"The best thing one can do when it's raining..."

"...is to let it rain."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

August 23, 2001

Rained all day.  Twenty-one miles.

Stayed @ Mohican Outdoor Center cabin with Beat, Twinkles, and Giggles.

I barely remembered the MOC, but then I remembered arriving there soaking wet in the dark.  It was so nice to have a four-walled shelter that night because we were all cold and wet.  So nice to dry off and sleep in a warm bed!

There was enough of a break in the rain to get this beautiful picture of the New Jersey countryside:

"With malice toward none, with charity for all,..."

"...with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right,
lets us strive on to finish the work we are in,
to bind up the nation's wounds,
to care for him who shall have borne the battle,
and for his widow and his orphan,
to do all which may achieve and cherish
a lasting peace among ourselves
and with all nations."
-Abraham Lincoln, 2nd inaugural address, March 4, 1865

August 22, 2001

I saw lots of deer and turkeys today.

I also saw the High Point Monument of NJ, marking the highest spot in the state at 1,803 feet.  One would wonder why such a measly elevation would deserve such an obelisk, but the monument was built in 1930 to commemorate those who had fought in wars and not come home.

Not the Washington Monument...it is the High Point Monument, NJ

The monument's park was almost closed due to budget battles, but veterans spoke out against the closing and won the right to keep it open.

I met some Ukrainians on top of Sunrise Mountain.  It was cool talking with them, and they gave me a tuna sandwich, raisins, and an apple.

Myself and two Ukrainians

Although I didn't stay there, it is another good example of what an Appalachian Trail shelter looks like:

High Point Shelter, NJ