08/05

Woke up feeling better, still fatigued but nothing like yesterday. 17 miles planned for today, there’s really no time to take a zero or properly rest. Unfortunate but true. The day was filled with puds. Pointless ups and downs the whole way out of NJ. There was a nice boardwalk section through some marshland that reminded me a lot of the Orlando wetlands park. Except more wildflowers and less alligators. About halfway into the day we stopped at Heavenly Farms, a roadside bakery and ice cream shop. I got an iced coffee and cookies and cream cone. Slowed us down a bit but well worth it. Right after we climbed out of the town up the “stairway to heaven” a 1.5 mile steep rocky incline. Calling the slabs of rocks “stairs” is generous but we made it up without too much trouble. A few miles from the state line we came across a random cooler chained to a tree in the middle of the woods that said “trail magic-from the Warwick Baptist church.” Inside were some water bottles, snacks, Bible verses, miniature Jesus, and cigarettes. Gotta love it. We grabbed a few of the snacks and left the rest for the next hikers. The trail out of NJ and into NY was more rocky hills. At one point the trail turned into a sheer rock wall. I struggled to climb it, scared I’d slip and fall. But we made it across the border checking NJ off our list. Only 6 more states to go! We’re nearing the final stretch and the energy is palpable. We made camp next to a small creek, which the water filtered light brown from the tannins… extra flavor. Made dinner, ramen and a buffalo chicken packet, and did our very first bear hang! Yes… we have been sleeping with our food this whole time. A calculated risk after ditching our bear cans. However, bear activity up here is supposedly more common, so because we camped away from the shelter tonight, we decided to spare ourselves a chance encounter and hang our food. Hopefully we did a good job and the bears don’t gives us any trouble.