Project Eveningland

6/30/2023 Friday

I nibbled my morning protein bar and sipped half-frozen water in the morning light of my fourth-floor room. Time to walk into New Jersey.

The bridge over the Delaware River is something to see. I enjoyed the view of a small island covered in thick underbrush with a tree leaning off its northern beach. The bridge was also something to hear—the roar of semis passing a few feet away moved the entire deck up and down and rattled me.

It took 45 minutes or so to reach forested trail again. I picked up a piece of litter—a wrapper from an individually packaged Hi-Chew—that was wet to the touch with something gross. I smelled it and it smelled minty like perhaps chewing tobacco. It was disgusting. I took off my pack with one hand and doused the other with hand sanitizer. Later I washed it with soap and small amounts of precious water. All that as punishment for trying to pick up litter! This gets me out of picking up litter for the rest of the day!

Now that we are done with dull dry ridges for a little while there are new things to see. Ponds for one! Sunfish Pond had interesting signage. Not many species of fish can live there due to high acid. The rocks around the shore brought back troubling memories of the rocky traverses from Rocksylvania, still too close for comfort.

Tiny toads hopped across trail all day. A post rainstorm baby boom perhaps. I experienced a persistent fear that I would almost trip, slam my trekking pole down to catch myself, and lift it to find an impaled toad on the end. It didn’t happen. Today.

There were flowers I haven’t seen in a while, including both some “pink lemonade” and some pink firecrackers. I can’t get my plant ID app to work without service. A small turtle with a bright orange stripe along its side was sunning on a log and hopped back into the water before I could get a picture.

As the trail left the scenic lake, I heard the deep thrum of an unseen dragonfly moving about in the reeds. Later I video’d a large turkey from the safety of the trail.

The path got rockier as the day progressed. I pulled four ticks off my legs today. Two at a rusty water source which I subsequently abandoned. None had really attached though one was trying just above my ankle. Initiate Tick Protocol Epsilon! More checks! More DEET!

I arrived at the Mohican Outdoor Center (run by the Appalachian Mountain Club or AMC). Whoo-boy do they charge you. I paid $29 for a sandwich, chips, ice cream sundae, and smart water. Then I paid $55 for a bunk in the thru-hiker cabin. Later I paid five dollars—plus tax—to rent a ragged but clean towel. An older teen boy who looks like my nephew Amory was working behind the counter. He smiled when I joked about the towel tax. New Jersey, amiright?

The cabin is very big and clean. Three bathrooms, two showers. No one in sight. I took a late afternoon nap. Then another hiker arrived and was jiggling the knob to his bunkroom loudly until I asked if he was OK and he told me his door wouldn’t open from the inside. I let him out and he went off to get a key to a different bunk room (there are four bunkrooms with four single bunks in each). The whole cabin has that very square wood furniture that rental cabins in state parks always have.

A short day today, just 11 miles. It sets me up for a perfect 14 mile day to a shelter tomorrow. My resupply package was waiting for me at Mohican. Thanks Mom and Dad!