Date: 2004-07-24
From: Wantage, N.J.

To: Murray's Secret Shelter
Miles today: 7.0

Start High Tower State ParkDestination Murray's Secret Shelter Spincycle and I both threatened Trail Dog if he dared to wake us up early today. We have a short mileage day planned. The threats must have worked because it was well after 8:00 before he said a word. The continental breakfast at High Country Inn was great. An assortment of breads, muffins, peanut butter, jelly, real butter, several different cereals, orange juice, milk, coffee, teas and fresh fruit. We were as close to hiker heaven as we could get. Carla did our laundry for us while we ate breakfast. The sky is a brilliant blue with white wispy clouds. So much for the weather channels 70% chance of rain today. I guess it is best to just look outside and decide what the weather is going to be. My boots are dry, I'm dry my clothes are dry. Life is good. There is nothing like starting the day all clean and smelling like fresh laundry. There was a platform on the trail this morning, where on a clear day you can see New York City. Even as clear as it was today, all you could see was a haze over the city. Did I mention how much I enjoy clean clothes on a clean body? I had been scouting out a place for a pit stop for a while. The lack of underbrush left little for privacy, but all the juice and milk from breakfast was working on me. Finally I found a perfect spot, but nowhere to really put my pack down. Now I have done this before, left my pack on and wet on the ground. This time however I did not count on gravity kicking in at the most inopportune moment. So in one motion I pull down my shorts, squat down close to the ground and let go. That's when the weight of my pack combined with the down hill sloping of the terrain toppled me over backwards. Of course I ended up with a wet behind, wet shorts, wet socks and a handful of dry toilet paper. I got tickled and started laughing at myself. So much for being nice and clean! Hiking in the hot sun dried myself and shorts pretty fast. I had planned on today being a short day. I feel like my body needs a break, at least my feet need a break. The trail in New Jersey should be called the Rocks and Rolls State. There are plenty of rolling hills with layer after layer of rocks. I met two ladies out day hiking and stopped to talk to them. Before I left one of them had sprayed me with bug spray to keep the yellow flies off of me and the other one gave me a freeze dried ice cream bar. More magic! Murray's Secret Shelter is a wonderful secret. There are acres of freshly mown grass with Black Walnut Trees offering shade all around. There are two small shelters made from cypress boards. Each shelter has electricity, a sink and a sleeping loft. There are screens on the windows to keep the pesky bugs away. And more impressive is that there is a hot shower. That gave me an opportunity to wash my body and my clothes. I hung them out on to a line to dry, set up my thermarest chair and kicked back. There are two resident donkeys here and it is obvious that they do not particularly like each other getting the attention of anyone. The skies remain blue and the sun dries my things in short order. The shower is plenty hot, although we tease Trail Dog about hanging his hammock within full view of the shade less window of the shower. I set my tent up and do some house cleaning. I must have squished a bug up in it when I packed it up the last time, because there is a terrible smell in it. The breeze blowing through it will help it air out. I am once again grateful for what the trail has offered me today, along with the generosity of a former thru hiker who has opened up this place to us. Of course it is a lot easier to take the nicer things that the trail offers than the harder things, but in the end I believe that everything combined will blend itself to give me a truly unique experience. I fixed a combination lunch and supper, and enjoyed my ice cream bar for dessert. By late evening there were a total of ten hikers taking advantage of the generosity of Mr. Murray, who I met on the way in here today. He hiked the trail in 1989 and this is his way of giving back to the hikers. The general feeling here today among the hikers is one of mutual gratitude and respect.Total miles 7