Mike’s House, Newton, NJ to Mike’s House, Newton, NJ: Daily miles 9.0, Total miles 1321.3
I decided to take a short day to allow Mike and Hampton to catch up and was definitely worth it. I slept late and spent the morning relaxing and sitting in the shade around Mike’s pool. It is the most relaxed I have been since I started and that’s saying a lot since this is a pretty low stress endeavor. I did some reading and called a few friends back home. It’s nice catching up after being disconnected for months. It was sunny and warm and a perfect day for relaxing. At about 3PM Mike’s sister drove me back to the trail and dropped me off where I stopped yesterday. I sat in the shade and waited for Mike and Hampton to get to that point and I hiked the last nine miles of their day with them. They were finishing a 27-mile day and we pulled in around 8pm. The trail was generic mid Atlantic terrain with lots of rocks but there were a few nice views to break the monotony. Mike’s brother picked us up and drove us back to Mike’s house where we ate lasagna and watched some of the Piston’s game. It was such a good day even though I didn’t get much ground covered. Motivation is starting to slip and I know days like this will make getting back to the grind really tough but they also make the grind a little more bearable.
