Zoinks!...

6/15/08 - Slept in. Still soaking wet. Started hiking around 10 am.

• Beans & Benadryl left early early & didn't say a word to them all morning.
• Found a coiled & ready-to-strike surprise waiting on the trail just past Sunrise Mtn.
• Rattlesnake provided a few minutes of what I would deem ridiculous & freakishly unnecessary entertainment complete with photo ops & a video of Spock wrestling it off the trail with a long loooonnnggg stick.
• Stopped to take a break at Mashipacong Shelter. Beans & Benadryl were there but when they saw our boys (& lady -sorry Twiggy!) coming they split lickedy quick... I wonder what climbed in their sleeping bag??
• Came across a ridge line absolutely stripped by gypsy moths just before High Pt.
• Wandered down into Unionville where they encountered a man we'll call 'The Mayor's Henchman' who encouraged them to follow him as he drove his car to the mayor's house through town...
• Once at the mayor's house, the henchman spoke with the mayor... alone... then led them around back where he opened a hatch leading to the basement... - Let me stop for a brief moment to state the obvious which is that the only way you could have gotten me to shimmy down that dark hatch 'round back of the mayor's house is with a Great Dane & a well timed box of Scooby Snacks.
• Mysterious hole in the ground turned out to be a tool shed with an attached bunk room for thru-hikers and the henchman wasn't so evil after all- he made them pizza for dinner, gave them free beer, did their laundry, and offered the group showers!! ...Of course he could have been leading them into a false sense of security all along...
• 20 mi.

6/16/08 - Nope. Henchman made breakfast.

• Sat around for a good portion of the morning playing horseshoes in the backyard with Spock and waiting for news on whether or not the mayor would/could drive them north for a slackpack.
• No dice. Mayor wasn't scheduled to return till late afternoon so they hiked out.
• Down to Wallkill river and then to Wallkill Lake where they saw several large Trumpeter swans.
• Climbed Pochuck Mtn.
• Crossed Pochuck Creek Footbridge -kind of neat- it was roughly one and a half miles of boardwalk that meandered through a swamp and then over a small creek.
• At NJ 94 it started storming really badly so they caugh a ride with some creepy guy who likes to shuttle hikers around in his Mystery Machine. Drove to Vernon to stay at the St. Thomas Episcopal Hostel - which was simply a big church with several matresses in the basement.
• Watched Independence Day & then drifted off to sleep.
• Fairly uneventful for a murder mystery. Fred would have been disappointed- and with no word of free food, I imagine Shaggy was, too...
• 12 mi day.