Jersey Bears and Long Pine Pond

Mohican Outdoor Center to Long Pine Pond campsite

We got up earlier than I like to and hung out at the Lodge and ate breakfast. We got out on the trail and it was cool but Dad was having a really tough time. It’s easy to forget how painful it was for us on our first week and we’re kind of champing at the bit and I can see it in the guys’ walks that they want to take off but it’s cool to be hiking with our Dad. I’m a little worried about him cause he is stopping a lot but about halfway through we relieved him of some extraneous gear. I added a lot of weight to my pack and I hardly noticed it. That’s encouraging because when Cyclone and Rolex split in July I’m going to be carrying a bunch more weight. Just after midday we were walking and Mongoose told us to stop and back up. I thought there was a Rattlesnake and I started to pull out my camera but it was a Black Bear. He didn’t seem to interested in us but he was right on the trail. At first we were all pretty worried he was coming towards us and I think he was but we made a lot of noise and he didn’t seem to notice but then he eventually crossed the trail and kind of ambled and meandered off into the brush. I got some footage and that was cool. New Jersey has the highest percentage of bears. They say they have an average of 1 bear per square mile. Our first Bear Experience was pretty good, I hope they are all like that. We were going to do 14 miles today but it became apparent around 1 o’clock that we were going to have to find another option. We decided to pull off and go to this campsite about a mile off the trail and I’m really glad we did. It’s beautiful! Rolex and Mongoose jumped in to the lake and then Mongoose spotted another bear on the bank on the other side of the lake/pond. They call it a pond but it’s pretty big, you could probably land a pontoon plane in here. We set up our tents and then all these thru-hikers came in. This guy Toad is a botanist and he’s been catching all these snakes and toads and stuff. There are non-hikers camping here and we’re supposed to leave them alone and not use the facilities here so we’re all watching them swim around. It’s crazy all the caterpillars here. There is a ridiculous infestation of gypsy moths and they are EVERYWHERE. We’re stabbing them, slicing them, stepping on them and every other way of destroying them. They are killing all of the trees around here. Sometimes the trees like they are wearing a fur coat of these caterpillars. It’s horrible. When I was a kid they had a big thing about it and they were destroying our local woods so we try to kill them whenever we can. They supposedly introduced some crazy beetle to eat them but it obviously isn’t working around here. I’m playing some guitar and going to bed soon. We are going to have a campfire and sing some songs I guess. I think Mongoose will do better tomorrow, we’re going to take as much of his gear as he’ll let us but I know how he is, he’ won’t want us to do that so we’re going to have to be subtle J
Trail names of the guys here: Stripe, Shadowcast, Toad, Tangent, Daddy-O, Peacock, and Jack Frost

David AKA “Mr. F'n Gentle Spirit”
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