July 21

I love NJ!

Packed up a wet tarp, put on wet clothes and wet shoes, and started hiking this morning.  At least the rain had stopped.  Just after leaving camp, there were excellent views along the ridge just before coming to Catfish firetower.  We climbed up to the top, but the door to the observation cabin was locked.  We were trying to remember when the last firetower we were in.  I'm pretty sure I haven't climbed one since the Smokies.  This is cool.  The views were great.  We took a pretty long break up there, but got moving again down more of the beautiful Jersey trail.  A few miles later, we passed through a swampy area.  I noticed in the middle of the water there was a huge mound of logs.  A beaver lodge!  Some chewed tree stumps in the area that I saw confirmed it.  There's beaver in this area.  That's so awesome!  I hope I see one.  We stopped for lunch at Blue Mnt Lakes Rd.  There was a pump there for us to get water, and the sun was shining brightly.  A good spot to eat, and let our wet socks, shoes, and gear dry out.  More amazing trail this afternoon.  The views along Rattlesnake Mountain were spectacularly good.  We eventually came down off the ridge to a road crossing at Branchville, NJ.  We walked a short way to Gyp's Tavern, where we got dinner.  Really good, cheap burgers, 'freedom' fries, and such.  We ate on the covered porch around back, right on the lake.  Great setting for dinner as the sun went down.  We got back on the trail and started night hiking.  At the top of the first climb, we made it to another firetower.  We accidentally woke up Dingo, who was tenting near the tower.  I climbed up the tower to soak in the views.  It was a little chilly, but the sky was clear.  So many stars.  After a long break, we finally made it to the Gren Anderson shelter.  We tried to be as quiet as possible walking into camp since it was around 11pm now.  We set up for the night, put our food bags in the metal bear box down near the shelter.  We had covered about 20 miles today, and what a beautiful day it was!  I am so impressed with the trail in NJ so far, and I'm looking forward to see what's next.

Beautiful hiking along the ridge, near Rattlesnake Mountain in NJ