Bennington, Vermont

You know you are a thru-hiker when... signs that say "no public access" do not apply to you.

As we walked out of Pennsylvania into New Jersey we began to see where the flood waters had been. There was mud caked 3 meters off the ground and trees were listing at a 45 degree angle from the force of the water. The State Park authority had cordened off the trail for health reasons with huge neon signs stating that there was "No public access until further notice." Being thru-hikers and needing to head north no matter what (see last blog) we stepped around the baracade without breaking stride. A few meters later we came across a Park Ranger sitting in a fold out chair. Within minutes we were sitting down and discussing the trail conditions before he happily waved us on our way. He pointed out to us that the bridge we were about to walk under had been 3 meters under water.

They say that if you do not see a bear in New Jersey you will not see one for the rest of the trail. We did not actually see one...

It was getting dark when we arrived in camp and we spent 10 minutes arguing about whether we needed to hang a bear bag. Eventually common sense won out and we proceed to throw a line. Let us just say that we lost the first two and the third one was a bear pinata. We had to cut our 15 meter rope a few times and the remaining length was about as long as a child's shoelace. Just as we were getting into our tent Mike realised that he had forgotten to put most of his food in the bear bag. After much swearing we lowered the bag and re-hung it, but not before we lost another few meters of rope. About 10 minutes later as we were just settling down Zan began to laugh hysterically. 2 minutes later she threw a bottle of Coke out the tent...

At midnight we both awoke to the sound of something large, heavy and bear-like attacking our food bag. We debated the merits of drawing attention to ourselves all wrapped up in our tent like a 'little debbie snack' as E-rock so eloquently puts it. Rather than be stumbled upon by our midnight guest we began to shout, sing and generally shake the tent. The poor little bear must have thought it was strange to hear a 'little debbie' signing and dancing. It must have worked because our food bag was still there in the morning but the coke bottle was mysteriously empty.

We felt at home in New Jersey, it was a lot like hiking in Sydney. That was until we reached Vernon, NJ. About 10 miles south of town the world's entire population of mosquitoes descended on us. As we ran along clouds of the followed and strategically attacked any exposed skin. Aeroguard was useless.

We arrived panting and harassed at the road into town and confidently tried to hitch a ride. An hour, 3 rude gestures and 6 "it is illegal in New Jersey!" comments later, we eventually managed to make it to a local bar in time to watch the World Cup Soccer finals with Tex and Hot Springs.

Mouse, Jangles, Baro, Shasta, Mike and Zan at the highest point in New Jersey

By the time we got back on the trail we were eager to leave New Jersey behind. As soon as we entered New York everything was different, or so we thought. It rained, there were mosquito clouds, there were lots of boulders to climb and people were generally in a big hurry.

The trail in New York goes through a zoo and thru-hikers get free entry. At first we were really excited about it until we saw the "Do not feed the hiker" signs. All through the zoo there were exhibit signs explaining about thru-hikers and "their natural habitat". We both felt like the guy in the Mickey Mouse costume at Dinseyland as parents grabbed us to have our photo taken with their precious darling child. As the Sexy Monk puts it, "hey come have your photo taken with the freak."

Things began looking up the moment we entered Connecticut. As soon as we crossed the border we were greeted by a cooler full of beer, soft drink, bagels, animal crackers and bug repellent. We were in hiker heaven. We found the perfect campsite next to a picturesque river in a pine forest where we reunited with some hikers we had not seen for ages, Low-gear and Kilgore Trout.

Mike enjoying some "Trail Magic"

Before we knew it we were in Massachusetts and began to see sub-alpine areas. We saw tiny pine trees on top of Mount Greylock, the highest mountain in Massachusetts.

For Sale. Anyone interested? (near the Mount Greylock summit)

We have been told that the further north we go the more beautiful the scenery will get. If Vermont is anything to go by Maine will be phenomenal.

We told you so!

Last seen heading north

Another great thing about being in Vermont is that we've started to pass people who started in Maine. We always had the suspicion that they were crazy and finally meeting them has confirmed this. If they're like this after only 400 miles, we can only imagine what they'll be like after 2000!