Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 100, Friday, 6/24 – Birthday, Half Time, and I packed up and cleaned out the RV. We had to get motivated to hike out or we were never going to leave. We said our goodbyes and Stephanie shuttled us back to the trail.

Half Time, Birthday, and I were motivated to hike, but we kept finding reasons to take breaks today. We weren’t 5 minutes on the trail when we ran into Mara who had trail magic. We then ran into Happy and Kickflip (Mara’s daughter and husband). Shortly after we came across a large stone pavilion with benches and shade.

We really slowed down when we got to the High Point State Park HQ. It had a little shop, a picnic table, potable water, and flush toilets. I got a root beer and ate some lunch. We had planned on staying there for a while because Genie and Splitzy weren’t too far behind. We were at the picnic table long enough for Guru G, Frodo, and Fudge Stripe to all pass through.

I bought a razor and shaving cream when I was at Walmart, expecting to shave my head when I was at Stephanie’s. I didn’t end up getting around to it, so I packed out the shaving kit. Since we had time to burn, Half Time shaved my head in the bathroom.

It ended up being a four hour break by the time we left our lunch spot. We wanted to check out the New Jersey high point before meeting up with Genie and Splitzy at the shelter.

We walked the mile and a half to the state high point. The point is marked by a 220 foot tall obelisk, built in 1930 as a war memorial and observation tower. The tower itself was closed, but we still got great views.

We decided to stick around the high point to catch the sunset. We cooked dinner, then found a comfy spot in the rocks and watched the show.

We ended up hiking 16 miles today to get to High Point Shelter (mile 1341) where we met back up with Genie and Splitzy. It was already fairly dark, so we set up and went right to bed.