Date: 2015-06-04
From: Millbrook-Blairsville Rd. 

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 14.0

I'm getting behind in my journal postings. It seems there's so much to say and so little time. So I'm going to have to cut this a little shorter than I'd prefer. We checked into the Deerhead Inn yesterday and today we hiked a 14 mile section just to the north of here. We got an early (6:30 am) shuttle ride to our starting point and hiked SoBo back to DWG. This hike takes us across the state line from PA into New Jersey and a lot of our fellow hikers were jubilant to be leaving the "rock state", although I tried not to bitch too much about the PA rocks this year - there's not much anyone can do about them. But it does feel good to finish another state in our trek to Maine. The good news about the NJ hikes is that they're pretty flat compared to most other AT states. But the bad news is that the PA rocks carry over for several days into NJ. Today's hike went pretty nicely for us, it was cool and mostly overcast. We had an initial short climb and then the trail leveled out. About an hour later, as we hiked along the side of the ridge line, the trail dropped off sharply on our left and we were treated to extended views of the valley to the east. A little later, we passed the Mohican Outdoor Center where I think we could have had breakfast, but it was 0.3 mi off trail so we didn't stop. Then the trail turned up as we approached Kittatinny Mountain. The AT Guide described it as a "rocky summit" and in fact we thought we had reached the summit several times before the "real" summit showed up. The trail went over a number of rock outcroppings in the vicinity of the summit. To me the character of these outcrops are different than PA, the rocks are smoother and more rounded, and it's easier to walk along the surface of the rocks (as long as they aren't wet). Another notable feature to the south of Kittatinny was Sunfish Pond. This is a large, glacial lake surrounded by the forest, and the trail passes very close to the waters edge. There is a cairn field at the southern end (I missed the rock sculptures at the north end) and then the trail follows a woods road for much of the remaining distance. Part of the walk along the road parallels a wonderful stream that cascades down beside the trail. The trail exits the woods at I-80 and then tracks along the expressway and the river. Eventually the trail leads up a ramp to the I-80 bridge across the river and the PA-NJ state line is located partway across the bridge. There is a border marker brightly painted on the sidewalk. On the PA side, the AT turns up into Delaware Water Gap (DWG) and just a couple of blocks later turns in front of the Deerhead Inn where we're staying. Yesterday, we had a late lunch/early dinner at the Sycamore Grill and enjoyed it. Today we finished earlier and went to the Farmers Village instead. This is a farmers market combined with a bakery that offers shepherds and chicken pot pies in addition to a large array of traditional desserts and confections, and also sandwiches. Yum. Then came our chores and some rest. This evening was a real treat for us. We stayed at the Deerhead last year, but earlier in the week. So we missed the jazz club that only opens on weekends. But now the club is also open for a Jazz Jam on Thursday, (today) so we had dinner there and enjoyed a great evening of music featuring a number of artists. And we made reservations for tomorrow evening.