A chilly, foggy morning. I managed to be first on the trail after a small breakfast of baby carrots dipped in peanut butter and honey.
Not much to see through the fog (pictured). After about 6 miles, I reached the High Point State Park office (pictured), which I'm grateful was open Sunday morning. I had followed a hiker in who was dropped off by car, and it turned out to be Red Squirrel who I met at Rock'n'Sole hostel! She had stayed in town overnight, and was heading to the "secret shelter" I was heading to, a bit of a problem because that shelter only fits four to six people, and she was the fifth I knew of heading there. Old'n'Slow showed up then. Since I had a good signal, I called my mom to wish her a Happy Mother's Day, then got a Park ranger to stamp my AT Passport and made an entry in the hiker log, declining the free soda for thruhikers but getting one for Old'n'Slow. Red Squirrel and Old'n'Slow left before me.
After refilling my water bottle, I resumed hiking, donning my poncho because the cold rain resumed. I caught up with Old'n'Slow, and we decided to stop at High Point shelter rather than try the secret shelter another six miles along. We passed the High Point observation platform (pictures, the highest point in NJ) and eventually reached the shelter at 12:30pm, where we found Traveller, who passed us while we were at the park office. He was having a break but we told him about Red Squirrel.
Traveller continued on, but Old'n'Slow and I are staying the night and getting out of the rain. We will check out the secret shelter tomorrow, when we have more confidence that we can get space there.
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