Nov 17, 2013

I woke up and began getting ready for my shoot in north Jersey, and then I got a text message (or a whole bunch) from the guy who has been incessantly texting and emailing me for weeks making sure I'll be showing up today. To be fair, he said his wife had to go to the emergency room, so if that's true then it's a good excuse. Oh well. I had to roll with the punches. I wouldn't be getting paid, but I did have a free day of nice weather now.

I decided to check out the Mullica/Batona loop trail that starts at Batsto Village. I gathered my backpack and some information and headed out the door. When I got to the trailhead/visitor's center it was misting and overcast. I wasn't letting rain stop me from hiking today so I went inside and got a map, and then I hit the trail. I passed through historic Batsto Village and along the lake before reaching the official start of the trail. The initial portion of the trail was actually detoured because of flood damage so I took the service road along the lakeshore.

The Mullica Trail weaved through the pine forest, occasionally allowing views of the river. I enjoyed the serenity of the woods and stopped to listen to the slow rushing water in the river once in a while. After 4.5 miles I reached the connector trail that led to the Batona Trail. This trail was much more densely wooded than either main trail, so it gave a feeling of being deep inside the Pine Barrens. I was listening to Pox & Puss, an Appalachian Trail podcast, as I wandered the trails after this point.

The Batona trail, following pink blazes, was a lot more open than much of what I had walked so far. There were intersecting dirt roads that seemed to have heavy vehicle traffic. I passed a couple of people on horseback shortly after joining up on this trail as well. I crossed over the water another time or two and eventually I was back on a fairly narrow path again. There is a point where it starts to feel like you must be nearing the end of a hike, and this idea makes the last couple of miles seem to drag on for much longer than it seems they should. I'm sure it's all an illusion of expecting to see the end around every turn and thereby causing disappointment whenever it's not. After passing a few more people and reaching much thinner part of the forest I did reach the parking lot again and treated myself to a snack I'd left in the car.

I was pretty beat after the 12-mile hike, even if there wasn't any elevation gain. I had dinner at home and relaxed for the night watching Oz and later catching up on Homeland and The Mentalist. Sometimes a relaxing night feels unproductive to me, but I felt too tired to be productive this time.