Date: 2005-07-28
From: Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: Vernon, NJ
Miles today: 60.0

25 JulyAwakened by thunder rumbling thru the earth and my whole body! Got my stuff, grabbed the tent, and ran under the church office patio, where set up the tent again, and went right back to sleep, while lightning struck almost simultaneously with thunder some yards away. I have, however, become an early bird, and staying up watching the storm was much more exciting than sleeping on. I am antsy to get out of town. I am usually anxious of being in towns too long these days, and we finally catch a ride to the trailhead at 11am with a man and his two Burmese mountain dogs. Hiking with Starchy and Hopeful, picking berries, listening to their politics talk. Dipped into Sunfish pond ¢ the first glacial pond we come to northbound, and eat our lunch there. About 5 minutes after we got out of the water, a large copperhead-like snake swam up to the shore and patrolled the rocks until a small frog leaped in and the snake went after it! Turns out this is a water snake, aggressive but ¢non-toxic¢. Saw a family of turkeys with about a dozen babies. Loving NJ so far ¢ the forest walk is flat, and the ridge walk has spectacular views, especially from a fire tower on the way. I¢m walking in front on this one ridge when I see a very bright and beautiful ~1.5 yrd rattle snake. It is just laying in the middle of the trail, but the trail there is bordered by a dropoff on one side and a bunch of thorny bushes on the other. We stomp our feet, yell, and clap, but it doesn¢t so much as lift it¢s head. So, we toss some small sticks and rocks at it ¢ this is when it rattles, but there is no movement, and not so much as an intent to get off the trail. Starchy launches a good-sized boulder close to the snake¢s head ¢ this causes it to coil up and rattle enough to send us on a 100 yrd bushwacking decoy around it! Not ten yards after finding the trail again, we run into a bear that is just lounging around in the berry bushes. He stood to see and smell us better, but was more passively curious than scared. Stayed around for a couple of minutes while we rambled in awe, and even got on his hind legs, like a pooch, and leaned back a bit, as though to say, ¢Go on, take the picture, and then go on.¢ Watched the sun set on our last 2 miles, as we walked down into a YMCA camp for the night ¢ we heard thru-hikers are allowed to stay in some lakeside cabins there, and sometimes get fed camp dinner leftovers¢¦ it is all true! The camp manager on duty fed us the remains of chicken, bread, and cake, which was the best-tasting chicken, bread, and cake I¢ve ever had! The stars above the lake and the stars in the lake were spectacular!26 JulyThe rising sun peeked into our cabin screen door, allowing a view of this little corner of paradise in daylight, reminding us that breakfast leftovers must be picked up at 7:30 ¢ pronto. First 2 miles on the trail we ran off the trail and ended up at another pond, right in time for a mid-morning dip. No snakes, this time. It was a very hot day, and we walked along exposed ridge tops a lot. Lots of blueberries, and I am still gorging myself on them. ¢Can¢t wait to have a stand off with a bear,¢ I thought, right as I turned to see a bear ripping up the trunk of a tree some 50 yrds away. I should have grabbed my camera, but instead, I imagined this large bear ripping up a body, possibly my own (and I¢m not scared of bears at all, but I do have a terribly hyperactive imagination for such sort of thing), and yelled ¢Mr. Bear!!¢ The bear got back on all fours and took off, but towards the trail. Bears like to walk and poop on the trail, so they don¢t have to deal with bushes on their faces or on the bums. I yelled some more, till the bear saw me, and turned in another direction and ran off. Of course, Starchy showed up only when the bear was completely out of sight and out of smell (they smell like horses). Been seeing many does with fawns the last couple of days. Continued on to the next shelter, and right before it there was a large congregation of Asian youth. ¢Cucumber!¢ Uh, how do they know me? ¢The hot pink shorts!¢ Yes, they had a message for me from Hopeful, but it¢s just funny to run into people you¢ve never seen before and will never see again, and to see them so excited to recognize the hiker and hand off a message. Late lunch at Brink shelter, and finally ¢ some water. And then, mid-conversation with Timshel, a nice, clean, new jeep rolls up beside the picnic table! We hiked all day over mountains to get here, and a jeep just pulls up, without so much as dust on it! The occupant of the jeep was Desperado ¢ a shelter maintainer and trail angel, who emerged bearing hostess cakes and fruit punch for us all. Walked on the Gren Anderson shelter for the night, watched the sunset at another fire tower, and hiked the last mile in the dark. The terrain is still rocky at times, and night-hiking can be very frustrating ¢ besides the drunken stagger, there¢s a lot of tripping and seeing rocks that aren¢t there or not seeing the ones that are. Sleeping in a thunderstorm, again.27 JulyHopeful threw rocks at the tent to wake me up in the morning ¢ what a silly man! He ended up taking off before we were done with breakfast, but staying a little longer at camp got us a slack-packing deal all the way to High Point State Park! I don¢t feel like I walk all that much faster without a pack, I just stop a lot less to rest, but it¢s always nice to have the psychological relief of feeling like a day-hiker. Starchy isn¢t feeling too great today, and is dragging his feet. It is very hot, and we didn¢t take enough water (only 1L each for 11 mi). I¢m frustrated with the pace, which is too slow, and keeps us water-less longer, so I try to run off ahead, thinking I will got to a water source and then hike some water back to him, only to find out that Starchy is about ready to pass out. This is his 'breaking day'. I know that it¢s only going to get better after this, but I can¢t tell him his. When I had my breaking day, I¢m glad no one tried to tell me such bull ¢ even though I now know it¢s true, I wouldn¢t have believed or appreciated it then. So, I kept my mouth shut and pushed on ahead to get water. Along the trail, I found a bag of raisins and almonds spilled on the trail. I love almonds, so I ate the spilled ones and kept the ones in the bag for Starchy. Out at the HQ¢s of High Point SP we met the kid that dropped them ¢ he was napping and saw a bear too close for comfort, so he dashed off leaving his nuts on the ground! He was quite an interesting young man, and even offered us some eggs and cheese for tuna & cheese omlettes that I made for Starchy, Hopeful, and myself, and the rest of his food. He is a rising senior at a nearby (art) high school, and had thus earned himself the trail name ¢P-egg-asso¢. I received a resupply of my magical green (Russian) medicine and tea, so we were set to go, right as yet another thunderstorm rolled in. Only 2 more miles to the next shelter, over some very rocky terrain and exposed areas where lighting did it¢s little loud dance. The rain stopped, of course, the moment we got to the shelter.28 JulySlept in today, which felt great! Starchy is feeling better, too, so we moved on to the Secret Shelter for an outdoor shower and an early lunch. I just love walking out into fields and pastures out of the woods ¢ all of the sudden the views open up, it is a lot lighter and breezier, and I can¢t help but smile. At the shelter, we heard some odd noises, which, it turns out, were coming from some pygmy donkeys doing their donkey thing, but¢¦ they were both male! Saw a garter snake, a grouse, two families of wild turkeys with babies, does and fawns, and raccoons. Hitched into Vernon, NJ for resupply and a night at the Episcopalian church hostel. Starchy was ready to kiss the ground when we walked into the store! It really is quite a trip to walk into a supermarket after being on the trail for a while, and especially after resupplying mainly from maildrops and hiker boxes. We just walked around staring at everything with hungry eyes, reminding ourselves not to purchase the entire store. Walked towards a steeple and asked the two men in front of the church where the Episcopalian church hostel is, to which they said (and it is dark by now) ¢you go behind this house, and then thru the cemetery, and past a very old church house¢¦¢ Moonshine, Dandy, Hopeful, Trakker, Blotter, & Timshel were already at the hostel, which was situated in the nursery room ¢ very appropriate ¢ we¢ve missed toys while on the trail. After Hopeful¢s birthday celebration, complete with cake and ice cream, and after consuming a 2-lb salad (I really miss fruits and veggies on the trail), we got to playing with the toys ¢ 3yo mentality, I swear, and, you know, it is so freeing!