Today started off with a bit of oversleeping, and despite the threat of rain later today, I didn't leave the campsite until almost 8 am. Today's destination is a lake house in Branchville, NJ owned by my friend Jesse's parents. Normally, Jesse and several of us try to come up to the lake house (which we call the "Jersey House", for obvious reasons) sometime each summer for a weekend of relaxing, swimming in the lake, and going to yardsales. This weekend, the Fourth of July weekend, Jesse and his family would be at the Jersey House, making it perfect timing for a break. (A well-deserved break; today is 19 days since Harpers Ferry, the last time I took a zero.)
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Yesterday's 24.5 miles, my second-longest day to date, were not kind to my feet. Fortunately, today "only" required going 17.2 miles, and the trail was, in general, far nicer than it has been so far. I'm almost to New Jersey. That means the rocks are almost over, right? (Spoilers: no, it really does not.)
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After a large eggs and meat breakfast, with a fruit salad appetizer, Kathy shuttled me back to the trailhead, and I got going at 7:30. Today's goal would be to make up for lost time yesterday, with a 24.5 mile day to the Kirkridge Shelter.
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Today is my 100th day on the trail. It did not go as expected.
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With a 17 mile day planned to Bake Oven Knob Shelter, I managed to leave the shelter shortly before 7. Yesterday, One Feather had taken to calling the shelter "Easy Bake Oven Knob" (after the children's toy). With that in mind, I was almost immediately and rudely greeted with a rough, rocky trail. Being a bit cheeky, at the first shelter I passed (the Allentown Hiking Club Shelter, after about 7.5 miles), I wrote in the log,
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