Sussex County Highpoint Trip Report
Date: July 14, 2007
Author: Don Desrosiers
This was probably my least fun HP of all time. The signs indicate they are to
open at 8 am. Calling the office confirms the 8 am opening. Their version of 8
am and mine (and the 3 cars waiting behind me) varied somewhat (like 20 minutes).
The ranger who finally opened the gate glared at us like we were
causing her to miss her breakfast (and from the looks of her, she hadn't missed
too many of them). They didn't waste time with idle chitchat. No "Good morning"
or "Hello". Went right to the "Put this on your dashboard" and cut out
the "Thank you for your $8" (to save time, I suspect). The timestamp on the
receipt was nowhere close to the time on any of the local radio stations,
although in NJ's defense, those radio stations were coming from that Yankee
state of NY.
The ranger came close to running us over near the HP. Fortunately, we were able
to get out of her way as she came barreling around the corner in her pickup.
You can't get up the tower until said portly ranger climbs all the way to the
top and checks it out. We didn't find that part out until the clerk stopped us
when we started to go up the stairs. I was shocked because after reading all of
the plaques inside the monument, this was the first I had heard her speak.
My initial greeting to her was clearly insufficient to get her away from the book
she was reading. Got another glare from Ranger Gordita when she finally got
down the stairs.
New Jersey and Your Money Go Well Together!