Day 27: Welcome to New Jersey

Start: Delaware Water Gap (AT mi 1296.1). Stop: Unnamed Campsite (AT mi 1308.2). Today’s miles: 12.1 miles. Total AT mileage: 283.5 miles. States Completed:Maryland, Pennsylvania

I woke up in my quaint little room, on the most comfortable of beds to date, wrapped in my down covers.. at 5:50am. I refused to get up. I snuggled down into the covers and put a pillow over my head and promptly fell back to sleep. Until 6 something, and then 7 something.. this little refusal to get up dance continued until almost 9am. Fine. I’ll get up now.

I took the hottest shower I could stand, loving every second of it. I packed my pack for the day, filled my water bottles up, and then walked down to the bakery to get some breakfast. I told myself not to do the egg and cheese sandwich, to try something new. I didn’t. And I’m so glad! It was the best one yet! Haha god I love breakfast a whole lot for someone who hates waking up.

HotSauce and FarOut were there when I got there, so that’s always nice. Seeing trail friends in town makes me think of how little kids act when they see their school friends outside of school.. all super excited even though you know you’ll see them the next day, too. Ha. FarOut went to the post office while HotSauce ordered their food. She came back with all the goodies sent from home. I hung out there a little after I finished eating, just enjoying the company. It seemed like the hiker place to be because that’s really all that came and went. Folks I knew, folks they knew, folks we just met for the first time.. all with the same goals. Walk to Maine (and then for us FlipFloppers, go back to the middle and hike back to Georgia).

I went up to my room and laid in the comfy bed until 10:45.. I didn’t sleep anymore, but I refused to give up the comforts of that room a second sooner than I had to. Once I needed to check out, I put all my stuff on the porch of the inn and headed down to the post office. My shoes I ordered said “Out For Delivery” on the tracking. I was hoping and praying the lady would magically be like, “oh! They got here a little bit ago and I just haven’t updated the tracking yet!” That didn’t happen. She was overwhelmed, being the only worker there and having every hiker plus normal resident coming to her for packages. She did locate the other things I sent myself, like my watch band, since the little bolt thing fell out of my current one, and the ground tarp for my new tent (that 100% looks like a piece of Saran Wrap). She could see the concern on my face about the shoes, so she told me that I could bounce them ahead for free once they arrive. As in-call her tomorrow afternoon once we all know they’re somewhere in her building, and then she will send them ahead for me to pick up in a week or so down trail. So that’s my plan. No new shoes today. Bummer.

Curmudgeon and Cholula were at the post office too. They got all of their goodies and were in the process of sending a box ahead. I left them to that and walked back to the inn to my stuff. Packed in my new stuff, threw away the purple tarp Cholula commandeered for me, and then walked down to the little parking area where Lizard and Hannah were. I had Lizards poles from the other night at the hostel. We said our hi’s and bye’s and nice to meet you’s (me and Hannah lol) and then I sat down to stretch while they headed off to do the last of the things they had to do before Hannah left. I bet it’s even harder to say goodbye after such a short but good few days together.

I waited until almost noon and then started walking. Lizard would be a bit later starting I assumed, and Curmudgeon and Cholula would catch me within the hour, certainly. Less than a mile later: I CROSSED INTO NEW JERSEY!!! We are officially done with Rocksylvania! It was a total mood lifter. There’s definitely rocks in New Jersey, but you know what? They aren’t Pennsylvania rocks anymore, so I was happy as hell! The trail went through a gorgeous state park. Lots of creeks, ponds and lakes, and such beautiful views. And it was warm and just all around awesome.

I was witness to my first bear spotting while on trail. As in, I saw the people scrambling and yelling “bear!!” But I couldn’t see it. I was up on the ridge and they were down by the water. Talk about a disappointment! I did see lots of other wildlife today though. Two snakes, lots of frogs, a deer, a turkey, lots of squirrels and a few dogs (they were attached to humans).

My shin started killing me after 5 miles. Limping and close to tears at times. I was the last of our group to get to the Mohican Outdoor Center, but not by much. There, I ate an ice cream and chips, drank a soda, and ordered a sandwich to-go to eat for dinner when I got to camp. Mind you, I just resupplied and have a ton of heavy damn food-and I ate none of it today lol. When in Rome. We ran into TownLegs and DoubleDecker there and they congratulated me on my 20 mile day-they were the ones in the shelter talking about doing just that, but then got off trail to a motel at Wind Gap instead. That day really was miserably wet and cold. I told them that Lizard did it too, so they congratulated her as well. It felt kind of nice to have a NOBO call me a badass, I won’t lie.

FarOut and HotSauce left the Mohican Outdoor Center first and headed north just at a mile or so to set up camp. The 4 of us followed soon after. The spot they picked (they all decided on it earlier today, to go past the MOC, because we’d have to pay to sleep in our tents there) is perfect and on an overlook. When we got there, Derby and FeatherFoot were already there too! We all thought they’d have gone a lot farther today. It was a welcomed surprise.

So, tonight there’s 4 tents and 2 hammocks. The sun should rise right in front of the overlook and my tent is pointed directly at it. I’m pretty excited! I think this might be my favorite site so far, even if there was a snake beside where I set up my tent. These snakes are going to end up giving me a heart attack. I’m getting semi better around them, but I still freak out when I first see them.

Also, a man came down to talk to HotSauce, he spotted a mama bear and her 2 Cubs just down the way. We definitely did (mostly) proper bear hangs for our food bags tonight. Hopefully in a campsite so full they won’t come near us, and if they eat my food-there’s the deli a mile back lol
I think I’ll do some reading while I continue stretching my shin. Then it’s off to sleep 🙂