July 1

Today was a pretty awesome day. Not really much I would change if I could do it over again. It was a new month and a new state! I'm currently tenting at 1304.3 in New Jersey (my phone says I'm in Sparta...). Something about today has had me grinning like a little kid all day long.

Taking a zero day at the church's hostel in Deleware Water Gap helped put things in perspective. There were some old AT books sitting on a shelf in the hostel. I almost didn't look through them, but I'm glad I did. One was a collection of memoirs from people that had hiked the trail over the years. A particular narrative by Rybeck? was about a teenager who did the trail during the summer between his junior and senior years of highschool. He had a 70 pound pack with food for up to twenty days at a time was averaging more than twenty five miles a day. Incredible. Just makes me wonder what's my deal is sometimes. This IS an incredible adventure every single day. I'm blessed to have the opportunity, and I'll try to act like it more often :D

The day started kind of late because I was reading the above memoir during breakfast. They say good things come to those that wait... They are correct. Someone popped their head in the hostel right as I was about to shoulder my pack and asks if anybody would like to slack pack ten miles to trail magic. I started singing "These are a few of my favorite things..." I actually didn't, but I said yes please.

The ten miles to the trail magic were inconsequential, but the views in jersey are already better than Pennsylvania. The gentleman that slack packed me put on trail magic once a year right before the fourth of July. They say they like to vicariously through hike. That's alright with me. It was a great time. It really was an absolute blast. There was Ziti, pasta salad, a cake, candy, and drinks. I was there with Connect 4, Bucket, and Breezy. We were all going around swapping hiking stories and laughing. The fun came to an end just before a fast moving thunderstorm rolled in.

After waiting for the lightning to pass, I trekked on further into jersey. About two miles later I came to an abandoned fire tower. Perfect place to take a nap I said. There's nothing quite like napping 75 feet in the air on a platform. It was the most epic nap of my life to date. Rested and refreshed I walked past a swamp and up onto a ridge. That ridge is where I pitched my tent and started a nice fire.

As the sun slipped lower, the winged beasts of the night converged on my camp. By that I mean mosquitos. They might be worse than Florida's. I'll do some statistical analysis to determine which state has worse insects. :)

Regardless, my deet and rain coat combo keep them mostly at bay.

Night, all.