Date: 2014-08-30
From: Blairstown, NJ

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 10.5

The morning I hiked out of New Jersey and into Pennsylvania was glorious. The sun was shining, and I had a spring in my step. Crossing over a state line is always exciting. I packed up from camp faster that Grandpa George and headed out knowing he would catch up later that day in town. As I crossed over the Delaware River I felt like I had wings and was floating across the bridge. It was Labor Day weekend. Lots of people were out at the park enjoying the long, holiday weekend. As they raced by me jockeying for the best parking space or shaded picnic spot I felt like the luckiest person in the world. I don't have to cram fun into just a weekend. I'm out living the dream and hiking the Appalachian Trail! My fun will continue as long as me little legs will carry me. Once in Delaware Water Gap I headed straight for the Church of the Mountain hostel where I was greeted warmly by a parishioner and shown around. As usual I immediately started getting down to business. Claiming a bunk, throwing out trash, unpacking, organizing, making my to-do list. I was in town for just a few hours and had a ton of things that needed doing. I quickly began running around the hostel like a chicken with my head cut off. As I was doing this a NOBO at the hostel sat patiently watching me. I was in the middle of washing my clothes by hand outside Nepali style and growing increasingly anxious at my lack of progress on my list of chores when he spoke up. Basically, he told me to relax. Town days can be so full of errands, timelines, chores, etc. that they spin me up rather than calm me down. Maybe that is why I have been so avoidant of towns recently. In the woods it is so peaceful and simple. Towns can get me spun up so quickly that I have been making them short, sweet stops. Other hikers live to go to town and can't wait to get back to "civilization" while I would never go to town if it wasn't for that pesky food issue.The NOBO's name was Sparkle Pony. Clearly, we were hiking very different hikes. Sparkle Pony had been on the trail for five months and was only now just getting to the end of PA. His is more of a "It's about the journey, not the destination." kind of hike. He was taking his time and enjoying himself, waiting for the trail to show and teach him what he was meant to see and learn. Not worried about summiting Katahdin, he was just taking it one day at a time heading north as long as he could. Thinking like this was a jolt to my goal-focused, more rigid mentality, but something that I definitely needed to be exposed to. The trail, in it's infinite wisdom, had once again put my in the right place at the right time. Sparkle Pony was not worried about finishing a thru-hike this year, something that I had not even fathomed, but simply was out on the trail having a good time and enjoying himself. I have been so worried about my self-imposed, artificial deadline of completing by Thanksgiving that I had forgotten to just plain have fun. Sparkle Pony told me to go take a shower and that after everything would be all right. He was so right.When you haven't had a shower in over a week and there aren't any water sources that you can get a splish-splash bath in and it is the middle of summer with temperatures in the 90s, it really starts to wear on you. The salt from the sweat pouring out of your body dries and creates a crust on your skin. The dirt and grime from the trail get ground in, especially in creases. Your hair is a slick of oil. The way you smell stopped bothering you a long time ago. In fact, you don't even smell yourself anymore. The only thing that reminds you of how bad you smell is when day hikers back away as you approach and discretely cover their noses. You don't realize just how much you need a shower until you get one. I took a long, steamy shower with the water as hot as I could stand it. I scoured every inch of my body twice, taking special care with my knarly feet. The water turned brown as it swirled around my feet and down the drain. I felt completely restored. As I toweled off I decided to follow Sparkle Pony's advice and not do anything responsible for the rest of the day. Instead, I embarked on one of the funnest days yet on the trail. The Red Cross had been holding a catered event to celebrate their volunteers at the church's fellowship hall. There was lots of food left over. Someone came up with the brilliant idea to walk down to the hostel and see if there were any hikers who might be hungry. Silly question. The hostel immediately emptied and every hiker there piled up multiple plates of food and commenced to eating. It was heavenly. I had one whole plate of salad and another plate full of pasta washed down by five glasses of punch. Dessert was pudding cake, handfuls of candy, and these adorable homemade sugar cookies decorated with the Red Cross symbol. Even after we had all eaten our fill there were still multiple trays of leftovers that the Red Cross gave us to eat for dinner or for more hikers who might show up later. Talk about trail magic! I was full and happy. Sparkle Pony and I headed out to grab some beer from the local pizza joint. Pennsylvania has the strangest liquor laws. You can't buy beer at a gas station the way you can in most other states. You either need to get it in large quantities from a distributor or from a restaurant licensed to serve alcohol. Not sure how that makes things different other than to confuse people from out of state. Once that was acquired, the festivities began. Sparkle Pony has a great sense of humor and had me smiling and laughing the rest of the day. He has a very Zen-like quality about him that is contagious. As we sat around I knew that I needed to soak up as much of that as I could. While we were chilling a SOBO arrived that I didn't recognize. His name rang a bell though. Suddenly it dawned on me who he was. There sat Chicken Fat, Knives' old college roommate. The trail is a small world! I hurried over to introduce myself knowing that he must be awesome. Knives would never have lived with anyone that wasn't. Chicken Fat smiled back at me in between bites, a plate full of chicken wings being demolished in front of him. Chicken Fat is one of those people that make you happy just being around them; full of energy, enthusiasm, and positivity. His eyes dance with genuine happiness, his smile beaming with light. I knew right away that I liked him. We began chatting like old friends. One by one the other hikers joined us at the table and soon we had a whole gaggle full of hikers shooting the shit and laughing the day away. One of Sparkle Pony's friends, Tootsie, had recently bought "Cards Against Humanity" and was determined to play. After all, he wasn't packing around two pounds of cards for nothing. We played until well after the sun went down and most were ready to head to bed. The responsible side of me knew that I should go to bed as well since I would be hiking out in the morning. The holy crap I'm having so much fun I don't want the night to end side of me decided that I can sleep when I'm dead and stayed up. At one point in the night one of Sparkle Pony's friends tried to convince me to turn around and head north with them in the morning. Honestly, I gave the notion serious consideration for ten full minutes. In the end though I knew that I was a SOBO and turning back wasn't in me to do. Although I think now that going with them would have changed my whole life, I'm not sure that it would have necessarily changed my life for the better. Sparkle Pony and I were the last two hikers to keep the party going. We sat up most of the night talking and getting to know each other better on a hill overlooking the church. He was so easy to talk to. I found myself telling him things that I had not fully verbalized to even myself; about my fears, hopes, dreams for the future. In turn he explained how his path in life had changed dramatically over the years into the calm, self-assured person who sat before me today. It actually gave me hope that with enough time and practice I too can learn to relax and take it one day at a time. I need to let go more and realize that getting all worked up about things that I have no control over does no one any good, only making me anxious and irritable. I seriously didn't want the night to end and as the sun came up I got a little sad. I hate finding cool NOBOs, knowing that our time together is so short. In the morning each sets out in opposite directions, never to see the other again.As the sun rose so did the town. Hikers began packing up. It was Sunday morning and members of the church began arriving for service. I had not been to church since before I left for the trail so I stuck around to attend and get my spiritual tank filled up. Sparkle Pony walked me back to the trail to say goodbye. Part of me was amped and ready to take on the rest of the trail. Part of me wanted to cry. In the end though I took off heading south with a smile on my face, vowing to have more fun on the trail and be more flexible and open to new opportunities.