Date: 2006-09-30
From: Secret Shelter

To: Brink Rd Shelter
Miles today: 24.5

Technically I¢m at the mileage marker for Brink Rd Shelter but no way in hell was I actually staying there¢¦here¢s the story.        Awoke at the Secret Shelter super psyched to hike to meet Northerner. I had about 6 miles to do to the Monument where I was to meet North and had to be there at 10am sharp or else I knew the hell he¢d give me all weekend if in fact I showed up late.         Enjoyed my sunny morning walk passing through cow pastures where the cows were totally perplexed by both my presence and my attempts to chat them up. I was set to be right on time to meet North when suddenly I was hiking down hill. It¢s called High Point Monument for a reason¢¦not because it¢s down a the bottom of a hill. I¢d missed the side trail.         Fortunately for me North had his cell phone on and I was able to arrange to meet him in a new location, plus, he was running late. Ha. Now I could give him hell all weekend.         We met at the visitors center and headed out from there- me, North and his lady friend. It was a pleasure to finally meet her- she and I have lots in common, including our excellent taste in friends like North. She hike with us all the way to Mashipacong Shelter where we said our goodbyes and continued on just like old times, me and North.         At Culver¢s Gap I dawdled on a decision to stay put or move on, after all that was 20 miles for the day for me already! Um, plus, it was raining, but I knew North wouldn¢t be down with hitching in for a room since he was only out to hike for 1 night, even though I knew he knew that I would want one in the pouring rain. We moved on. Besides if we didn¢t that would mean 28 miles to North¢s car for tomorrow¢s hike and we all knew that wasn¢t happening.        Now here¢s a short list of things I hate about hiking: hiking in the dark, hiking while hungry, setting up camp in the rain, setting up camp in the dark, cooking in the dark, and cooking in the rain. Combine as many of these as possible and voila! you have what our evening would entail now that I had supidly said that we should hike on past Culver¢s Gap.                 Eventually we made Brink Rd Shelter and I was happy to have a place to duck out of the rain to cook dinner. Besides maybe this place was actually sleepable¢¦I mean I hate shelters but maybe there were no mice here. Just as I was saying this aloud a mouse scurried by. OK, so we¢d have to set up our tarps in the rain, no biggie.         It poured while we ate and we joked that it seemed to be slowing down¢¦but truly, it was a deluge- sheets of rain. Then, there was the strangest but most clear noise ever. It was the sound of a bear picking up the bear box, getting angry that it was empty and then throwing it against a tree. Or at least he opened the lid on it and slammed it shut. Or¢¦well, it was defs a bear and I was defs not staying at Brink Rd Shelter that night, no way, no how.        Fortunately for me, North knows me all too well and already knew that I would want to go into town and had scoped out the map for just this occasion. Yes, Brink Rd lead to 521 which lead¢¦back to Culver¢s Gap. Done. We WALKED almost 6 miles, 6 miles that is that I can¢t count toward my day because they weren¢t AT miles back into town to a $50/night motel, which as sketchy as it was still was SO worth it. I slept as soon as my head hit the pillow¢¦