This past weekend my friends and I backpacked the rest of New jersey's Appalachian Trail. Starting where we finished off last year at Highpoint( photos)and we hiked to the New York border. Now, I could really sugar coat this and tell you the trip was flawless and problem free, which it really was the first day when we started on friday afternoon. Rolling hills of farmland,wooden planks through colorful swamps,a blue cloudless sky.. it was really great. Had a beautiful clear first night, it was awesome to be back out on the AT. Morning hit, we had an early start, easy refill of water and we were on our way. Suddenly the group was handicapped... I went down after rolling my ankle badly and Dan developed a very painful leg injury . Now if this was any other long distance hike where we had time to spare, a down day was in order but we all had work on monday, it was either push through it or quit. So we got through it, all in all it was a great trip, I've learned a few vital things like wear a watch, time can be very important while hiking. Also, bring a map, although the AT is well marked, it's always nice to know how far you've gone and what you still need to complete... lessons learned, kankles throbbing and I was able to get some shots along the way, check 'em out!
"It's a bit soggy up ahead"
lots of swamps along the way
rolling hills of farmland, who would have known, New Jersey!
Pretty cool to think of the history this trail has
first night, there's nothing like that moment where theres no moon, no sun,no clouds just the stars.
this was cool until we saw hikers with legit hiking staffs
dan pouring that boiling water, oatmeal a camp favorite
easy water access, sometimes the AT has awesome people who help hikers along the way.
checking bear prints coming off the planks, just missed him
the kid has a nice beard
AT wraps around the Walkill wildlife refuge
easy trail for now
way off in the distance on the right is Highpoint, pretty nice feeling, wildlife refuge waters down below after climbing mountain.
you never know what the AT may bring
After this swamp we started searching for camp. It got a bit hectic, almost ran out of light and we really pushed ourselves with our injuries to find a suitable spot. Being exhausted we hit the sack almost immediately after dinner.
good morning! rested our bodies almost 12 hours, a little tight but feeling better
this one was not happy about us being there on the AT hahah tim confronting the cows
a new day!
hiking the mountain first thing in the morning
for the rest of the day I was mostly alone mid group, found some nice colors every once in awhile
we occasionally regrouped and discussed what was going on and took photos
lunchbreak
the more north the more color, last stop before the border
it's a beautiful site
Although injuries held me back from some shots, we got it done, just one state down, 13 to go. thanks for checkin it out, a big thanks to Tim, Jim and Dan for making this happen!
-jesse
