hiking the AT

big post today people, normally I would rather show the best of the best shots from a personal shoot like a small portfolio, but this camping trip was just so awesome, challenging and fun that I wanted to share with the other hikers and all readers what myself and four other friends did and to make you feel like you were all there. The back story quick is we been wanting to hike a challenging portion of the Appalachian trail, just about 30 miles was our goal. The group took off work, skipped classes and got our asses out there for a weekend trip, hike in friday afternoon and night, camp, 11 miles saturday, 11 miles sunday, destination High Point, the highest point in New Jersey. Not only was the hike challenging but so was getting photo opportunities, we made it happen and I hope tim,jeff,dan and liz got as much out of this as I did. good times! thanks everyone! Here are the photos I came out with.

hiked in to our camp just as the sun dropped below the horizon

I jumped in the shot, jeff didn't meet up till later haha hes crazy

an amazing clear night

while everyone was passed out, tim and I got an early rise and got first peak at sunrise.

tim getting warm while everyone sleeps

got a good start

dan had a water filter, fresh spring water,better than your faucet

we enjoyed our resting spots, taking a breather

if dan didn't have that filter, we'd all have beaver fever

after the filling up on water we hauled ass as close as we could to sunrise mtn

this campsite was awesome tucked away and we had lots of animal activity which got a little crazy, but thats what this was all about.

woke up at 530 and got up to sunrise mountain, and it was worth it, jeff and tim soaking it in at the pavilion.

had to put this in

thanks sunrise mountain

loves his tea

got started but lovin' the views

we barely stopped, once we really got going we kicked ass, high point monument in sight

final ascent

nice looking monument

check out the views!

droid incredible hooks it up

group shot from left to right..jeff,tim,myself,liz and dan

and an excellent finish to our trip!

enjoy!

-Jesse

sunset/sunrise camping

After a day of work on saturday at the farm, I got in contact with my buddy Tim, him and another friend of ours Jeff went hiking all day and already set up camp. I been wanting to go camping up at the location they were at but I haven't had the chance. Luckily, theres a fire access road about a mile from their site that I could hike right up and get to no problem. I got my camera gear together, some hotdogs, beer and jumped in the car. Trying to even get there before dark, I wasn't worrying about the nice looking sunset that I could see through the trees next to the delaware river. Then a roadblock..a wire was down and there wasn't anyway of getting through. I pulled over, called Tim and canceled our meet up, I was bummed. Since I drove all this way, I walked down to the river with my camera and actually caught the last of the sunset, physched I didn't waste ALL of my time,luckily I hiked out to meet up with the electrical crew who opened the road! Called Tim, had him set to meet me half way with lights, it was back on. After parking I started hiking very quickly,although an easy hike, anything could happen in the dark. Met tim and we got to the site where Jeff was hanging out around the fire. We had great temperatures, nice fire, hotdogs, great view on the ridge and a clear night. Just good times. We got to bed early for the sunrise, set our alarms and got to bed. I don't know how our alarms didn't wake us up but we almost missed it, but I woke up just in time. I woke the other two and we jumped out of the tent to see a crazy sunrise! Clouds came in and filled the valley,as the sun rose above, I never knew such a beautiful site was possible so close to where I lived. We were physched! It kinda felt like we were the double rainbow guy. Afterwards,we boiled water for breakfast and just hungout while the sun rose and the clouds started clearing below us. Yet again we we faced with more beautiful scenery! We had our instant soup and packed up, and hiked out. It was great time, I don't know if we'll ever have a sunrise like that again up there but we'll be back.

sunset down by the delaware river

long shutter campsite,tim working on the fire

tim fireside

we woke up to this!

did my best to find good spots quickly, since of course we slept in.

little bit higher sun

the fog reminded me of mt. hood almost

jeff boiling his water

tims turn

getting the fire started back up

more cloud cover came over the fog and made what jeff calls a "cloud sandwich"

started to clear up down below

getting a little fall color

hiking out on the fire road

All in all, I'm happy with the shots I got for the blog, enjoy!

Thanks to tim and jeff!

-Jesse