May 24 Mohican Center, NJ to Brink Rd Shelter, NJ 14.9 miles

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Good night’s rest. The music was marginal at best so we hit the sack just before 9PM. The thunder storms had passed and for a campground it was surprisingly quiet. Things started to come to life about 6AM and we rolled out by 6:30 made breakfast and were on the trail by 8:15. The first real challenge was the mountain rising above the camp some 500'. Temperature was in the low 60s when we started out.

We have figured out the AMC is mainly concerned with making money, not the welfare of hikers. Two women came in after we did when there were no more tent sites. They were told to walk back to their car or call a cab to take them back. We saw two primitive sites just up the hill from the center where they could have been sent to camp after a ten mile hike. The route today was along a steep drop-off to the north. You can see the farms below and houses as you traverse the trail.

About 11:30 I was stepping it out down an old woods road when I saw a long thick form stretched into the road. It had a nice geometric pattern down the side which said STOP! It was a rattlesnake! CC had me hold up and see what he was going to do. I decided to roll a rock his way after five minutes or so to get him moving along. Wrong plan. He recoiled into a tight wad and the rattle sounded off. About 10 minutes later another couple was coming south we warned them early. We conversed across the noisy ball and decided to box him to one side. We passed without a problem.

Thunder storms started up to the south of us just after lunch. We had about six miles to go so CC said to put it in high gear. We tried to keep as fast a pace as the rocks would allow us. We got a bit wet from sporadic showers but no real heavy rain came. We made the shelter by 3:20 just before the wind really got strong.

There was one southbounder here waiting out the storm. We set our stuff up and did supper. As the evening wore on three other hikers came in. 8:15 now and everyone is headed for their tent to evade the mosquitoes. Tomorrow we have 15.4 miles to get to a shelter that has water. We are about five miles short of 300 miles for the hike this year. Tomorrow we will go past that mark before lunch.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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