Legs and Borders

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...

"Killer trail with killer views up ahead on the trail. A trail crafted by skilled dwarves in days of yore. Cut into the side of the mountain with nothing but pickaxes, pry bars, rock drills and dynamite!" LongJohnSilver "How many hikers can you fit into a car.. Wait, is this a Polish joke?" Pancakes Town day, resupply day - slowly but surely it becomes more desirable. Just to aimlessly walk the alleys in supermarket, strike a conversation with a stranger or share a story with another hiker. It feels special, even for a loner like myself. I camped only 8 miles away from Walkers Pass where I could catch a ride to either Lake Isabella or Ridgecrest in the morning. Calling trail angel was out of question as my T-Mobile credit ran out two days ago and local bus was running only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (and no one knew why). So I had to rely on my questionable hitchhike catching skills. I arrived at the Walkers Pass at 8:30am, half an hour of sticking thumb up ...

Me: Is that a bullet shell? Cucumber: Yes it is. Welcome to America. I woke up and carefully opened the tent to check if my rattlesnake neighbour from last night was still here and indeed it was still chilling in the previous spot, did not move a millimeter. I reckon it was sent by the snake federation as a reward for snake overload the previous day, to protect me from bears and bobcats. The day, especially compared to the previous one was fairly uneventful. Three fairly big ascents (Pinyon Mountain, Wyleys Knob and Skinner's Peak) throughout the day, followed by few miles of easy and shaded walk in the forrest, followed by last few miles of boring dirt road walking. The wind blew all day long, especially up high it was very strong and nearly knocked me down few times. Highlight of the day was crossing through the mile 630, as that was so far length of the longest continuous walk I did - South West Coast Path in England, followed by 500 mile long Camino de Santiago in Spain. Now th...