Wow, today was full of surprises. For starters, it’s pretty easy to lose track of the days out here and after taking a really slow morning/waiting out the rain at Mosey’s, I realized that it was Friday and I had exactly 24 hours to cover 33 miles before the post office in the next town closed. Off to the races!
With the day halfway over already, I had to go as fast as I could to make up the miles, but passed some of New Jersey’s beautiful wetland areas.
This boardwalk is a very popular photograph that people take on the AT, and I had no idea I would be passing it today-how cool! 
Anyway, I was making remarkably good time and was almost going to make it to the shelter before dark (a miracle considering how many miles I had to crank out) when the Lord intervened with other plans.
I climbed a rocky mountain and came across another hiker who had injured himself on the climb up and decided to go ahead and cook my dinner with him at the overlook since the sun was setting. We got to talking and had a fantastic conversation about life and faith. I was able to connect him with some local trail contacts (he thinks he’ll be fine by morning) just in case. Here’s the sunset we enjoyed together:
The sun went down after my delay, but I quickly ran into another hiker who I got to chat with all the way to the shelter 4 miles away-we got to see some pretty amazing stars and twinkling fireflies. The day I thought would be a death march (and it seemed it at first) turned out to be one of my favorite trail days yet!
I also hit High Point, the highest point in NJ, today where I picked up that magical bug net. I was all out of energy to take the side trail to the tower that was already closed for stair-climbing, but here’s a picture from the distance. 
Even though it means I’ll have a lot of miles to crank out tomorrow, I chose to stay at Mosey’s Place Hostel per Trigger’s recommendations tonight and am very happy with that decision. In addition to the last laundry/shower for at least a week, Mosey and the other hiker here, Cookie Monster, have been a joy to talk to and learn about. We have been feeding a baby bunny (not pictured) that Mosey took into her garage-he’s so cute! 
As the day marched on, we were surrounded several times by some pretty electrifying thunderstorms with lightning way too close for comfort. For those of you who don’t know, lightning is my biggest fear on the AT. Humming How Great Thou Art for sure…
However, after the storms I got to be rescued once again and spent a lovely evening at my friends lake house. Reminds me of all of my summers at home. 
Starting tomorrow, I am officially a fully solo hiker. I will miss the comfort of being around people I already know, but I’m looking forward to having more freedom to bounce between groups of hikers. Please pray for the Lord to bring those He wants me to minister to into my path (and keep me from breaking myself on these slippery rocks!).
After discovering that the rocks weren’t all left behind in PA, we found a pile of them on top of a grassy ridge.
Midafternoon, we found all the hikers at the Mohican Outdoor Center, an AMC operation with smoothies and milkshakes and fresh water-thank goodness, because it was hot today! 
Final attraction of the day was a real treat-a fire tower manned and in full operation! We got to learn the ins and outs of being a lookout from a guy who has dedicated his whole life to keeping the region safe.
I met two other flip floppers today-one who just started from Delaware Water Gap. Please pray for hikers to link up with me in mileage goals so that I can start building some deeper relationships.
Also, for anyone interested, I have a little over 900 miles to go until the end of the flip and the beginning of the flop. 
Today was another day with dry springs and no water for over 13 miles, but the trail angels had our back with roadside refills.
Final attractions of the day included a beautiful rhododendron tunnel in full bloom (reminded me of my summer at my beloved UMC camp, Camp Wesley Woods) and reaching Delaware Water Gap and the PA/NJ border.
That’s a wrap, PA!
First up this morning was a rock scramble up to the Superfund ridge, a deforested zone due to some pretty reckless metal manufacturing.
A big issue in today’s heat wave (heat index was over 100) was not having any water sources for over 15 miles. However, the trail (really the Lord) provided and there were two trail magic setups at mile 5 where we could get critical water.
The campsite we found tonight is pretty buggy but my amazing trail boss, Trigger, has a bug net on its way for my tarp-my own little bug-free zone! Gearing up for the last day of Rocksylvania-only 20 more miles to go.
This part of the trail is called the knife’s edge and that’s exactly what it was like to walk across (or rather scramble across). 
The early start this morning also meant being the first to arrive at not one, but two trail magic setups. Thank you trail angels! 
Also thanks to my Vietnamese friend Half Slow for the strawberry milk and taste of Da Nang this morning-never would have thought I’d be eating durian on the AT.
The final excitement of the day came when Mama Shaykevich rescued us and took us to visit the Lady in Green…Frappuccino never tasted so good!
This afternoon I was able to spend some more quality time with the hikers I’ve met in the past few days at Eckeville Shelter. People are generally much more apt to chat when it’s not pouring rain, myself included. 
We’ve settled in for the night at Allentown shelter with the most adventurous dude I’ve ever met-he both teaches high school math and does high-altitude mountaineering…you can choose which you think is more brave, but I’d say it’s a tie.
I eventually arrived in the small town of Port Clinton and was desperate for a place to get out of the rain while I waited for the Cabela’s van to get me. I figured that as a tax-paying US citizen I couldn’t technically get kicked off of the US Post Office steps during business hours. 
After several hours of drying out/charging/washing socks in the sink (this is what we call being hiker trash) in the world’s largest outfitter (7 acres under roof!), it was back to the trail with an amazing trail angel named Eddie. Check out his 9 year old daughter’s website www.goalexandriago.com as she prepares to thru hike next season!I bid thee a very soggy goodnight…