Date: 2014-06-17
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: Jim Murray Property
Miles today: 18.4

It turned out to be a very hot day but we still pulled a long day to the secret shelter - after getting as high as possible in NJ!Broke camp and rolled to our first climb of the day up Sunrise Mountain - a neat place to sit and rest under the nice pavilion. Great to look around and see the world below - NJ doing it right with the views!Headed towards a clump of shelters close together on the AT. Along the way passed several signs marking side trails that said "Not the AT" - this is not the trail you are looking for young hiker! We stayed the path and resisted the orange-blazed side. Rested at the first shelter and planned to get to a concession stand in the park for lunch.Trail made it pretty hard to reach our lunch goal - some rough rocky terrain slowed us down and the heat outside made it tougher - need to get an early start in the day! Ran into rocks that were randomly oozing moisture and making it slippery - Big Dawg slipped on one as we headed down towards the main road. No injuries occurred.At the High Point State Park HQ we took a brief rest before tackling the climb up the AT towards the concession stand. Word on the trail was thru-hikers get a free soda at the HQ so I went in and got a soda for Big Dawg and myself - thanks Friends of High Point State Park for donating the sodas!Slowly made it up to the side trail to the concession stand and followed it down to a road - here is where the confusion began. We also ran into Seabiscuit (a different one) who was also looking for a trail down but there was no clear path. Instead of wasting a bunch of time Big Dawg made lunch while I bushwhacked after Seabiscuit to the concession stand - right in the middle of Timber Rattler territory but my prayer of "No Snakes" worked.Great concession stand by the beach - the owner was very friendly and even took some trash I was holding and threw it away for me! Ordered some snacks for lunch and returned up the actual side trail to Big Dawg - you have to walk towards the end of the road to see it. Slow leaving the lake because I wanted to jump in - lunch was calling though! Well worth the walk down to the stand since they have all kinds of snacks and food like burgers and pizza slices.Lunch rejuvenated us and pushed us past the side trail to he highest point in NJ and the veteran's memorial on top of it - a very cool memorial we saw from a distance! It stands alone on the highest point and is similar to the Washington Monument. After passing the High Point Shelter, the lady at the HQ said the tough rocks would lighten up a lot - she was mostly right. The trail was much easier to walk and we made good time past roads and through fields - still hot hiking but nicer. With a little rest and classic music we made it to the Jim Murray property and set up hammocks - what a neat setup! He opens up his land to long-distance hikers and allows them to use his shower and hiker cabin free of charge. The hiker cabin was a nice enclosed structure with no bunks and the shower actually was not freezing cold - felt great to shower after a hot day!A good night at the campsite with several hikers. Seabiscuit from Virginia arrived before us and is thru-hiking the trail as well - he is meeting his folks in Bear Mountain New York. We met section hikers going from NY 17A to NJ 23 - very nice older ladies who have been doing sections over 10 years. Next Five and her adorable dog Little Bear came into camp later - the dog was so cute and long-haired! She hiked in with Blue (from the area around Culvers Gap) who is a girl about my age - a very nice girl on the trail! We chatted the evening away and even had an adventure closing an upper window in the cabin - it involved me standing on Seabiscuit's shoulders and sitting on a ledge. We will walk to NJ 94 and ride into Vernon with Blue and her brother tomorrow - a very generous offer for her to give us a ride! Also excited about the ice cream place near the trail! But first we have to fall asleep - even in the hammocks it is super muggy out here!