Hi friends. I'm back! Did you miss me? I missed you and I missed hiking on the AT. 

This is my second hike on the New Jersey Appalachian Trail. This is my first hike in 2007. We hiked from Millbrook-Blairstown Road to the swamp and back again. That is 5.2 miles on the AT but 10.4 miles for us since we had to hike back to Baby.

We didn't hike very long until we came to this beaver pond. Did you know that a beaver can make a pond? They chew through the bottom of trees and make them fall into streams. When they have a big enough pile of trees, leaves and stuff it blocks the stream and the water fills up into a pond.

Mommy told me that if a beaver hears a tape recording of running water he automatically just starts to chew trees down. There doesn't even have to be a stream for him to do that. Isn't that silly?

Can you see me in this picture? I'm really hard to see. I look like part of the water. Look really hard in the grass in the middle of the picture.

Isn't it neat to be able to look down at power lines? You can tell it is a long way down.

On the other side of Fairview Lake you can see a Boy Scout camp - Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco.

My daddy works for a company that puts the electricity over these power lines. He has some interesting stories to tell about how they do that. They do a lot of computer work at Daddy's company - that's why they need him there.

Parts of this trail were pretty easy to hike but there were some sections that had plenty of rocks too. See the rocks here?

Did you remember that the white mark on the tree tells you that you are on the AT?

We did this hike on March 31st. That's why there aren't any leaves on the trees. Still too cold.

This is another pictures of Fairview Lake. You can see how big it is. If you hiked this part of the AT in the summer I bet you wouldn't be able to see the lake here at all. The leaves would be hiding it. 

We like to talk to a lot of people on the AT. It is always interesting to find out about them.

This section of the AT is also part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The man on the left side of the picture is a ranger for this park. He makes sure everyone obeys the park rules and is doing ok.

The other people are part of the Appalachian Mountain Club of New York and New Jersey. They help to take care of the trail. Here they are having fun hiking the AT too. 

The sign says "Spring" but this really isn't a spring at all. It's a water pump. If you pull the handle up and down several times, water comes out. It was fun to do but I wouldn't like to have to pump all of the water we use. My arm could get really tired.

When you have a spring you need to always boil or treat the water. The water from this well has been tested so you can drink it right away.

We always carry water with us so we didn't have to take any of the water.

If you were driving on this road, Blue Mountain Lakes Road, you could easily miss the trail. This section of the AT doesn't have signs at all of the road crossings. Don't worry, we didn't miss it since we were already on the trail.

This big hill is really a really big rock. I had some problems getting down this rock so Daddy helped me out. You can see him helping me over a rock.

Since Daddy likes to hike so much we took him hiking for his birthday. Mommy took my picture with Daddy on his birthday.

My big brother Jesse was going to join us for a birthday hike the next day but it rained. It was sad that we didn't see him but he will hike with us another day. When he does I will put a picture of him on the page for you. Jesse lives near New York City. He works in New York City and does computer stuff too.

This is where we stopped for lunch. It is a swamp. See how parts of the trees are under water? This area is always covered with water. 

After a great lunch we packed up everything. We want to leave the AT beautiful so we don't want to leave any trash.

Time to turn around and hike back.

Finally back to Baby. My poor tired feet can't wait to get the boots off.

That's it for this weekend since Sunday got rained out. We should be going out for another adventure soon so come back and visit soon. Mommy and Daddy have more pictures of our hike. You may see them at New Jersey - Section 5.

I can't wait to see your picture on the AT. Don't forget to send it to me. My email address is stanley @ rohland.org. I just need to know your first name and where you hiked. I will put it on Kids on the Appalachian Trail page.

I would like to hear about your AT adventures too. Send your story and picture to me and I will put them on my website. Don't forget to take me with you. You can get a picture of me to take along. Just go to http://www.flatstanley.com/template.htm.