Vernon NJ, 1342 done, 831

Hi Everyone

Just a quick post from Vernon NJ. We are staying at a church hostel at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church tonight after a 20 mile day and a big Deli Sandwich that we had for lunch.

We left Delaware Water Gap on on Friday June 27 after listening to some great blues music at the Deer Head Inn, (see last post).

We had breakfast and only hiked 10 mile to the Mohican Outdoor Center. I had to rescue Patty a couple of times as she was grazing in the blue berry patch along with a black bear that she failed to notice. Once I told her there was a bear nearby, she caught up with me rather quickly.

NJ is very proud of their bears and they seem to have quite a few.

Since we did not have a day off in DWG and were still pretty tired from all the ROCKS in PA we rented a cabin at the Mohican Center and just lounged around after our 10 mile day that seemed to include quite a few rocks. It was a very modest cabin and tucked away in the woods. We had a deer walk by the front door and when Patty walked out the cabin door on Saturday Morning she had two very LARGE Black Bears walking by. She didn't even scream. We saw these same two bears about an hour or so later when we hiked back up the ridge to the A.T. and the biggest one was almost on the trail, (400 pound plus). We just told him to get off the trail and he did. We finished our 17 mile day of NJ rocks and camped near a shelter. We made sure to put our food in the bear box that was provided.

On Sunday we did a very tough 20 mile day with plenty of rocks and up's and downs. After passing the second Washington Monument we have seen on the trail at High Point State Park, (this one is an actual replica of the DC one) we tented near a shelter. It has been hot and muggy for the past few days and we were rained on while hiking and the sky really opened up last nite and pounded our tent. We stayed dry.

Today we planned a 20 mile hike and I think we are finally done with the rocks for a while. We had some good ups and downs of 500-1000 feet, but the rocks have diminished greatly.

We are going to try to set something up with a friend to hike and then visit with him later this week.

I am sure I will be able to post some photo's from his computer.

Happy 21st Birthday to Chris tomorrow, and Happy 54th wedding anniversary to Mom and Dad today.

Take care

Red Dog and Lucky dog