Day 101
Today we are planning to do another big day so we can not only hang out at the beach, but camp at “the secret” shelter on Jim Murray’s farm! We started the day a little bit early, but with a climb up to Sunrise Mountain to the pavilion. There was an awesome breeze up top, but we had to keep moving to get our miles in. We took an early morning ( read - second breakfast) break at the Rutherford Shelter) and ran in to Sunkist, Roller, and Cheeba. We were all headed to the ranger station at High Point State Park to get free cold pop! We had quite a bit of undulation up to the station, but we got there about 12:30. After getting our free cold drinks, the five of us all headed to the beach at Lake Maria to hang out and eat greasy and overpriced concession stand food :) We found out there were showers there too. We rinsed out our sweaty and salty clothes and showered before leaving the beach around 5 pm. Trekking Pole was also at the beach, so he headed out with Nokey, Testament, and me. We headed up to the High Point Monument, the highest point in NJ, on a side trip before heading back the AT. The next five miles reminded me so much of VA I almost couldn’t believe we were still in NJ! We walked through many old farms and homesteads with tons of old stone walls, fence stiles for livestock, and fields. We pulled a ton of ticks off ourselves as well. By the time there was less than a mile to go, we walked across some old boardwalks and then through a field where a doe had two small fawns with her. We made it to the road to the Murray property around 7:05 and I waited for Cheeba and Testament at the junction. We walked together up to the cabin and met Nokey and Trekking Pole there. Sunkist, Roller, Rocket, and two section hikers i call ‘The A Team’ showed up as well. I took another shower to try and get rid of a terrible heat rash I have from my pack and then we all hung out on the beautiful farm. We technically were in NY now on his farm. Tomorrow, on to the church hostel in Veron, NJ! The photo is of the crew hanging out at ‘the secret shelter.’