Date: 2006-07-12
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Give Blood, Hike New Jersey. I look like I have the chicken pocks. For some reason the bugs like my right arm and left knee. Don¢t get me wrong, they bit me all over but they just focused on those places. After waking up to take a pee the bugs started and never quit. Even if I was moving, they attacked. We stopped into Unionville for bug spray. It worked but nothing can stop as many as there are out here. Every once in a while there will be a Kamikaze mosquito risk it¢s life to taste my blood. In Unionville we stopped at the soda shop for breakfast. They had something that I had been promised I wouldn¢t see in the north. Biscuits and Gravy. That¢s right, in Unionville of all towns. I pigged out on a large order then back to the bug fest. After a while my legs would start burning from all the bites. It messes with your mind. You would think after killing close to a hundred literally, they would get the point, but no they insist on continuing to bite and swarm around your entire body. The worst part was when we went through a mosquito farm. It was actually the Wallkill National Wildlife Preserve. Rumor has it they dug trenches to attract bugs for the birds to feed on. It was ridiculous how bad it got. I wanted to cry at points because of how miserable it was. I would slap my arm and kill 5 at a time. I think the most I counted in a slap was 9. The trail went right along the banks of the preserve. It went the long way around it. There was no warning about how bad the bugs were going to be. I can honestly say it was one of the worst experiences of my life. There was nothing I could do. If I stopped to sulk I would have gotten eaten so bad the people from CSI couldn¢t even recognize me. So I had to keep moving. When I finally got to the road crossing towards the end of the day I caught back up with FDR. He was going to a friend¢s house who lived close by and offered for me to go along, but I decided to go into town to the church hostel. We split our ways and I started hitching. When the car pulled over and I saw it wasn¢t a crazy person but a gorgeous soccer mom it made my day a little better. Once I got into town I got some food and re-supplied. Then I went to the hostel which was really full. It seems that others had the same problems with the bugs. While I was at the hostel one hiker arranged to get picked up and was going home for good. Another person had quit there yesterday. Since everyone was strung out and exhausted physically and mentally I decided to keep my jokes to myself. I didn¢t think they would see the humor in bug jokes by saying "man people are dropping like flies around here." So I kept my mouth shut.Later I was sitting outside the hostel when Brainfreeze yells down to stay away from the dumpster for a while. I asked why? She said there was a bear in it. I didn¢t believe her. When I went to look there was only a dumpster. I called them a few names for fooling me and started to walk away. Then out of the corner of my eye pops up a black bear out of the dumpster with a can in his mouth. I was shocked. He dropped back down into the dumpster and popped up with a whole trash bag in his mouth. Climbs out. Looks at us. And drags it into the woods. I was still in shock. This is not the way I had pictured my trip going.   Over 1300 miles through the woods and my first bear was in a dumpster in New Jersey. I guess you never know what will happen on the trail.