I hiked 14.4 miles slack-packing (5/30). The day started off cold and windy. About one mile into the hike my friend, Not Yet, came zooming by. He is a strong hiker up from GA and usually does 20 plus miles a day. Today’s hike involved lots of rocks on the trail and some boulder fields to walk through. About three miles into the hike I came across a shelter, this was by far one of the worst shelters I had come across, I would not have wanted to sleep in it. I crossed a road to a parking lot and stopped to talk to a ridge runner name Zack. He seemed to be very enthusiastic about his job. I ran into Tyler about a mile down the trail, he’s the ridge runner I met yesterday. He was out checking for blow downs since there was heavy winds the evening before.
I stopped several times to admire some great views. After about 7 miles of hiking I arrived at High Point State Psrk and sat down and had a quick lunch. One of the top destinations in High Point State Park is High Point Monument. The monument was built in honor of all war veterans. Construction was started in 1928 and completed in 1930. At the top of the 220-foot structure, observers have a breathtaking view of the ridges of the Pocono Mountains toward the west, the Catskill Mountains to the north and the Wallkill River Valley in the southeast. The monument sits at the highest point in NJ. I did not walk the half mile round trip to the monument, I still had 7 miles to complete on my hike and did not want to expand any unnecessary energy. The next 4 miles of the hike had plenty of rocks. I was glad arrive at a part of the trail that was nice and smooth and was in a beautiful part of the forest. I started noticing a lot of walls built from stones. I found this information about the walls on the internet:
Most rock and stone walls along the Appalachian Trail (AT) in New Jersey were built by early European American farmers and settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries. Because the landscape was historically cleared for agriculture and grazing, these farmers built the “dry stack” stone walls for two main reasons:
- Clearing fields: Frost heaved countless rocks and boulders to the surface annually. Piling them at the edges of the property solved the clearing problem.
- Boundary markers: They acted as fences to contain livestock or mark property boundaries in places like Sussex County, which includes the famous “Great Wall of Pochuck”.
Since many of these farming communities were abandoned and the surrounding forests grew back, the walls now appear randomly in the woods.
As I got nearer to my pickup spot the trail came out to some beautiful meadows. The meadows seem so peaceful. It was a great finish to a long day of hiking.
Sunday Melodie and I had plans to visit Spud, Becky and Forrest at Beaver Pond campground, their home base for several days. We met them at the Flip Flop Fest in Harpers Ferry. Becky drops the guys off each day and picks them up at the end of their hike. Becky does join them on their hikes sometimes. As they move further north they will move their travel trailer and set up a new base camp. You may remember from an earlier post that Spud and Forrest were the ones instrumental in the return of my wallet, I dropped along the trail. Much gratitude to them.
I made that day (5/31) a short one, hiking 5.5 miles so we could have time for our visit with our trail friends. The morning started out walking through some beautiful meadows. In one of the meadows someone placed a comfortable chair in a spot where you could sit and take in the beautiful view. I wonder who put it there. I took off my pack and sat for a few minutes enjoying the beauty around me. There were several sections a boardwalk was available to walk on instead of walking on the marshy ground. I came across a concrete post in the middle of the woods that had JC 73 marked on it. I did some research on the market and this is what I found:
The “JC 73″ concrete post found along the New Jersey section of the Appalachian Trail is an old railroad mile marker. [1]These iconic markers date back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. They were placed to measure the distance in miles to Jersey City, New Jersey, where the major rail terminals and shipping hubs were located. The Appalachian Trail intersects and runs parallel to several abandoned rail lines throughout New Jersey. Since you found a marker numbered 73, you were likely hiking a section near the New York border (such as the Vernon area), which aligns with the distance from the Hudson River waterfront.
Toward the end of my hike I ran into Jersey Drifter, we have crossed paths a few times before, we had a great conversation about our faith in God and other things. Hope to see Jersey again in the future. I finished the day’s hike walking by a swampy area that came within inches of the road. Melodie picked me up a little ways down the trail. We were off to visit Spud, Becky and Forrest. We enjoyed some great conversation and good burgers.
Melodie and I started June off with a 9.2 mile hike. We utilized a shuttle driver for a ride so we could hike together one more time before Melodie heads back home. We started our hike through a pasture that had a few cows lying around. We came to a 2 mile section of the trail that had a really nice boardwalk. It was a nice walk through a marshy area. We came by a hiker by the name of cowboy who was from Austin Texas. He was also Flip Flopping the trail and started in Harpers Ferry a few days after I did. He was hiking with sandles and socks. We had about ten different hikers pass us by that were coming up from GA, they were all moving fast. We stopped to have lunch at a shelter and Jersey Drifter was there. It was good to see him again. About seven miles into the hike Melodie was introduced to a very rocky decline. It was rough going and seemed to last forever. Melodie did a great job getting down. We were rewarded with a lot of flat trail for the last 2 miles. A mile of the trail went through a wildlife sanctuary where we saw about zero wildlife. The last mile went by fast and we arrived back to our car. I was very proud of my wife. Nine miles hiking in the woods is not easy but she rocked it.
Tuesday (6/2) was another day of slack-packing. I was dropped off and hiked a side trail 1.5 miles where it connected to the AT. I don’t like miles like those because they don’t count as AT mileage. The trail that led to the AT gained in 800 feet of elevation. . As I was taking a short break after the climb Slim Jim and Pipt came by and stopped to talk for a few minutes. One of my favorite parts of this adventure is meeting all the different people that are also hiking the trail.
The hike had plenty of rocks to deal with, my feet were not happy with the terrain. The trail had very few easy sections. I walked by a nice little pond early in the hike. I crossed a wooden bridge that look like it needed a lot of work and it also felt that way while crossing. I came along some trail magic, a cooler of water along with snacks. We love getting water that we don’t have to take the time to filter. They could have left the cooler by the road but they went through the trouble to carry the cooler about 1/2 mile from the road. The hike ended with a very hard 1.8 mile decent to the parking lot with a lot of rocks. I thought I was never going to get down to the parking lot. As I was coming down there was lots of day hikers heading up to a viewing area of the High Point area. As I was going down, those going up would ask me how much further to the top, I always had the same answer for each, your almost there. I was glad to get out of those rocks. Including the trail up to the AT it was a 11 mile day.
This is the last day (6/3) Melodie is spending with me this time around. I hate to see her go. She will be heading to NC to spend a week with our son and his family. She was able to spend a couple of days hiking with me and we had a good time exploring the area. We are not sure when she will be joining me again. I will miss her. Until next time Happy Trails!
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