Date: 2015-07-09
From: Stealth Camp at Mile 1310.8

To: Stealth Camp at Mile 1328.0
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Southpaw checked the weather last night and it showed a dry morning with ever increasing chance of rain in the afternoon, culminating in 100% chance by 6 pm. So I thought it would be prudent to start early and get to camp well before 6pm. However when I woke at 5:30 or so, it was raining pretty hard. I couldn't get enough signal to check weather.com to see if it was supposed to end soon and given the forecast I figured it might just ran all day. So I did all my chores in the rain and left camp soaking wet at 6:25.It stopped raining around 7:15. Even after it stopped though, it was still misty and gloomy out for the rest of the morning and consequently there were no views.I just put my head down and figured it would be a 'just get it done' kind of day, and to a large extent it was. I managed to completely miss the first shelter where I had planned to stop for lunch so I ate lunch on top of some mountain while chatting with Kevin and Tim who are slack packing all the way to Vermont.Fortunately this mountain top was not as mosquito riddled as the trail had been in the morning. I used copious amounts of bug spray and still got bitten all over the place. Usually the mosquitoes don't really manage to get you unless you stop, however briefly, but the Jersey mosquitoes are more evolved and bite while you're on the move. In the afternoon, the sun started to come out, which meant that I had a couple of views, so that was nice. Other than that, it was now hot and humid instead of cool and humid, which I didn't consider an improvement. I made it to the second shelter, where I planned to get water for camp. Camp was next to a 'slow flowing outlet from pond' which does not sound at all appealing to drink. When I got to the shelter, the only other person there asked if I was thru-hiking. I said I was and he pointed to a grocery bag of sodas and invited me to have my pick. I love soda trail magic! The hiker was a local named Snores (I wonder how he got that name, heh) and he hikes to the shelters in his area every so often and does trail magic. Thanks much, Snores, that Mountain Dew hit the spot! (And toilet paper at the privy is a nice touch also!).The water source at this shelter was really good as well, so I filled up as planned and started the last four miles to camp. It went by fairly quickly except for the fact that my blister (no issue all day) was acting up, I developed a new hot spot on my other foot because my feet had been wet since I put my shoes on, and I had some chafing in unmentionable areas. Oy!When I passed the stream near camp though, I was very glad I had gotten water at the shelter; it looked nasty! The camp site itself wasn't too impressive either and barely big enough for three tents. In fact when Southpaw arrived a little later, she decided to hike on to the next shelter (1.6 miles) so we could all have a bit more space. She is young and fast and she made it before the rain with time to spare. I got all my chores done in short order, since there was now a 100% chance of rain by 7 pm. I managed to be safe and dry in my tent when it started. Pony Pusher got here as the skies were darkening but she too managed to get at least her tent up before the rain. I have heard from three or four people that New Jersey is such a fun trail state. Between the rain, blisters, skeeters and chafing, you'll excuse me if it hasn't made my list of favorite trail states just yet.But, tomorrow is another day, last I checked the forecast was good, we are going to a town which means town food at the end of the day and there is a snack bar somewhere along the way. New Jersey might make it on that favorite trail states list yet. Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?