7/13 ~ Dingman's Ferry PA (10.5 miles hiked)

I'm currently enjoying the hospitality of some nice folks in Dingman's Ferry. Good talk, hot shower, soft bed and coffee in the morning. What more could I ask for?

I started my day by crossing the Delaware River. After I went under I-80, I couldn't find the AT. I took a trail up a ridge. Blocking one of the trails was a female blackbear. She was intent on the garbage she'd taken from the can in the parking area, and since I was about 15 feet from her before I realized she was a BEAR, I backed off a few feet and took a few pictures. I backed up some more, and waited for her to go away.  Once she'd gone back into the woods, I tried to find the AT. I went back down the hill I'd just climbed and over to the other picnic/parking area. I saw Courtdog, so I knew I'd found the AT. A man was there with his two dogs, and he told us to look up in the tree. A much larger black bear was about 30 ft up a tree. I snapped a couple of that one too, but I think he'll look small and in the distance. The bears were very handsome creatures both unagressive and unafraid of humans.

I hiked up to Sunfish Pond. Wow, it was lovely. It's a glacial pond that sits at 1500 feet. There were also spectacular views of New Jersey from Kittatiny Ridge. No offense to PA, but NJ is a whole lot prettier.

The evil rocks are still with us. I'm told they continue to High Point NJ and then taper off. I'll be at High Point by Friday night.

7/14/1999 ~ Brink Rd Shelter (14.2 miles hiked)
Today was difficult again, but only because of the footing. There were incredible views from Rattlesnake Mountain, so the effort was rewarded. There was one climb up a nearly vertical rock face, but I found it pretty fun. I think this whole hiking thing may be warping my judgement.

I ran into Peaceful Warrior today, and I hadn't seen him since Maryland. He's here also along with Chile, Drop Out, Bandit and a guy whose name I can't recall. I think some kids may have just arrived. I hope they are really tired because I sure am.  I saw probably 60 kids today. There were a bunch of youth groups out hiking today, for some reason unknown to me.

I'd like to hang out with these guys for a while, but I'm too tired and the skeeters here are a bit overwhelming. It's just growing dark, and I can see at least six of them on the outside of my tent fly. There are so many that I can hear them buzzing.

This shelter has a bear box, so hopefully that will be sufficient protection from the bruins. This shelter also has a nice spring that's still running. I'm told this may be the last one I'll see for a while.

7/14/1999 ~ Brink Rd Shelter (14.2 miles hiked)
Today was difficult again, but only because of the footing. There were incredible views from Rattlesnake Mountain, so the effort was rewarded. There was one climb up a nearly vertical rock face, but I found it pretty fun. I think this whole hiking thing may be warping my judgement.

I ran into Peaceful Warrior today, and I hadn't seen him since Maryland. He's here also along with Chile, Drop Out, Bandit and a guy whose name I can't recall. I think some kids may have just arrived. I hope they are really tired because I sure am.  I saw probably 60 kids today. There were a bunch of youth groups out hiking today, for some reason unknown to me.

I'd like to hang out with these guys for a while, but I'm too tired and the skeeters here are a bit overwhelming. It's just growing dark, and I can see at least six of them on the outside of my tent fly. There are so many that I can hear them buzzing.

This shelter has a bear box, so hopefully that will be sufficient protection from the bruins. This shelter also has a nice spring that's still running. I'm told this may be the last one I'll see for a while.

7/15/1999 ~ Mashipacong Shelter (12.5 miles hiked)

OK, I've seen enough bear now. Save some for the hikers who haven't seen any. This morning at breakfast, a female black bear snuck up behind me and attempted to steal my breakfast. Fortunately for me, bears aren't known for stealth, and she stepped on a stick or something and alerted me to her presence. Mayhem ensued.  I woke Chile up to help me scare the bear off (it was 9:30 by now). It took 15 minutes of yelling and banging around and during that time, she got one hell of a lot closer than I'd like to be to a critter that size. I also saw a cub (size of a big house cat and very cute) about 25 feet away. I really wonder if we "scared" the bear off at all. I suppose it just figured out that it wasn't getting any food and it got bored with us.

We hastily packed and left the site. She wandered off towards the privy. I did the first 3 miles on no food and with my pack all packed wrong. We went to the bakery on US206 and chowed down. We met the first southbounder that any of us have seen, Rainbow 6. He had some really interesting opinions about the government, and I found him nice and entertaining. I went on to Gren Anderson and received some trail magic from Desperado in the form of a cold Dr. Pepper.

Chile and I hiked from there to here today. Up to dinner, I ate a donut, a jelly donut (thanks for the recommendation Pat, it was yummy), a bear claw, a quart of OJ and the aforementioned Dr. Pepper. Pure sugar power, but it got me here.  

More nice views today. Jersey is much prettier than PA and rumor has it that the rocks will end at High Point which I will make tomorrow. Can you tell I'm counting on the rocks to be gone? My ankles are feeling rubbery and sore every day.  I also met another nice Ridge Runner. She's also staying at the shelter. Without her, there'd be no water because the well has gone dry. All my clothes were caked with dust today. it was hot, and it hasn't rained here in ages.  She asked me about the bear I saw and said that that shelter has been plagued by that bear since it successfully used the same technique to scare someone away from their food bag. That poor bear is headed for doom, it appears. It's truly a shame that those cubs will also learn this sort of behavior.  The bears are not a real problem right now, but I suspect they will be, possibly as soon as next year, as soon as there is food pressure. With a 1200 (and growing) bear population in the AT corridor in the NJ-NY section, a time will come when the bears will need to be aggressive if they want to eat.

Another problem: Rutherford Shelter has apparently been home to a large group of copperheads. They've apparently bitten more than one hiker while they were asleep, so the shelter is now "closed". How do they close a shelter? I would go down there to check it out, but Rutherford isn't just off the trail, it's down a few hundred feet.  I'm not curious enough to add that up and down to my day.   I'm sure there are plenty of enterprising snakes living under the shelters up north because I haven't seen or even heard of a single mouse since I got on the trail. Too bad these are pit vipers instead of the usual black snakes.

7/16/1999 ~ High Point (5.6 miles hiked)

Made it to Lake Marcia where I chilled out with Chile for the afternoon. I've really learned how to enjoy doing very little, but relaxing is part of my mission this summer. Later on, Single Malt, H. Brett and Gentleman Jim showed up. Chile went off to the outfitter, and I went to the High Point Country Inn with those three.

We went to a local bar with the proprietress of the Inn. Very hiker friendly place, and a good time was was had by all. If you're planning to hike through High Point on the AT, I'd highly recommend the Inn. It's very nice if a bit expensive, but that's mitigated a bit by the fact that Carla will drive you anywhere she's got the time to go.

Tino showed up right after we got back from the Inn and we decided to stay there. It was a very cozy joint, and I got a good night's sleep in a bed.

7/17/1999 ~ NYC

Visited a good friend in NYC and had a great dinner at an Italian place. I also did my laundry at a place on 9th Avenue.

Tino and I proceeded to The Park Central where I got another good night's sleep in a comfy bed in a room with a/c. (It's been very hot up here the last few days. I thought I was going to fall over on the hike to Hike Point and it was a measly 6 miles. The humidity was unreal and the was no air moving.)  Basically, I took a zero day and did my town chores. It's just kind of weird (in a good way) doing them here.

Here I am in the woods again after a unique town stop in Manhattan. I really love NYC, and I was kind of sad to leave. I'll probably go back when I cross the commuter train line in a week or so.  If this heat keeps up, I'm going to be in NJ forever. The hike here was interesting, but it was appallingly hot. The trail went through a quagmire in the Walkill refuge and crossed many many log bridges in a dry swamp.

It rained a tiny bit tonight, but I'm tenting anyway because the bugs are seriously bad. Also, it's still very hot and the privacy of the tent requires no modesty.

7/19/1999 ~ Apple Valley Inn (2.8 AT miles hiked, 1.1 road walk)

Cumulative Miles this leg:  61.8

I think my right ankle is done for. I twisted it badly in PA and it seems to be getting worse rather than better. It has a golf ball size swelling in front of my ankle bone, and the only way I got up and over Pochuck was by taking lots of Vitamin I and leaning heavily on my poles for assistance.

I will try and enjoy my stay here at this nice place before I tackle the public transit from rural NJ to DC. It's going to take too long to recover up here, and I'd like to have this looked at by a doctor.

John was nice enough to drive me to Warwick, NY after breakfast today (9:30am). In NY state, Warwick is pronounced war-wick, not war-rick, much like Cairo is pronounced is pronounced Kay-ro (like the syrup) not Kiy-ro in Illinois.  From there, I took a NJ transit bus to Port Authority. For $8.00, it was a bargain. I was really in the sticks (well, what passed for it in the East at least). I then took a cab to Penn Station ($5, and worth every penny) because I couldn't deal with walking with my pack, poles and boots all on my back. Coming off the bus, I really nailed my ankle again, and it was bad enough to begin with. I got to Penn Station at 12:20, and there was a train to DC at 12:40, so there was no time to get food or anything there.  I got to DC and took the Metro to Vienna. This involved standing on my ankle while. Eight hours, door to door with almost no waiting. I waited longer for the first Metro out of Union Station than for any other piece of this transportation puzzle.

I've had my ankle checked out and I'll be able to hike the first week in August, so I'll be going back then. I will not be able to make it to Katahdin before October 1, due to my layover. I'm now shooting for Gorham, NH (that's right at the Maine line).

I've added a zipper to my NomadLite tent. It was made with a velcro closure, I suspect to save weight. I've been using the thing daily, and I just never got used to it. I used the existing velcro tape like seam tape and attached 77" of two-way zipper. It seems to work fine, and I'm really looking forward to being able to get in and out of my tent quickly.