Six-Moon Journey: Cooling off at High Point State Park

Carey Kish is thru-hiking the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. He is currently in New Jersey. Entries from Carey’s trail journal are presented here. You can also follow his journey on Facebook.

July 11, 2015: US206 to High Point Shelter, 16.0 miles, 9am to 7:30pm.

A fabulous trail day! 80 degrees and reasonable humidity. Good hiking.

Slept in till 8:30, not surprising after last evening’s revelry at Gyp’s Tavern. Good good fun, and worth every dime and Ibuprofen tablet. Out of camp by 9.

Good climb up to Culver Firetower, another of NJ’s orange and white-painted towers. Good views on the way there and at the tower. Sat for a while at the picnic table at its base and enjoyed the spot.

Next up was Sunrise Mountain and its big stone summit pavilion, which was 3 miles or so up the trail. Blew by Gren Anderson Shelter en route, a spot I stayed at in ’77. Took a long lunch break on a park bench in the shade of the pavilion. Chatted with several other section and thru-hikers there. A number of day hikers trundled up from the parking lot below.

Lake Marcia, High Point State Park. Carey Kish photo.

Trudged on along the ridge, which became increasingly rough which numerous tough up and down scrambles. Took a short break and refilled my water bag at Mashipacong Shelter. Someone had filled the bear box there with big jugs of water. I guess the spring is either dry or a long way off. It was a good day to drink lots of water. Went through four liters today.

The big goal for the day was High Point State Park. Reached the park headquarters and visitor center just before 4pm. Signed the register there and received my free Coke from the pretty woman behind the desk. Then it was on to the beach and snack bar, which I reached after a rather rugged one-mile hike.

Cooling off at the beach. Carey Kish photo.

The beach area was packed with weekend revelers enjoying the beautiful day. A big grassy lawn area gave way to a sandy beach. Was joined by Parks and Slow Ride, then shortly after, Drop Bear. We were in the wonderful water in no time, enjoying a fabulous swim. Oh my, this was such a good thing to do. Place closes at 6, so I’m real sorry I didn’t get there earlier. In any case, we had a blast!

Raided the snack bar and ordered a ton of food: cheeseburger and fries, pizza, soda, ice cream. Yum! Then it was back into the lake. The beach and the swimming closed at 6, but we all hung out on the grass till well after 7 just relaxing. Then the packs went on and off we went to the shelter.

Chowing down at High Point SP. Carey Kish photo.

The High Point Monument was visible from the ridge line of the AT on the way to the lake, and then from across the lake at the beach area. Heard it closed at 4 (why on a Saturday?), so skipped the side trail up there.

Dark now as we all sit around the shelter picnic table. Zen, Master Blaster and Flick are here, as well as the four of us from the lake. Good times.