Category: Long Distance Trails

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 🙂

Another zero day.. another happy day! Well, you know, minus those first few minutes in the morning when I hate everything and everyone. I don’t know how to change my mindset on that one, but I really should figure that out.

I got woken up a little before 7am but they were kind to pack quickly, or grab their things quickly and pack in the other room. I tried my very best to ignore the noise for as long as possible, but at 730 I gave up and started to write out yesterday’s blog.

Curmy and Cholula came over and we all went down to the bakery to get breakfast. I’m seriously obsessed with the place and will probably eat there tomorrow, too. I resupplied for the next four days (I can’t completely get the hang of figuring out the food, I always carry too much. Better than not enough I guess). While I was resupplying, I ran into FarOut. We caught up for a few minutes before heading our separate ways. Her and HotSauce got a room at the hotel we did laundry at yesterday, and so did Towely.

I went back to the hostel and repacked my bag. The rest of the morning was just hanging out, looking things up, calling my mama, chatting with friends. It was a nice, relaxing morning. A hiker named Honeybadger helped me do some stretches for my shin, and I’ve been doing them since. I think it’s helping.

Sometime during the afternoon, Lizard and Hannah stopped by with some goodies from Walmart. They went there to resupply since Hannah is the cool kid with a car 😉 You totally forget how convenient life is with a vehicle when you always have one available lol

They headed out to spend the afternoon together and Cholula, Curmudgeon, Derby, and I went to get some food at the pizza place and have a few beers. The day turned gorgeous. Warmer than it has been and the sun came out, too. It was just what we all needed after that stretch of rainy coldness. Derby went back to the hostel while the 3 of us stayed at the picnic table outside of the pizza place. A few minutes after he left, FarOut and HotSauce showed up! These town meet ups are fantastic.

It was after 3pm when we finished up at the pizza place.. so I happily went to the hostel and grabbed my stuff to go check in at the hotel next door. It is beautiful. It’s called the Deer Head Inn, and it’s a boutique b&b above the restaurant and bar we ate at last night. Antique beds and gorgeous rugs on hardwood floors. The bed was like a cloud after a week of sleeping on a flat air mattress!

I showered, took a bath, showered again.. because why not? And then sometime near ish 6pm I met Derby, Cholula and Curmudgeon at the Sycamore for dinner. I can see how too many zeros lead to people getting off trail, because I’m loving the hell out of this town.. and it’s good food.

Tomorrow I have to wait for my shoes to get delivered before I can hike out. It’s a little stressful for sure, knowing that I may get behind on trail if they don’t come early enough.. but it’s out of my control, so I’ll try to not focus on it. I’m going to sleep in and enjoy every second this Inn has to offer.

Welp. Sleeping on the couch in the common area meant being woken up before 7am. These hikers man. And not a single one of them hiked out today. That makes it slightly more annoying than it probably should. Whatever, I’m a grump in the morning, I’m semi working on it.

Once it hit 8am, the lights were on and talking was loud. I laid in my sleeping bag and wrote out yesterday’s blog entry. Once everyone was up and ready, Cholula, Curmudgeon, Lizard and I were getting ready to head to the bakery for breakfast. Just then, Derby walked in soaked to the bone. He hiked 7 miles down from the shelter super dang fast. He said he was so cold in the shelter last night that he regretted not coming to the hostel. Instead of showering and getting warm, he and FeatherFoot came to the bakery too.

The bakery was amazing! I had an egg and cheese sandwich and coffee.. and an apple cinnamon donut, or two (I may have wished I had a third, they were damn good). We had to eat it outside under a canopy to protect us from the rain.. worth every second of the cold to be able to enjoy the sandwich while it was hot.
Derby and FeatherFoot left us while we walked down to the other hotel in town to do laundry. There’s something sort of peaceful about sitting in a room waiting on your clothes to wash. At home, you pop it in and carry on.. on the trail-you have to wait it out. The four of us talked and stretched and downloaded things to our phones to entertain us when we’re on trail.

We all just hung out at the hostel for the rest of the day, talking with other hikers, cleaning up cooking pots and bowls, taking out trash. Lizard and Cholula and Curmudgeon got rooms at the hotel next door for tonight and tomorrow night, I was late to the game and could only get a room for tomorrow night, but all of us, including Lizard’s girlfriend, Hannah-who gets here this afternoon, are eating dinner and listening to live jazz there this evening. Lizard has seemed extra happy all day today, I know she’s got to be excited to see Hannah for a couple days.

Sometime after 3, the three of them head over to the hotel and I stayed and hung out with the folks at the hostel. The second it hit 4:45 I happily walked over to the hotel’s restaurant and got a seat at the bar. The jazz singer started up around 5:15, and Murph (another hiker) was seated to my left and the 2 seats to my right were saved for Lizard and Hannah. Curmy and Cholula got a table reserved right up front from the singer, to celebrate his birthday. It was a pretty sweet set up.

I had a bottle of red wine, which was amazing, some baked Brie with berries on top served with pita bread, and then salmon with risotto and veggies for my meal. Each thing was better than the one before. Tonight’s meal definitely trumped all other meals on trail.. hands down. We all stayed there talking at the bar well after the jazz music was done. it was a great night.

I walked back to the hostel and tiptoed inside. It was well past hiker midnight and everyone was either in bed or actively getting into bed, so I did the same. Now, let’s all pray that I actually get to sleep in, just a little, in the morning. These early risers wear me out! Lol

Ps: sorry for the lack of pictures today, I was enjoying the company and forgot to take hardly any at all!