Date: 2018-07-23
From: Stealth site near Crater Lake

To: High Point State Park
Miles today: 20.5

I woke up to rain hitting my rain fly. The water was pooling around my tent but luckily it didn't get in. We called the large puddle "lake bramily." It then rained harder and we didn't want to pack anything down because it would get wet anyways. I ended up eating poptarts in my tent. Lupine made some coffee and that really helped me get ready for the day. The rain stopped at 8 am. We hurried and packed everything up while it stopped. We then hiked out around 9 am.  The rain started again but it was more of a sprinkle. The tree canopy helped block the rain as we hiked. We got water then planned on hiking 10 miles to a shelter for lunch. The trail was wet and my feet were soaked. My socks were grinding into my feet and at one point I had to stop to take care of a blister on my middle toe. I didn't see Lupine or Rosie for ten miles to the shelter. On the way I met a hiker named Lauren who showed me all the newts on the ground. They were a dark orange and I had trouble seeing them in the leaves. It was probably because I was color blind and the newts blended in perfectly. I came to a road that had a tavern but decided to walk on because I had so much food still. On the other side of the road I ran into Rolly who I hadn't seen since the roller coaster in Virginia. He was waiting for a package in the near by town. I caught up with him and he gave me a swig of his bourbon. Feeling warmer I headed onto the shelter.  At the shelter, Spot was already eating there. I sat next to him and built myself some bagel, ham, and cheese sandwiches. Spot had thru hiked the trail 5 times since 1996 and had seen it change over the years. People had flip phones back then but they hardly worked. The main way of communicating was through the log books at the shelters.  He told me about a few swimming holes coming up but with all this rain I might not hit a single one in New Jersey. I made a couple bagels with ham and cheese for lunch. The mosquitos were in full force at this shelter. Spot was smart and had long sleeves and pants. I was eaten alive. I got more water and quickly got out of there.A mile down the trail I ran into Rosie and Lupine. They thought I was way ahead but I took a lot of time to eat lunch. We were going to hike to high point state park about 11 miles away. There were still a lot of rocks on the trail. We reached a shelter were I changed into dry socks since my pinky toes were killing me. The sky darkened and it started to rain again. It was a little at first then a sudden downpour. My dry socks were instantly soaked. We started climbing small rocky mountains in the wet and cold. Our shoes would slosh in the puddles between the rocks. Some areas were steep with sharp jagged rocks and we made sure to go slow over those areas. After a slow crawl we came to a clearing and we were at the state park. We were hoping for a gazebo to camp under but there wasn't one in sight. Luckily there was a water spigot were we could fill up. We walked over to the hiker parking lot and found a grassy area next to the lot. There was a lull in the rain which gave us enough time to setup our tents. We cooked our food on the picnic table nearby. I made a pasta dish for dinner. While we were eating it started to downpour. It was the saddest meal on the trail yet. I quickly finished my food and got into my tent. Inside my rain fly was so saturated that it started dripping inside my tent. The water was hitting my shoulders. I put my fleece in that area so it got wet instead of my sleeping bag.  Tonight I'm battling off the water drips in my tent.