Appalachian Trail (day 56) - Church of the Mountain to Brink Road Shelter / mile 1322

Do you like mosquitoes? Do you like ticks? Do you like rattlesnakes? Anyway, welcome to New Jersey! (We got dung beetles as well.)

First day in New Jersey and it was a lot to take in. I've hiked out of Delaware Water Gap in the morning and crossed the long bridge over Delaware River which was also marking the border between states. Day was warm and the trail rocky, I've decided I want to go to Mohican Outdoor Centre located close to AT to have lunch. I've arrived there at 11 AM with two deer ticks lodged into my leg. This ticks were not messing around like the others I encountered in Virginia, which I could feel crawling on me and flick away. Unfortunately they were also the lyme disease spreaders so it made me somewhat worried.

Lunch at the Mohican Outdoor Centre was good, I got a hot dog special with peppers and onions, it came with bag of crisps and brownies for dessert, it had free refills on coffee as well. After that I've rejoined the trail and carried on rock hopping. It got really humid in the afternoon and it was supposed to rain heavily at night so I decided to stay at the shelter as having all my gear wet after just drying it out yesterday wasn't really sitting right with me.

In the afternoon trail was passing through the perfect habitat for snakes and since the day was sunny I was on the watch bashing the rocks and logs in front of me with the trekking poles. My assumption was correct, I've encountered two timber rattlesnakes sunbathing by the trail, one was quite young, light green and the other fully grown and dark green. Quality if the second picture is really bad but my potato camera wouldn't zoom that far and I would dare to come much closer.

I find the rattlesnakes (for the lack of better word) very "gentlemanly", they will always let you know where they are and that you are entering their comfort zone and until you won't cross the line they will leave you alone. It is a fair deal, you do have to find your way around them though as they won't move out of the way. Great snakes, I have a lot of respect for them.

During the day I've met Julia, a wildlife photographer, she has also seen few snakes, turtles and porcupines today. She warned me that this year is a "tick hell" and after hearing that I've already had two bite me, she gave me a deet spray and (for some reason) a lifestraw for water filtering, it was a very generous and timely gesture.

I've arrived at the shelter at 5:30 PM and got joined here by two other thru hikers, Moosehead from Quebec and Scramble from California. Scramble was finishing her triple crown challenge and was speed running the trail with over 30 miles hiked per day. Moosehead was walking his first long distance trail and just finished one of his longest days so far. Shelter was very decent with clean privvy and a bear box but most importantly a sturdy roof over our heads.

In the meantime State of New Jersey issued a flood warning. We all hoped weather will do it's worst over night and settle by tomorrow morning.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Appalachian Trail (day 77) - Hikers Welcome Hostel to Eliza Brook Campsite / mile 1816

Image
"After hiking in White Mountain's everything else seems easy" Sue First day in the White's, I can confirm now that terrain here is unlike anything we faced on the AT so far. In the morning I had a coffee and a breakfast muffin at the hostel, surprisingly despite the early hour Tum Tum, Iceman, Yukon and Gutsy were up as well. Weather was supposed to be a mixed bag but we were all determined to climb Mt Moosilauke today. I headed out and started the 4000 feet climb first, it was a long, steady uphill going through well maintained terrain, problems only started at the top. Day was quite windy, combined with the rain and exposed, alpine environment, it became a recipe for a very wet, cold and uncomfortable time. At the top wind was pushing me left and right and rain was cutting across with great speed, I was completely drenched in just few moments. Luckily exposed section didn't last too long and the AT dived into the pine forest soon after. ...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 12) - Icewater Sorin Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter / mile 231

Image
Today could be described in one word - windy. And it was not your refreshing summer breeze, it was the kind of wind that chills your bones and the moment you feel it you want to turn around and go back home, except there's no home and you can't turn around. The food I hanged last night was completely frozen, it was funny to crunch on a solid snickers and granola bars for breakfast. At least it was sunny, I've put all my layers on and started hiking. Trail looked really good, I could see small patches of snow and icicles probably formed last night hanging from the bushes. Later during the day you could see the damage last years hurricane has done, fallen trees, layers of uncovered rock showing that there was not much trees could hang on to beneath, trail was trying to manoeuvre around the blow downs and disturbed earth. I haven't met many people today but I hiked alongside Blazer, a friendly, older American guy. He also hiked PCT, so w...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 76) - Lambert Ridge to Hikers Welcome Hostel / mile 1799

Image
Hot, humid, stormy day. My goal was to place myself withing the short distance before the climb to Mount Moosilauke. AT in New Hampshire definitely prooved from the very begining that it means business. The first and second climb of the day:  Smarts Mountain and Mt Cube were steep and rocky, the path was muddy, overgrown and not very well marked, combined with the hot and humid weather I was moving at a snail's pace. Views were quite rewarding though and after the initial struggle trail got easier for the rest of the day. I've seen yet another two bear cubs, no mother in sight this time around which got me a bit spooked. Cubs climbed so high up the tree I could hardly see them from the trail, they were so incredibly agile! I've taken a blurry video of the couple as I thought it was fairly safe to do so, that's 10 black bears I've seen so far on Appalachian Trail.  At one point I took a break  by the road and tried to dry my feet a...
Read more