Notes on New Jersey

Thru hikers are an oddly dramatic lot. Nobody really complains about the rain, mosquitos, or ticks, because they suck for us all, equally badly. (Except for me. I complain about the ticks. I'm up to 15 now, and have named the scissors part of my leatherman "Sting" because it has dispatched a number of them.) But the terrain, now, that's a different story, as everyone seems to handle it differently. Largely trail rumors blow everything way out of proportion, as evidenced by "You can do 30 miles per day in Virginia" (not true), "Pennsylvania is horrible and rocky and everyone hates it" (again, not true, and besides, Maryland was rockier), "New Hampshire is wicked steep and your daily mileage will be cut in half" (okay, that's true, but its so pretty you won't mind), and "Vermont is full of mud" (unconfirmed, but will keep you posted).

Nobody talks about New Jersey, and I don't understand why they don't. The Appalachian Trail section of New Jersey has been outstanding (for the record,  Pennsylvania was also outstanding,  but that's a longer post and blogging about it from my phone would be inefficient and would kill my battery). Here are a handful of reasons why my first 50 miles in NJ have been great:

1. I've seen ridiculous amounts of wildlife, and I'm not even counting the man with the plumbers ass and the terrible atomic bomb mushroom cloud back tattoo.  In my first 48 hours in the state I encountered 8 bears (two of which were cubs), 15 deer (including one itty bitty speckled fawn), a curious bunny, a knot of baby toads (and a couple of adults), and a gorgeous brown and tan rattlesnake who rattled at me multiple times as he went on his merry way.

2. The scenery is wonderful.  There haven't been a lot of sweeping vistas since the Smokies,  but what Virginia and Pennsylvania have lacked, New Jersey is making up for.  And when the views from the ground aren't good enough, you come across a fire tower or two to give you a higher perspective.  And if sweeping views of gentle topography aren't your thing, New Jersey provides untouched ponds, silent forests,  and smooth granite rocks surrounded by sun touched tall grass.

3. I've been in New Jersey for three days, and have had an opportunity to go swimming each of those days. (Back when I was in high school daydreaming about hiking the AT, it was the swimming holes that I was thinking about, not the hiking part.)

4. There are a lot of young backpackers on the trail, ranging from scout groups to YMCA groups and the like. I ran into a group of about 20 ten year old boys couple days back, and such a fun time chatting with them for 5 minutes. (Incidentally, nearly all of them want to hike the trail when they get older. I'm sorry to all the parents of those NJ boys for maybe putting that idea in their heads.) Yesterday I tented near a girl's YMCA group, and loved sharing trail stories with them. (I'm not apologizing to their parents, though, because there needs to be more women on the trail.)

5. There are a lot of interesting places to camp. My first night I camped at the Mohican Outdoor Center, which had a very informative display about rattlesnakes.  Yesterday I camped at the base of a fire tower, watched the sun set, and saw fireworks. Tonight I'm camping in a huge field set aside for hikers, which has a shelter, good water, and a hot outdoor shower. (It also has a plethora or lightning bugs who are illuminating the field in a lovely manner.)

In that vein, the lightning bugs need some watching.  Goodnight, everyone!