Monament in NJ

Lake/Dam at YMCA

What a wonderful day!

I need to back track again......In PA both of us lost the trail about 1 week ago. There were lots of rocks - lots of weekenders and very little to no white blazes. Lucky we found the trail and each other without any problems. Both of us also fell in PA on the rocks - again without injury - I was caught by a rotten dead tree truck - Patches by some green underbrush. We do know that you can try to catch yourself or block the fall - but when your backpack shifts weight you are going down.

The last few water ponds/small lakes has the most beautiful water lilies - the big white pink areas looks like a fairy tale picture. Today was the 1st day that I really miss my flower book - I saw 2 new flowers. The underbrush in New Jersey is very pretty - has some ferns, blue berry bushes, mt laurels - looks like some kind of botanic garden.

New Jersey still has rocks but not as difficult as PA. The mountains are not so high. They have a few fire towers - we climbed 2 - 1st one had 72 steps - today's had 52 steps - the view from the towers are wonderful.

I saw a few humming birds - one came straight for my face - definitely enough mosquitoes for them - mosquitoes so bad today if you walked slow they covered you (deet didn't work). Patches saw a bear today - bear was not friendly - another hiker saw a cub. This morning 2 hikers eating breakfast had a bear circling them a few times - they blew whistle and banged hiking poles to get the bear to leave. We are in bear country - apparently to many bears for little woods.

We hiked past a lake that was formed by a crater years ago. Patches put his back pack next to trail and I walked right past it - I was in a hurry - it was a level spot and I did not need to look at my feet - so I missed it - lucky he caught up with me.

We met a section hiker in Shenandoah Park, VA that lives in NJ - he gave us his # and told us to call when we got in NJ - we did - he arranged to meet us 2 pm today. What a treat - coke, pizza, cookies and chocolate - we visited with him for 2 hours. He drove an hour to meet us - Thank you.

Tonight at this shelter - 4 tents - 5 in shelter - 2 more on the way. At this time it is raining - rain is nice - we need it.

LIFE IS GOOD!