Date: 2014-06-05
From: Brink Road Shelter

To: High Point Shelter
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: scattered clouds

The rain came as planned and into the morning. Appreciated it, as it kept it dark later so we could all sleep in. Up north it gets light about 5:30. My phone is off overnight so I'm never sure but odd to get up and decamp then turn my phone on and realize it's only 6:30. We all lazed around waiting for the rain to end and didn't really get going until around nine. No problem for me. I'm finally getting a short day in at only 15 miles. As usual I'm the first one out. Time for the morning spiderweb clean up. In only four miles is Branchville, New Jersey. Another blessing up north (apart from consistent cell service for one) is that it's so much more densely populated, you pass a road really frequently. In fact Doug and Mandy told me about the "Deli Challenge." There is a deli pretty much everyday to pass by so hurray! Real food. I'll accept this challenge thank you. First stop is Joe to Go. Kind of infamous for all these rules and not liking hikers but I didn't get that at all. All he wanted was for you to put your pack around the side. No issue there. I got there too early for a deli sandwich so I ordered a breakfast sandwich. $3.00 and comes with a coffee. Done. I was a big coffee drinker before I started hiking. A good three or four cups a day. Maybe a Starbucks in the afternoon and a whole pot on any weekend day; but have found making coffee out here is too much hassle and really it just tasted like brown water so I have given it up. But, when it's offered, even at a glorified gas station like this place really was I jump! Got that, a hazelnut blend, with my breakfast sandwich and grabbed a jelly donut and vitamin water and I'm one happy hiker. It was huge and the eggs were even runny. How could I have lunch later? But as the hiker hunger goes I could eat all that plus lunch later plus more if available. This also after my cherry pop tarts and honeybun for first breakfast. Live n Learn was there too chowing down. It really is a whole new ball game now. The rest of the trail was pleasant enough today. Surprised by a beautiful pavilion way on a mountain top, then got to pass a school group out for an end of semester field trip. That always makes me proud. I can hear them whispering. I'm hoping it's how amazed they are or how awesome I am and not how much I stink or crazy my beard and hair are. I also saw just a s** t ton of wildlife today. Tons of those little red newts, turkeys, woodchucks that scurry off when you get close, garter snakes, and loads of chipmunks. They dart back and forth across the trail and chirp out to each other warning the next that I'm approaching I guess.Made it my fifteen miles just fine to the shelter blaze but didn't realize it was almost 1/2 a mile off trail to it. Eyes rolling. I started down the path and realized - now why after hiking on Pennsylvania type rocks for a few miles is this path spongey and soft? I'm convinced, as I think are other hikers, that the various trail clubs who maintain the trails think their section should be more interesting and move it to the rocky areas just to screw with us. This blue blaze was so soft and nice. What wasn't though was this shelter. It opened up onto a grassy meadow (ticks!) and the shelter floor could not have been more that three inches above ground. This was one of those off-the-beaten-path shelters that are rarely used and hadn't been updated or maintained in twenty years. It had a lip around the interior that was probably filled with mice and some sort of Godzilla wasp was making a nest inside. I was so ready to be done with the day but I hated to be here all alone in this isolated shelter full of mice and where my tenting option felt like Lyme disease. So I reluctantly ate a quick bite and threw on my pack to hike another 4.3 to the next shelter. But this was it! I'm now a day and a half ahead of schedule and need to find a way to slow down. That final four miles felt like ten too. Up and down. Over rocks. To the highest point in New Jersey and then to the aptly named Highpoint shelter. Even though it was downhill. Nice enough spot with streams everywhere. I got there about 7:30 - just enough time to get set up, eat, do a quick tick check (all good!) and head to bed. There were two other hikers there doing a section. One was chatty and nice and one didn't say a word. Who cares I was tired anyway. Another nice thing about New Jersey - all the shelters have bear boxes. Sweet. So easy