AT Day 95: All the Way to Vernon NJ

Daily Miles: 18.9, Total Miles: 1,360.9

Up early on a cool but humid morning. I can tell the days are getting longer – no longer need a headlamp at 5:30am. Different landscapes on the hike today. Started up high but quickly dropped down to thickly forested bogs and flooded areas.

The path was helped from time to time by boardwalks which kept me mostly out of the mud. Passed a few farms and though several fields of high grass. In one field I came across six whitetail, frozen like statues – we had a staring contest and dared each other to move first, I lost.

Climbed back up to the rocky ridge, I snapped the bottom piece of my hiking pole between two rocks. I’m a glutton for punishment with these Gossamer Gear hiking poles. So light I lost a pair out of the back end of a pickup in Virginia last year. Yet so fragile, I’ve snapped three poles now. Well, I’m done with them now once and for all as soon as I can get them replaced. I extended the two remaining sections of the pole beyond the “STOP” position, now just a stubby stick, and trudged on.

As I got closer to a road crossing late in the day I had to make a decision. There’s rain coming in a few hours expected to last all night and through tomorrow. I can camp in an hour or so and hunker down or I can walk down the road for about a mile towards Vernon NJ to the Appalachian Motel. Chose the latter and glad I did, an older place but clean and pleasantly surprised with some of the highest water pressure I have ever experienced in a shower.

No nearby places to eat so got out my stove and enjoyed a trail dinner. It was raining by the time I finished. Lights out early.