Day 11, June 24th, bivouac north of Franklinville

Day 11, June 24^th bivouac north of Franklinville

I get up at 7:30 and go to the Subway for my free breakfast. The lady did not find the note the owner said he would leave for her. She is suspicious of me and calls the owner. He verifies his offer to me. I have the biggest breakfast they offer.

Tracy and I start at 8:30 am figuring it will be a 15 min. ride to the trailhead. She is going to breakfast with a friend and invites me and I tell her about my experience at Subway. She has to meet her friend at 9:00. We drive up and down the road but are unable to locate the trail. I ask her to drop me off at the library and I will figure it out from there. At the library, I talk with the woman behind the desk and ask about the trail. She says it is a couple of miles up the road. I ask how people react to hitch hikers locally. She was not sure, but said she would take me to the trail when the other attendant arrived. Her husband is a local Forest Ranger. I tell her about my experiences with law enforcement in NJ. We talk about places we have hiked and camped. I observe that I do not have the strength I had when I did the thru hike of the AT. She said she understood. The lady arrives and Susan drops me off at the trail. It is easy to see why Tracy and I missed it. The blaze is a couple of trees into the woods and the path is covered with weeds. I am starting the next section of my hike feeling much better than I did 2 days ago.

The trail is a combination of road walk and woods. At one point a storm approaches me and I sit on the porch of an abandoned house while it passes by. I take a break and eat.

The rain clears and the sun comes out. The rain has cooled things off and taken humidity out of the air. I am hiking more comfortably. I rest every time I start to feel fatigued. Eventually I get to road 16. I decide to attempt to hitch hike into Franklinville. The guide says there is a good restaurant there. The yuppie cars speed by without waving. It is clear that they wont stop. I imagine their thoughts as “if you are crazy enough to hike with a pack in this weather, you can get your self to where ever you need to go, besides you look rather dirty and I do not want to get my Beamer dirty”. I start hiking down the road and come to an ice cream stand where I order a triple shake. I ask if I can fill my water bottles up explaining what I am doing. They say yes. The water is clean and cool. The lady smiles and waves as I sling my pack up and head back up the road to find a place to set up camp on the trail.

I hike about a mile back into the woods and set up camp just off the trail. There are a number of thorn trees in my location so I have to be careful on my tent placement.  I check to make sure there is nothing that will puncture my air mattress. I hang my food. People keep asking about bears, so I play it safe. I clean up with Wet-Ones. There is no water near by.

I can hear the road and the frogs as I fall asleep with the birds.