We slept in a bit this morning, mostly because we could still hear the rain hitting the rainfly of our tent. We weren’t sure if it was actually still raining or if it was just the wind shaking water off the trees, but it didn’t matter, we knew that a wet morning was in store.
The whole day ended up being just a damp, cool day. Our feet got soaked in the morning just from brushing up against the wet grass and trees. It never rained though, only right now as I write this laying in the shelter. And it’s a heavy one, as it’s been threatening all day. The damp weather made all the rocks slick, so we had to slow down and carefully maneuver some sections that would’ve normally been a breeze. The wetness really takes away any confidence you might have in your traction.
We got to have a relaxing lunch though, which was nice. We stopped into Gyp’s Tavern in Culvers Gap. The initial vibe of the place is that is a bit of a dive, but the people were friendly, and the food was good. We ended up hanging out for about 3 hours (and 3 beers coincidentally) before we finally peeled ourselves away from the bar.
We were going to go a bit further today, but the wet, slick rocks, and kind of rough trail made us decide to stop at Mashipacong shelter. Lucky for us, just down the trail about a tenth of a mile, there was a group of people putting on some awesome trail magic. Burgers, hot dogs, various salads, soda, brownies… just everything that a hiker could want. It was just the pick me up that we needed to end our day. We really enjoyed sitting around chatting with everyone.
We made it back up to the shelter just in time, and made the right choice to sleep in the shelter tonight. It started pouring rain not long after we got back, and the thunder and lightning got very intense. Here’s hoping that we’ll have a critter free night in the shelter, and that it’ll be a nicer day tomorrow.
