PA/MD/WV AT hike, day #1

Saturday, April 25th, 2015

From: Presbyterian Church of the Mountain Hostel, Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: camping beyond Sempa Spring

Mileage: ~24.4 (+2.0 for water ) miles

I left the hostel early and was on the trail by 6:35am. I made very good time in the morning, making 6.5 miles in 2.25 hours. I climbed Mt Minsi and Wolf Rocks. As many folks have noted, the northern PA AT is know for its rocky trail; it has slowed me down a bit. Water was hard to come by today; I only was able to refill my water bottles twice and I was out of water for over an hour. I'm glad I'm doing this hike in the spring; in the summer, this section must be dry as a bone. 

I arrived at the road just shy of my destination around 3:50pm and made the decision to take a detour to a local thru-hiker's house where they offered water and a cold shower. Had I known it was steeply downhill, I would have pressed on. It's a bit cold today for a cold shower so I only took a sponge bath with the cold water. The detour added ~2 miles to today's hike.

From there, I hiked past Sempa Spring and found a camping spot. My tent set up nicely and I'm pretty comfortable. My feet have some hot spots but no blisters yet.

I'm quite happy with my day's work and I'm excited to be staying at a B n B tomorrow night (with hot water, real beds, and dinner and breakfast  meal).

NY-NJ AT solo section hike #2, day 5

May 5th, 2014

Start: Gren Anderson shelter
End: Delaware Water Gap (Presbyterian Church of the Mountain Hostel)
Mileage: 31.4

I started out my hike this morning at 6:25am. I would have been out even earlier but my feet needed to be bandaged. Throughout the course of the day, I climbed Rattlesnake Mountain (1,492') as well as up to the Catfish Fire Tower (1,565').

South on the AT - direction I went after the tower

North on the AT - direction I came from; you could just make out the NJ High Point Monument between the two power line poles in the distance.

Large portions of today's hike were pretty easy. Once you climbed to the ridge, it was mostly flat and made for good cruising.

I passed by Crater Lake and Sunfish Pond.

Sunfish Pond

I then hiked my way to the town of Delaware Water Gap and the hostel there, Presbyterian Church of the Mountain.

Originally,  the plan had been to stop for the night at Mohegan Outdoor Center at 20.9 miles and then hike an additional 10.9 miles tomorrow morning before catching a bus back to CT. The problem with this plan was two fold: 1) I'd have to be out hiking at 5:30am to make sure I got to the bus station on time;  2) My feet were not going to withstand another day of hiking. So I made the decision to hike through the MOC and hoof it into town. While painful,  I think it was the better choice. I clearly need to invest in some more (and better) socks.

On the trail today, I met two different hikers who are expecting to go through CT; "Bark" who is ending his section hike at the CT-MA border and Kelly from Staten Island who's hoping to hike through to Maine. I'm also sharing the hostel tonight with a recently retired thru-hiker from NY (Mike/"Cannonball" - #18 NOBO through Harpers Ferry).

After showering at the hostel and changing clothes, I headed to the Apple Bakery where I got a few snacks (I'll probably be back for breakfast tomorrow) and then headed to the Water Gap Diner next door. The food was standard diner food - cheap but lots of it.

 

I'm now bedded down on the couch for the night and will be taking a bus home in the morning!

View of George Washington Bridge in NYC out the bus window

Local post office on my morning walk to the bus station