I've been cooped up these past 5 weeks with barking dogs, video games at full volume, screaming women and an advanced Alzheimer patient babbling day and night. But now, freedom, at last!
The truck went in the auto body shop and stayed there for several weeks while they dickered with the insurance company on what work was required. Before leaving Maine I hit a tree at 3 mph and 2 days later got clipped by a hit and run while backing out of a parking space. It took a long time to get the truck back but it looks like new now. I hope to get another few thousand miles out of it.
The 'man pain' I complained about all summer turned out to be a hernia so I went into another body shop to get that fixed. Not fun! I hope to get another few thousand miles out of the old body now, too. It was a couple of weeks by the time I saw all the doctors, surgeons, etc. and got medical releases and stuff and another couple of weeks for recovery.
Thursday, 10/28/99:
I got the truck back Monday, got it inspected on Tuesday and took off like a bat out of hell first thing Wednesday. I have to get stitches out Monday so didn't want to go too far so ended up in High Point State Park in the northwest corner of New Jersey yesterday afternoon.
I'm used to spending the foliage season in the New Hampshire White Mountains but missed this year because of the truck and hernia. (I've been sitting here in the truck with the laptop plugged into the cigarette lighter for the last 10-15 minutes. I just looked up and there was a white tailed (deer) doe about 50 feet from me, grazing on something she was finding amongst the fallen leaves. I got off a couple of pictures but it's just about dusk so I don't know if they took.) Anyway, New Jersey's kinda flat and the highest point, 1803 feet, is up here in the northwest corner of the state next to the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania. I figured if there was any real foliage to be had in this state, this would be the area.
Except for the ghetto of Trenton, the drive up was very pretty as the sun was out in full force and it was peak foliage most of the way up. Unfortunately, I passed 5 dead deer on the roadside, one of them a 6 point (or so) buck. The count is now 5 dead ones vs 3 live ones I've seen so far on this trip. I've seen a couple of camouflaged bow hunters so I guess it's bow season and the deer will be on the move.
I checked out a couple of campgrounds open all year but neither was very attractive so I chose the High Point State Park for the next 5 days even though there are no showers. I lucked out because it's also the last 5 days of their season.
The area has an active black bear population and there are warning signs all over the place. They've been known to walk right up to an occupied picnic table, take food right off the table and walk away with it. The males average 400 pounds and the females half that. They can run 30mph, climb trees and are pretty good swimmers. That doesn't leave many options if you get one PO'ed.
I got camp set up on a platform at the edge of a pond and had dinner but the temperature dropped right into the low 40's and a steady wind drove me into the tent. Just before dusk, 3 Canadian geese landed on the pond making a great racket. Something must have disturbed them several times during the night because they'd start with the honking again. Fortunately that would only last a minute or so.
A while back a guy emailed me an article about bears he'd written for some publication. Two things about that article still stand out in my mind. 1) if you play dead when being attacked by a hungry carnivore you're likely to get eaten alive and 2) he had a first hand account of a guy who had a grizzly gnawing on his head and lost most of his scalp. Can you imagine a bear chewing on your head? <shudder>
Around 8pm I was listening to the radio (it said to expect temperatures in the 20's) with the lights out when I thought I heard rain or wind. I turned the radio off and didn't hear wind or rain. But I did hear something large shuffling though the dead leaves on the ground. And then something bumped into the tent platform.. I was lying on my back and felt chills move up the entire left side of my body. Was that a bear or a Halloween goblin or my imagination out there? I didn't care what it was, none of them were welcome. As I lay there holding my breath, I head more leaves move and felt sure I would hear some kind of thump as whatever it was climbed up on the 2 foot high platform. Instead, I thought I heard a muffled thump or two and then nothing. Phew!
The main reason I'm here is get my legs moving after the operation. The first several days I could barely move and the next several days were spent just doing normal stuff around the house and yard. After that, I started with short walks that increased in length and frequency. Everything was on flat surfaces though.
This morning I hit the park roads for a couple of miles and gave the hamstrings a pretty good workout on some moderately steep hills. My back and neck started getting tired but the incision held up very well. The sun was out in full force with the temperatures in the 60's. The park road was past peak foliage with 25% of the leaves on the ground but it was still a nice walk.
In the afternoon I took a long drive along Old Mine Road that runs along the Delaware River up here. This part of the Delaware has been declared a national scenic river and has some impressive cliffs. The road has many branches leading to the river which is a nice feature. Driving up and down the mountain ridges showed this area can hold its own when it comes to fall foliage. Much of the area was still pretty close to its peak and I wouldn't mind coming back in the future, maybe the 3rd week in October next time though.
Friday, 10/29/99:
Temperature last night was in the 30's and the geese must have invited some of their friends and relatives because the noise increased in volume and this morning there were at least 10 geese on the pond. One bold fellow came padding over to see what I was up to so I grabbed the camera and captured his likeness on film.
Another reason I chose this area is its proximity to Campmor headquarters in northern New Jersey. Campmor is a mail order camping gear company (1-800-CAMPMOR & www.campmor.com) where I've gotten most/much of my camping gear. I'd heard they had a large store and wanted to visit it so took off in that direction first thing this morning. I headed south on route 23 to I80 east to the Garden State Parkway and there they were 2 miles north on route 17 north.
I wasn't disappointed but (un)fortunately didn't need any gear. I spent over an hour just wondering around and did finally find a Delorme Atlas for Maryland & Delaware where I'll be heading next. EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) had a large store right next door but I resisted the temptation and headed back to camp.
The afternoon was spent making several short but brisk walks along roads with moderate hills. A walk around the pond revealed 2 large beaver lodges that seemed to be well maintained. I find it hard to believe there are beaver in that pond with campsites within 100 feet. I didn't see any evidence of beavers working on nearby trees either. Later on I would find lodges in a couple of nearby ponds. These had many stumps from saplings they had chewed down in the past. I didn't see any recent activity but there may have been some on the other side of the ponds.
Saturday, 10/30/99:
Last night was pretty warm so I was sitting outside by the pond in the dark, enjoying the star lit sky. Several of the campsites are now occupied (the park was empty when I arrived) and there were a couple of campfires flickering against the water in the dark across the pond.
All of a sudden I hear a couple of thumps from (apparently) behind me. I sit there listening to see if there are any more when I hear what I can only describe as a deep throated sheep bleating. It sounded something like BA-A-A but much deeper. Needless to say, sitting there in the dark, the hairs on the back of my head stood up at attention. Gawd! It must be the King Kong of all bears coming to gnaw on my head.
Listening with every fiber of my being I now also hear geese honking and the flapping of wings. Could those thumps I heard have been wings flapping? Could that really deep BA-A-A have been a half a goose honk instead of bear talk? For my overall peace of mind and sanity I decided to accept that explanation. There does seem to be one goose out there that only gives a half a honk. When the other geese are squawking away with 2 syllable honks, this one can be heard using just one. I don't know if it has a physical problem, is lazy or just doesn't have all that much to say but it always just gives a half a honk.
I had to get up 3 times during the night to pump air into the mattress. Seems like its sprung a slow leak and it takes about 2 hours for my butt to hit the boards. I really don't want to go through another night like that, especially since I haven't been sleeping all that well anyway.
The Appalachian Trail runs through High Point State Park and several state trails intersect with it at various points. The A.T. is a national scenic trail that runs more than 2,000+ miles from Georgia up through northern Maine.
Trail hiking seems to use a different set of muscles than road walking. I wanted to stretch these out and since I've been a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club for 25+ years and have seldom been on the trail I thought I'd give it a shot today.
I left camp about 9am and a short hike brought me to a steep pitch leading up to the A.T. Aside from it's steepness, this small cliff also has some fossilized shells embedded in its stones.
The sun was out and the temperatures in the 60's as I made my way a couple of miles along the trail with only a few dips and rises. I don't know why but I was surprised by the number of rocks along the trail. I always think of New Jersey as being nothing but sand. I suppose the trail crews move rocks onto the trail to help define it. I hadn't bothered to get the hiking boots out and was just wearing some cheap walk-about shoes. Big mistake! By the time I got back to camp my feet were really sore from walking on those stones and rocks.
There were a few nice views of the ponds and valley's below and mountain ranges across the way as I headed south along the trail. A mile or so into my hike I came across a sleeping bag, tent, fishing gear and some food heaped in a pile along the trail. No sign of anyone around so I continued on my way for another mile or so. Not wanting to overdo it, I turned back a half hour or so later.
I had seen no one while heading south but as I neared the abandoned gear I met 3 backpackers. They questioned me about the gear and we all agreed it was strange just lying there by the trial and we hoped nothing had happened to the owner.
A little farther on I met up with a French Canadian who had taken a bus down to Rutland, VT (that's where the Killington and Pico ski areas are, I think, also where I broke my shoulder for the first time 20+ years ago) and was on his way to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. He had been through a fair amount of snow and sleet farther north and was quite happy with the current weather.
A little later here comes another guy with 2 walking sticks who was really moving and seemed like he might be another thru hiker. He was followed shortly after by a group of older (than me) folks, most of whom were matronly, grandmotherly types with backpacks. Good for them!
I was the only day hiker, everyone else was backpacking. I met close to 15 people in that 2 mile stretch. I wonder if that is indicative of the kind of use the A.T. gets. 15 people every 2 miles for 2,000 miles is 15,000 people. That's a lot of people on a 5-10 foot wide path, I don't care how long it is.
All day I had been debating whether to drive all the way back to Campmor to look a little closer at an $85 air mattress or to stop at a Walmart I had seen 15 miles away and pick up one similar to the one I already had. I ended up springing an extra $4 for the same (Ozark Trails?) mattress with a velour top, bringing the whole cost to $17. I saw Coleman's also has an air mattress for $22 but I didn't want to have to buy a new pump too.
Sunday, 10/31/99:
Last night was in the 40's, which really felt warm after the last few nights. The velour top on the sleeping bag added quite a bit to overall comfort, not having to worry about putting a bare arm or face on cold PVC material.
This morning I took another road walk of several miles. The wind was blowing pretty good last night and most of the trees are naked now. The sun was out and it was in the 60's again so it was still nice to be out.
This afternoon I spent adjusting to the end of daylight savings time and enjoyed my favorite past time, relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. Well, maybe it's only my second favorite past time.
Tomorrow I go to get my stitch out (most of them are internal with only one external). I'll stay overnight with friends and be off to Maryland and the east shore of the Chesapeake Bay on Tuesday.