Sunday, July 26 9:40 pm 12.9 mi
AT 1296.0 Delaware Water Gap → AT 1308.9 Catfish Fire Tower
Weather: Hot and sunny
Trail Conditions: Crowded, rocky, but gently graded ala PCT (what I envision it’s like anyways). In one day of New Jersey, we’ve already had more good picture-worthy views than we did through all of Pennsylvania!
My Condition: Loving the new shoes, always hard climbing out of town with a full, heavy food bag
Hikers Met: Ridgerunner Big Country, Section hikers One Trick and Morning Zephyr
Great Walmart resupply this morning. Really excited to see if this Lotrimin clears up whatever itchiness/redness/rashiness is going on with my feet. Gold Bond powder has done the best on it so far, but Tiger Balm and hydrocortisone cream seem to make it worse. Itch Away helps, albiet temporarily. Crossed into New Jersey, disappointed the rocks didn’t get the memo. Met my first ridgerunner today, a tall guy from Georgia who thru hiked in 2017 with a trail family of 15-30 PEOPLE! Can’t even imagine that. Also saw Scarecrow today, who I hadn’t seen since the Priest shelter. The ridgerunner strongly recommended bear bagging, as NJ has some of the densest bear population and least shy bears along the trail. Not the best habit, but I’ve been sleeping with my food since around the Knot Maul Shelter where I first saw a bear. Sounds like we have bear poles, delis, and drive in movies coming up. For tonight though, I put my food bag a couple ledges above Blue and Puddles, who are sleeping on the fire tower. They’re both tough as nails, so I feel like my food is pretty safe since a bear would have to get past both of them and up all those stairs to get it. Ate dinner at the Mohican Trail Center, which had Lysol bottles strung to all the spigots to spray down after you filled your water bottles. Played a fun game Puddles came up with called Make Your Best Cricket Noise. It’s hard! Watched the sunset with them atop the fire tower, along with two section hikers who have done about 1600 total miles.
Post Trail Analysis
I hit peak-hiker trash this morning in front of that Walmart. As some country song about “She really thinks I’m sexy” blared from the speakers, I sat, surrounded by my recent purchases, sandpapering the callouses from my feet. People Of Walmart, I’ve arrived! I found callous management to be hugely important, making it easier to deal with hot spots (which didn’t happen often at this point as our feet became tougher, but could still pop up especially with a new pair of shoes) and preventing the rough callouses from cracking and bleeding. Pumice stones are bulky and heavy – sandpaper, on the other hand, is ultralight! You can even get the super gritty stuff – just be careful not to rip open tears in your soft, non-calloused skin nearby! The Lotrimin helped big time and would become part of my nightly foot care routine on an as-needed basis. Puddles, Blue, and I tried to do an artsy picture for the 1300 mile marker, and struggled royally trying to get the numbers in the right order, facing the right direction, while in selfie mode. At the Mohican Trail Center, we watched our fateful first episode of “Tiger King” in complete disbelief as Blue tried to help “culture” me and Puddles. We donned our best southern accents and joked about noodlin’ for catfish as the Catfish Fire Tower provided us with one of the best sunsets of the trail, New Jersey’s way of welcoming us in with open arms away from Pennsylvania’s rocky clutches.
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