New Jeseiy take two

Sorry about the interruption - here is the exciting conclusion to part one.

5/15/07 15.6 miles to Delaware Water Gap and the Mountain Church hostel. Pilgrim was kind enough to escort our packs around to DWG from Wind Gap. A nice slackpacking opportunity that we were not going to pass up. Not a bad hike at all. Pretty excited to be so close to New Jersey (only a half mile at the end of the day). Enjoyed a nice breakfast before heading out early (hooray for donuts and juice!) Passed through some beautiful scenery and quite a few day hikers. You can definitely tell that most colleges are out for the summer. Got into DWG pretty early, enjoying a frosty beverage right when we get there - thanks Pilgrim! Headed into town to pick up fuel and check out the church hostel. Wondeful accomodations, got to meet Pastor Karen and enjoyed my third shower in three days (I am beginning to get used to these showers, it will be hard going back to one every four or five days!). I also enjoyed spending time with my fellow hikers. We had a great dinner and then said goodbye to Pilgrim. Headed in to do some journaling and then had a poetry reading - everybody reading their favorite poems - it was just a really cool night. It will be hard to say goodbye to Tecumseh and Moxie tomorrow, we had a lot of fun hiking with them. Also got to talk to Guthook on the phone, my hiking buddy from when we first started. He is a week again and also having a grand adventure. It was good to catch and relay some trail stories - miss you buddy!

5/16/07 24.8 miles to Brink Road Shelter. So more food in the morning (as usual, we cannot get enough town food) and then an early start on the trail. Full packs today after two days of slacking. More rocky terrain as we enter New Jersey. So excited to enter state number eight! We heard the rocks would be ending but today was not our day. I had something happen to my hip today due to my hip belt I think or possibly a sting/bite of somesort. All I know is that it is not a pleasant feeling. Started as a big swollen welt and now it is an open weeping sore - thanks for listening. I will keep an eye on it and hopefully it will clear up. Saw my first porcipine on trail today, I don't think I have ever seen one in the wild - pretty cool. He just scampered off before I had a real good look. Also spotted a pileated woodpecker - must be a good day for wildlife. Thought there was a storm coming so Tau, Hobbit, and I made some seriously good time after lunch. Got another break in before the storm came. Had a bit of thunder, lightning and rain but not too bad. Got a bit damp as we traipsed up and down over several ridges. Amazing foggy misty views of the New Jersey and surrounding mountains. Got into camp pretty early with very soggy feet. And I must say the mosquitos were quite excited to see us - they have arrived!!! In bed pretty early with bug head net securely fastened.

5/17/07 24.9 miles to Jim Murray property shelter. Another large mileage day - Hobbit is grumbling but doing an excellent job of hanging with us and we so enjoy his company! On the trail by 6 am due to the fact that after 3 and a 1/2 miles, we got a second breakfast at Joe to Go right on the trail. I love egge and cheese bagels. After a quick refueling, headed up the mountain to our next adventure. Got some pretty good views in today. Enjoyed the highest point in New Jersey at High Point State Park. Met two section hikers that just got on the trail this morning - Holly and Amanda from South Carolina. They are headed to Maine as well from New Jersey. Heard of this great "secret shelter" available to long distance hikers by Jim Murray who hiked the AT in 1989. He owns a lot of property and opens up his cabin, privy and shower to hikers. It was amazing to have a hot shower right on the trail. The property was beautiful and Jim even payed us a visit to say hello - really nice guy. A pleasant addition to the property was his two boistrous donkeys. They made quite a bit of ruckus but it only added to the charm of the place. Nothing like loud donkeys in the background to lull you to sleep!
Met Squire, another section hiker, at the secret shelter. Nice guy from massachusetts that was excited to talk to us thru-hikers about our hike thus far - hopefully he will join us in Vernon tomorrow.

5/18/07 13.6 miles to Vernon, NJ. Another town stop - woohoo! On the trail by 6 this morning (anyone else noticing a trend here?) and enjoyed a solitary hike through the mist this morning. A bit cool out and a wonderful morning for a hike. There were these awesome marshy areas and wildlife management areas that we walked through - quite a treat. I saw all kinds of birds but particulary excited about the swans and the great blue heron. We heard there was a cremery right at the road to town so we all planned to meet there. Nothing like hot cocoa and half a loaf of homemade zucchini bread to make you feel all warm and cozy inside. After we got our fill, we caught a ride to town and checked out St. Thomas church hostel. Very nice digs again. Shower, laundry, internet, everything a thru-hiker could want. I was excited about my maildrops because I had a new pack, new shoes and a new water bladder coming. Everything worked out great besides the fact they sent me the wrong size of shoes - oh no! My trail runners are about ready to kick the dust but hopefully they will hang on a few more days. Called REI and they said they would ship the right pair overnight to New York so I should receive them on Tuesday. It's always something but hey, no worries. Checked out my new pack and got organized this afternoon. Towns are usually more stressful than the woods because we have so much to get accomplished. I always long for my woods time when I am in town. I wonder how it will be when my woods time is up. Don't really want to think about that quite yet. Enjoyed a nice dinner with Hobbit, Tau and even Squire joined us. Another day is gone and New York calls to us tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and bearing with me as I try and keep this blog up to date - the internet is hard to get to out here some times. I hope everybody is enjoying their spring as much as me.

Love,
Kentucky Blue

hopefully post some pics soon - couldn't do it here!