makes an awful looking u-turn at the intersection and circles back around to ask us where the church hostel is located at. With him is Lucky 1 who has recently decided to leave the trail and return home. The price for groceries gets more and more expensive the further north we go. Hell, the price of everything gets more expensive farther north. Even the vending machine sodas and concession stand sandwiches have skyrocketed. Luckily we don't need much for this resupply. I've been digging through hiker boxes lately, pulling out whatever foods that I find. So we escape this resupply without breaking the bank. When we get back to the hostel to separate our food I give Jeff a call to see if he is still in the area. He is 20 mins away giving Brother Bear a ride to Greenwood Lake, NY and will be back to the hostel shortly. Not long later Jeff returns, with both Lucky 1 and Brother Bear. He is visibly worn out and tired. I hesitate to ask him for a ride but he is quick to give me one. Coincidentally I picked out a road and trail crossing where he had just drove from. It's past 1pm and the road crossing is 15 trail miles away. I do this slack packing alone so Smirks can relax at the church hostel and recovery some more. I ask her to have a 2-liter of generic Mt. Dew ready for my return. I finish the south bound slack pack 15 miles in just under 4.5 hours and surprisingly Jeff is there at the road sitting in his truck waiting for some other hikers to arrive from the opposite section. They show up soon and we all go back to the church hostel for the night. I love when things just magically work out on the trail. I was excited to see that Smirks got me a legit Mt. Dew even though I was going to settle for on off brand soda. She also picked us up some microwaveable pizzas for dinner. Tonight was a full house at the hostel. Last night had 6total hikers but tonight had closer to 15 people. Zach Galifinakis even showed up! I hadn't seen him in over 6 weeks. Also here tonight was Brother Bear, Feather, Ember, Piper, Enoch, Limey, Uncle Buck, Turtle, Righteous, G-Ma, Jeff, and a few others I've never met. Post office still didn't have my package yet. (Sawyer water filter gaskets)Spent the night watching a marathon of "Naked & Afraid". My hike included a 15ft. ladder nailed to the mountain, a big American flag posted in a pile of large rocks, views of distant lakes, a bunch of rolling up and down rock scrambles, the NJ-NY border, and a steep decline back into Vernon, NJ. Got my first taste of the trail in NY and quickly realized that their section is very loosely maintained or blazed. Ended up hiking on old AT trails and random paths for some miles.