Date: 2005-06-09
From: NJ 94 (New Milford, CT) 

To: Lakes Rd. (New Milford, CT)
Miles today: 18.8

start: NJ 94finish: Lakes Rd. (moosie hostel)miles: 18.8day: 94Wow, did I ever sleep good.  Just not long enough.  We have that long commute now, you know.  Mrs. Moosie got up with us and fed us cereal and fresh fruit for breakfast.  She runs a wonderful hostel.  I could live here all the time when I'm through with this hike.  It's even air conditioned!Goldilocks grabbed some Grateful Dead CDs for the long ride back to the trailhead, and we were off.  Now exactly where is that trail crossing?  Our plan, you see, is that some of us will hike south, and some north, over the same trail, each group having a key to the car.  So we need to find the Lakes Rd. trailhead, as that's our northern terminus for the day.  We stop at a gas station and pick up a good map.  We finally get there and drop off Gunter and Goldilocks, who will be SOBO NOBOs for the day.  Pigpen and I drive to Vernon, checking the hostel in case Kodak came in late, but there has been no one there since we left last night.Us NOBOs finally get hiking at 10:45, and the trail is nice and easy, with leafy cover, which keeps it a little cooler, although it's very hot and humid.Pigpen loves his new Jansport daypack that he borrowed from the Moosie Hostel.  He sets a comfortable pace and we cruise through the quiet forest.  At one point we come upon a 5 foot rat snake that looks as if it's just eaten something.  I gently placed my hand under the back third of it's body as if to lift a bit, and it didn't like that.  But instead of acting skittish, it turned quite fast and formed an "S" shape with the front half of it's body, in preparation for attack.  OK, no problem, didn't mean to offend.  It watched me warily as we moved away.  This is the second large rat snake we've seen today.  The first we ran over with the car, unfortunately.  It was laying fully across the lane on a back road and there was no way to avoid it in time.Eventually we meet up with our southbound partners, and they warn us of hotter trail ahead - more rock slabs with no leaf canopy.  They also warn of little or no decent water.  We move on, glad that we'll cross some of the hot parts in the late afternoon.We come to a rocky, grassy ridge from which we can see a large, long lake down below.  Through the haze we can make out buildings and development dotting the shoreline.  We can hear the distant sound of jetskis pounding the waves and splashing.  The splashing sounds heavenly, as we're very hot and thirsty.We eventually come upon some water - a brown stream.  We purify the poopiest looking water imaginable.  It definitely has a "tang" to it.When we reach the end of the hike, the van is waiting at the trailhead, and Gunter has bought beer for Pigpen, and Goldilocks has bought me a big iced tea.  Awesome.  And they've only been waiting 10 minutes.  Good timing.We listen to more Grateful Dead, comfortable in the knowledge that we've done a good day's work as we commute home.  This commute, while long, will get shorter each day as we approach Kent, CT.  At this point our plan is to continue car-hiking through NY and CT.  Certain folks may want to criticize this, until those same folks remember just how nice that Moosie Hostel is.  The rest of you will just have to use your imagination.Dinner is ready when we get home - linguini and clam sauce, bread, and a big salad, followed by homemade strawberry shortcake with whipped cream.  Now this is camping!I called my Mom, as we hadn't spoken since I started hiking.  It was nice to talk to her.  I also spoke to Kodak, at the Vernon hostel.  We made plans for her to hike with us.  Goldilocks and I are zeroing Saturday and Sunday, so she'll take three days to hike the 42 miles to our trail location, and we'll join her Monday morning.I also spoke with Tea Break, who called from Palmerton.  He's trying to catch up so he can hike with us, but it's difficult to close so large a gap.  But he said the loaner gear is working out well, so that's good.