Date: 2005-07-26
From: Brinks Road Shelter

To: High Point State Park
Miles today: 17.9

I had my headphones on but could still hear something charging through the woods behind me. Ms. Mileage had an alarmed and stunned look going but... We woke upa little bit later than planned this morning. We had sent a mail drop to the High Point Ranger Station and had to get to get there by 4:00. Mileage and I did 3.6 miles in an hour and got to Culver Gap. I saw a pay phone and called my parents. They had a great idea to meet us at High Point with an extensive dinner picnic. We agreed to meet at &:00. Moonshine came walking up and we all decided to get a bite at Gyps before busting out the next 14.3 miles to High Point. Sal, (Paradise) a fellow thru attemptee was already at the bar and the 4 of us had a great brunch consisting of many different deep fried plants and animals. Linda, our bartender, was very friendly and filled up all our water bottlew. We listened to some Greatful Dead and Janes Addiction on the juke box and then headed out to the 95degree inferno. Mileage and I had chugged a lot of water and went out with 3 liters. Our plan was to do the 14.3 straight and not take any side trails for water. We had a nice pace going and the miles melted away. We passed swamps and weaved through rocks as the sun beat down on us. I put on my headphones and started listening to Hot 97, when I heard a crashing noise going thru the woods. I saw Mileage's expression first, and the sleek black bear next. He was beautiful and the first bear of New Jersey. We were both very excited. We trudged on and drank most of our water. At 12.4 we came to a shelter with no water, but plenty of Girl Scouts. They were having water delivered in a few hours and we chatted with them for a while. They all thought we were crazy for doing what we were doing. We informed them that we were not and it is fun. They didn't buy it. With only 5.5 left to go, Mileage and I realized we would not make our mail drop in time. We slowed down a bit and decided to camp at the ranger station and get our drop in the morning. With 2.7 miles left we ran out of water. The sun blazed down on us, baking our skin and drying us out. We were kind of stumbling thru the woods. Dehydration makes you feel nasty and at one point I got really dizzy and almost blacked out. We tried to stay calm and knew we would be ok, just keep a nice slow pace. At the end my body wouldn't even sweat anymore and I felt like a piece of jerky. I squinted my eyes against the sun and saw the lodge at the end of the trail. Adrenaline kicked in and I charged down to the pump in front of the building. The first thing I noticed was that the water smelled like rotten eggs, sulfur, but I didn't care and swallowed 2 liters immediately. We felt much better and in no time my parents arrived with brownies, fried chicken, watermelon,salads, beverages and more. My Mom and Dad are both very, very wonderful parents. We shared the food with Sal Paradise, Blodder and Moonshine. It was all great. As they were leaving they offered us a ride to the High Point campgrounds. Some DICK was there and wouldn't let us in. He informed us that thru hikers had broken into his house and stolen his TV, yeah right. Yeah, I'll steal a TV and tuck it in my water bottle holder and carry it into the woods so I can not watch it, whatever! My parents dropped us back at the visitors center and wished us good luck. Did I mention how great they are? We saw a place across the street where we might be able to camp. As we crossed, that same DICK pulled up and said You guys better be going the 1 mile to theshelter because you can't just camp in the woods." I just rolled my eyes and kept walking. Now we are stealth camped a few hundred feet in the woods in a very uncomfortable spot. I just hope we don't get busted in the middle of the night and have to move. Some people are just really miserable, and the only way they can be happy is to ruin other people's harmless good time. If we are lucky he won't come back and check. Wish us luck, and good night.      Piker   P.S. There might be a bear walking outside our tent right now, I am not joking! I hope our crew survives the night. Piker, Mileage, Moonshine and Sal Paradise