everyone was up early today and on the trail by 7:00. It poured all night, but it stopped around 5:30 this morning; although the grass and most of the trail was still soaked.
there were lots of ups and downs today, and passed through a lot of swampy/marshy land. There was even a section about a mile long that was a boardwalk over a swamp, there was a walk through a cow pasture, and i crossed several railroad tracks. one difficult climb this morning was up Wawayanda Mtn. it went from 400 ft. to over 1400 ft. in a 1/2 mile...and was very rocky.
the sky cleared up around noon and i took a break at the wawayanda shelter. i took off my shoes and socks to let them dry in the sun, and i took a nap. nice. the afternoon turned mostly to ridge walking and i crossed the NJ - NY border. just before this, about 50 yards, i came up to the top of the mtn. and ran into a medium sized bear. he was just sitting on a rock looking around. he saw me and jumped down the side of the mtn. and took off running - he was so fast it was just a blur.
here at the shelter with john, bad hummus, stovie, carolina, and another hiker. it's very buggy and it looks like the clouds are moving in again.
later,
L
