The other two goobers and I packed up lazily, ate breakfast while a few other early hikers walked by, and then we were off for a big day. We were low on water, so we stopped at the first shelter and filled up. Because of the heat, many springs are still dry (despite the recent rain), and information about the NJ water sources had been posted back at the Del Wa Ga hostel. So far, we've been filling up to the max whenever we can and just carrying the extra weight around. Better safe than thirsty, right...?
We hiked on in the rising temperatures and came to a road where "Joe on the Run" was. A big group of us ended up having lunch around the side of this little food shop despite the grumpiness of the guy behind the counter. He did NOT seem very hiker friendly even though we were throwing cash at him for tons of drinks and snacks. Finally caught up with Cope who was hiking with Klarity now. And Seoul Patch was there with his mom, who was hiking for a few days.
We stayed there for an hour, but realized we were still trying to make it another 16 miles. We've got to make it to the post office before it closes at noon tomorrow, so we want to go far today and have less to do in the morning. We hiked on in blistering heat. I'm not sure how hot it was, but the sun was a killer. Most of the hiking was under canopy, but it opened up on steamy rocks a few times. We took another break at the next shelter. Saw Deetz and Power Pack on their last sobo slack pack with the cars. They plan to return to regular backpacking on Monday.
We hiked over lots of rocks and rolling hills and came to Mashipacong shelter around 6pm. It was 3 more miles to the Rutherford shelter and 7 more to the High Point shelter. Scatters and I were set on High Point. One Life's feet weren't feeling too great, so he decided to go for Rutherford. The two-niners would split up for tonight, but would be back together tomorrow at the post office.
About 10 minutes after Scatters and I left the shelter, it began to thunder. Five minutes after that, it poured!! Luckily, I quickly changed into my Crocs to avoid wet trail runners, and I threw my pack cover on. The storm only lasted 15 minutes, but I kept my Crocs on because all the plants were wet when I walked by. This is usually how my shoes get so wet. The Crocs felt good, but with all these rocks, I caught a few sharp ones every hundred steps or so.
I was ahead of Scatters when I came upon the ranger station. I filled up my water and saw a couple packs. There were five guys out back having McDonalds! I knew Joe and Wood Wrangler, and I met Homebrew, Anthony and his dad. They shared some chips and conversation, but I was racing the sun to the shelter. Bye fellas! Now I wasn't sure if Scatters was ahead of behind me.
It was about 8:45 and I refused to get out my headlamp again. I hiked until I came to a viewing station for the monument on high point. It looks just like the Washington monument in DC! I climbed the stairs (of the viewing station, which was about a mile from the monument) and took a few photos with my camera (I'll try to upload these soon). It was so nice out! But now I needed my headlamp. Ugh - two night hike days in a row!
So I still had my Crocs on and it was dark and I took a side trail that I thought was to the shelter but it wasn't. Then I got back on the AT and kept going. But I was headed downhill!? One would think that "High Point" shelter would be at the top, right?? We'll I turned my phone on, and a message from Scatters was waiting. She'd made it to the shelter (she must've passed me while I was snacking with the guys...) and was worried why I wasn't there. By now, I just assumed I had missed it and would look for a place to camp (or just keep walking the 7 miles to Unionville...?). I thought I'd found a suitable spot and was going to start setting up camp when I spotted the shelter sign on a tree! Ha! I hadn't missed it afterall!!! I followed the side trail to the shelter, and I found a worried Scatters (who hadn't received my retuned "I'm ok" texts yet) and Rob. Relief.
I set up quickly and had a snack, and now I'm beat. Can't believe I was able to blog this whole day out!
(22.8mi 13st)
-- Posted from the trail...
Location:High Point Shelter
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