28 May 2021. Day 51. 13.0 Miles + 624.4 Miles = 637.4 Miles. Gren Andersen Shelter to High Point Shelter. Into the Rain!

08:27. Sunrise Pavilion with Landslide and Soma

This pavilion was built on top of Sunrise Mountain in order for the locals to go up and see a sunrise. I would bet that more than one sunrise service has taken place here. Not far below is a large cul de sac for parking and a couple of picnic tables. Soma and Landslide were already there when I arrived and New Bedford showed up after me. I had more phone dealings to take care of in Massachusetts so they once again hiked on ahead.

10:00. Reminders of New England

It was really amazing to me that I was beginning to feel bits of New England here in New Jersey.

10:01. Not All Water is Drinkable Even After Filtering

Can you imagine drinking this stagnant brine? The only water that was moving was after the area that we were hiking across. That was like finding where the cows were standing in the creek doing their thing and then going downstream to get your water. Yummy!!!!

10:56. Foxtrot Who Began His Through Hike on March 14

Foxtrot is obviously a fast hiker. He breezed past me as I was climbing. He is the first hiker that I have seen who began this late from the beginning in Georgia and made it here. Heck…. he began one week before me and has made up 704.5 miles on me. He either is gathering no moss or I’m decomposing. He got the name because of his red beard and the fact that in cold weather he was wearing white pants and a brown top with red beard. He was also so cold that he would kind of hop along. So he looked like a fox trotting along. Thus Foxtrot.

11:07. Wrong Way and Yawp Through Hikers

The bubble was catching us. 5 through hikers ( not flip-flop) caught us this day. This was a very nice couple who had been hiking since February. She inherited her name from others. “How would you like to be known for your lack of sense of direction?” She was good natured about it. She was responsible for her partners name. She was an English literature major in college. Every time he would come to a beautiful view in the South he would let out a barbaric howl. She said that it reminded her of a line from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. In his poem “Song of Myself” he wrote, “I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

12:51 Random Shot at High Point State Park

This was an exciting place because the word we had received was that the rocks would end about two miles beyond the state park.

16:05. High Point State Park

15:05. High Point Veteran’s Memorial

The park office had the word that there were cold drinks, chips and Mountain House meals inside. You didn’t have to coax me. I told Landslide that I would meet him later. One Coke, a bag of sour cream and onion chips and a beef stroganoff freezes dried meal for evening later and I was back on the trail. I dallied too long . The much forecasted rain began when I still had 1.7 miles to go and it definitely was getting colder. I hoofed it climbing several hills before dropping below the veterans statue to get to the shelter.

Once again Soma and Landslide were there along with New Bedford and two sisters who section hike together every year. Originally from Rhode Island one still lives there and one moved to Ridgeland, South Carolina 30 years ago.

We all populated the shelter. By then it was raining hard and it had become Winter again. Tomorrow was going to be a complete wash. I dug deeply into my sleeping bag wondering just how I was going to “hike on” the next day.