July 22

The Secret Shelter

We woke up early, surprisingly.  I headed down to the shelter to use the privy, and saw Slims and Tink.  They had gotten an earlier start leaving DWG than we did, and we hadn't caught up until now.  I hiked up to Sunrise Mountain, where there was a nice pavilion that offered a good place to sit and take in the outstanding views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.  I kept moving and made it to the next shelter to take a snack break.  There was another hiker there, who I had met briefly back in Shenandoah NP.  He was getting off the trail for this year, but want to do some trail magic for hikers.  There were a lot of other hikers here at the shelter, and we all went down to the next road crossing where "One" had his car parked.  He had an awesome spread of treats for us.  Soda, water, beer, hard boiled eggs, all kinds of chips, snack cakes, string cheese, and a 'hiker box' full of supplies if you needed to grab extra zip lock bags, toilet paper, first aid supplies, etc.  It was really nice of him to do all that.  I was so glad to be in the right place at the right time for all those treats.  Later that afternoon, I made it to High Point State Park.  The office there will give thru-hikers a free soda.  We all left there and made it up the mountain to a 220 foot tall stone tower.  This is the highest point in the state of NJ.  Great 360 degree views.  There were a good number of tourists up there too, as there is a paved road that you can take right to the top of the mountain.  We took a long break there.  The sun was starting to get a little low in the sky, so we kept on hiking.  Rainbow Eyes was having some problems with blisters, so he and Tink stayed back for a while.  They were probably just going to hike a mile or so to the next shelter.  Slims, Apache, and I kept on going.  Around dusk, we made it to the Murray property, the site of the "secret shelter" I had heard about before I started this hike.  It's a great place with a shower, a sleeping cabin, and huge open fields for tenting.  I was kind of disappointed though that it wasn't really a secret at all as to it's location on the trail.  It's listed in the guidebook, and on trail information kiosks back at High Point park.  I found a nice area below the cabin to string up my hammock, and I cooked a quick dinner.  Since the weather was nice, and I wasn't sure if that would be the case over the next few days, I decided this would be a good spot for another disco party.  I was far enough away from everyone else that they wouldn't hear the music.  There were a lot of other hikers here tonight.  I invited people to come down to my campsite, and a handful of them checked out what was going on.  Everyone was pretty surprised to see a disco ball hanging from a tree branch, glow sticks, and music playing from my speakers.  I think they thought I was kidding when I said I was carrying a disco party.  Haha.  Did about 18 miles or so today, and loving every bit of it in New Jersey. 

Approaching the monument at High Point, NJ