Date: 2009-07-03
From: Mohican Outdoor Center, NEW JERSEY (mile 1294.1)

To: Brink Road Shelter, NJ
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: clear sky

Cell goodOG notesWe stayed in the bunkhouse in case C6 had a dizzy spell during the night. We ended up being the only ones in the building after all. The bunkhouse has a nice common area with two couches and a few chairs. We made ourselves comfortable and relaxed all evening.We wanted to get an early start this morning but ended up leaving at 8:40 am which is actually late. I thought we had 17 miles to do today and was pleasantly surprised when we recalculated during lunch and found we only had to do 14 miles. That made the late start sit a little better with us.We had a nice morning with only a short bout of rain. We also found some trail magic of Gatorade and goodies set out by Trash Bag and Rodeo Clown, both 07 thru hikers. Thank you for your kindness.We ended up hiking through a heavy thunder storm this afternoon. We had no choice but to keep going as it rained. When you're living in the outdoors you have to take what mother nature throws at you. We donned our ponchos and pressed on. The trail became very wet at times as the water couldn't run off quick enough. That means you either walk in the puddles or straddle them as best you can. Either way your boots get wet and you have to hope for the best. My boots faired okay they held out the water, C6s did not and she had wet feet. She thinks her gaiters allowed water to run down her legs and into the boots, we'll have to find better gaiters for her. Speaking of finding better gear, a lacing eyelet on my new boots pulled out the other day. I haven't worn these boots very much so it was a big surprise when it happenend. I called LL Bean and they're shipping a new pair to Chris' (our son) house. Hopefully they are already there and I'll hit the trail with the new o!>nes tomorrow. That means I'll be starting with brand new boots at approximately the same place (36 miles from here) as I did in 2006. I had trouble with the soles being too hard at first and I didn't get good traction with them for quite a while. I had tried to avert this by breaking in my boots beforehand. Now with new boots I'll be back to where I was last time.C6 notesI was happy to not have any dizziness last night. I felt a little off kilter this morning, however, so I hiked quite slowly and cautiously. The off kilter feeling went away after a while, and we had some stretches of terrain that had few rocks and was fairly level. That was nice. Unfortunately, we were on the mountain ridge during the thunderstorm...that was no fun. I prayed for our safety and we tried to get down from the ridge as fast as we safely could. I made a frustrating discovery today. The gaters I bought don't keep the water out of my boots. Gaters are things you wear around your ankles and calves for a variety of reasons. My primary reason to wear gaters is to keep the water out of my boots during rain storms. I also wear them to keep pebbles from going down my boots. OG wears his a lot to avoid getting poison ivy. Well, his keeps the water out of his boots as they should. Mine don't. The rain came down very heavy for about 30 minutes today, so my boots are soaking wet inside now. OG was able to squeeze out quite a bit of water from my socks when I took them off. I need to get new gaters...the kind that will keep water out! After the storm blew by the sun came out again. As we were eating dinner we heard thunder again, so we're in our tent real early and it rained for a while. It's stopped right now and the sun is out again. It would be nice if it stays dry tonight so we can pack a dry tent in the morning. We'll see.There is a sign by the shelter that lets us know bears are active in this area. There is a bear box for us to put our food in for the night. It's a secure, dry metal box (about 4ft x 4ft) that has a latch that's easy for humans but impossible for bears to open. Since there is only one other tent here and no one in the shelter, we put our food and our packs in the box for the night. I admit that I'm somewhat anxious, but I also feel that we'll be all right.Old Goat & Check Six