Two wonderful things happened to me today. I got to walk over the brand new, mile-long boardwalk/suspension bridge near Vernon, NJ. And I got to stay in a hostel run by the St. Thomas Episcopal Church. I will get to those in a moment, in the mean time I need to mention that I overheard a woman talking loudly on her cell phone saying “He’s 19! I paid $150 thousand for him to go to 5 years of private school! F**k Him!” This was in a parking lot of an ice cream stand. For Pete’s sake woman! Could you not drop the f-bomb when surrounded by little kids?!?

I am in New Jersey. Cars drive faster, food is more expensive, and not as many people seem to care or notice hikers. Oh well.

So, about that boardwalk—it was awesome! Beautifully built and raised about 4 feet above the surrounding marsh, it was one of the coolest things I have seen on the trail! It had a good view of the beautiful marsh as well as frogs, turtles, birds, etc. that live there. Go check it out!

The church hostel offers a shower, laundry, internet access, and a clean place to sleep for a $5 donation. Perfect for us hikers—we can’t afford the hotel prices in this area but showering more than once a week feels good! Hikers seem to do a good job keeping things clean and opportunities like this are massively appreciated. I’m staying here with Skyline, Sundance, Condor, Einstein, and Tim.