Date: 2016-05-13
From: Culvers Gap

To: High Point, NJ 23
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Another day in paradise - well, actually today was a little less than perfect. We had a constant threat of rain that was predicted for mid-morning and we hoped we could finish before it materialized. Up early as usual and we vacated the Deer Head Inn and were on the road by about 6:00 am. [Challenging considering last night¢s revelry with Kathy & Sherry in the Deer Head Jazz Club.] We had a long drive to the point where we finished yesterday, and since we did a ¢key swap¢ we had to drive even further to an access point along the trail. For the first time, the approach road didn¢t actually go all the way to the trail, so Princess had to hike about a quarter mile from the end of the access road up a side trail to the AT. She hiked SoBo from there and I went back to our starting point for today¢s section, parked the car in an AT parking area and headed NoBo. This was a departure for us since I had not set eyes on the point where the access trail joined the AT (where Princess had started hiking SoBo). When I met Princess midway on the section, she had to give me a description of how to recognize the side trail where she got on the AT. There wasn¢t a sign for the side trail, but she took iPhone pictures and told me exactly how far it was from the Pavilion (a landmark on the AT). Her description was perfect and I had no trouble finding the side trail, and when I headed down that trail, it took me directly to where Princess was waiting in the car for me. I¢m providing the details only because it illustrates one of the potential problems with the ¢key swap¢ strategy, namely when one of the end points is an access trail rather than a paved road crossing. This hasn¢t happened before, but it may be more frequent as we hike further north and there are fewer roads crossing the actual AT.I should mention a couple of electronic aids we use that help us make this work. (1) We both carry iPhones and since we stay off trail every night, we can keep them charged up. We both have the iRunner app and it has a ¢outdoor hike¢ option that gives us the exact distance we¢ve traveled as well as our pace. So she was able to tell me exactly how far it was from the Pavilion landmark to the side access trail. This app apparently uses GPS, because it runs with the phone in ¢airplane¢ mode. (2) I installed an app on my iPhone called ¢Guthook¢s Hiking Guide¢ and I bought a full set of maps for the AT. This app will provide me with my exact location on a map of the AT. I can use a finger spread to zoom in on my location and literally tell if I¢m on the trail, or 10 or 15 feet off the trail. And if I¢m off the trail, I can rotate the phone until it points to where the AT actually is. It also operates in ¢airplane¢ mode, and I can turn the GPS locator on or off to conserve even more power. And the Guthook map of the trail includes all the road crossings, trail crossings, water opportunities, shelters, landmarks, etc. along the trail. Essentially most of the same markers as the AWOL AT Guide, plus a few more. And I can tap on a feature that¢s ahead of me (or behind me) on the trail and it will tell me the exact distance to that feature from my current position. The app has other features as well (like elevation profile), but if you¢re interested you can read about those in the app store. I learned about it last year from WyeKnot, a thru-hiker who was legally blind and had problems staying on the trail. When he got off trail, he used it to find his way back to the AT. (3) Both of us also have an electronic version of the current AWOL AT Guide on our iPhones that¢s available from Dave Miller. It has GPS coordinates of (almost) all the parking spots along the AT with hyperlinks so that we can instantly get a Google map of those spots (if we have cell coverage of course). We use it a lot to guide us when we¢re driving to the trailheads since we can put the GPS coordinates into our car¢s navigation system. (4) And FYI, I also carry the Delorme InReach communication system that uses the Iridium satellite system (doesn¢t rely on cell towers, and can get access virtually anywhere). I can send emails from it, but mostly I carry it for emergencies since it has a ¢911¢ feature - that I hope never to use. The Machine gave me the details on this in 2014. Sorry about all of that, but I thought it might help some hikers somewhere along the way.So: what happened today? Princess stayed dry, I dropped her off at an intermediate point and she hiked NoBo to the final end point, while I drove around to the end point and hiked SoBo. So she got finished earlier than I did and jumped into the car at the end point and drove back to the intermediate point to pick me up. So I was out there a little longer and started catching some light rain, but never enough to put on my poncho - so it turned out fine. Later, after we were checked into the High Point Mountain Motel, the rain started in earnest and it got wet. But now it¢s nearly 9:00 and the rain is over. There is rain scheduled for later tomorrow, so we hope to beat it again.The hike today was not too difficult, although there were a few challenging spots and still quite a few rocks to slow us a bit. We passed the Culver fire tower near the southern end of the section (with a picnic table at the bottom). And there was a climb up Sunrise Mountain that has a magnificent stone pavilion at the summit (very large with benches all around). Now I¢ve visited the Pavilion 3 times, the first time it was pouring rain, today it was socked in with clouds (no views), and I can¢t remember the other visit so I guess it wasn¢t memorable either. But I¢m told that the views are spectacular when weather permits. Last year I included a picture of the Pavilion and described it - so you could click on our 2015 AT blog (on the sidebar) and look for June 06, 2015. I¢ve heard that there¢s a somewhat morbid element of the history too, but I won¢t go there.The trail got pretty rocky near the northern end as we closed in on the High Point State Park HQ. There was a steep, but thankfully very short cliff to conquer and a couple of steep and rocky slopes. The Park HQ building is a very large and impressive stone structure. I went in to ask about leaving my car in their parking lot, but I was told no and that I had to use the AT parking lot a 0.2 mile down the road and take a quarter mile blue blaze trail to the AT. So this time the roles were reversed and I had to tell Princess how to spot the side trail to the parking lot when she got to the end of her hike. The good news was that the trail had a name and a sign, so it was easier.This afternoon after our hike, we took advantage of the car and drove to Milford, PA for lunch. We found a very nice restaurant we¢d highly recommend - The Waterwheel Cafe, and a deli called Fretta¢s Italian Food Specialties that had all sorts of delicious goodies, but no place to sit inside. We managed to buy a lot anyway, so we¢re well stocked for dinner tonight and tomorrow, as well as breakfast. I like slack packing with a car.