Date: 2010-05-28
From: Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Delaware Water Gap, PA. Mile 1284.4.Well, I arrived at the Delaware Water Gap, my "home" spot on the trail, Wednesday night. As things progressed I realized I would possibly be near there for memorial weekend, and my family has gone on a camping trip yearly that weekend, and so I figured I'd come home and join them for a few days. This meant, I'd be back on the trail, Monday morning. As I neared the Gap, however, I realized that if I pushed miles, I could come back even earlier and get a "free" zero day or two at home to see friends. So, that's what I did. Including my final push on Wednesday with a 31 mile day, my new high mileage mark. It also happened to be 95 degrees and humid that day. And, over the rockiest section of trail yet seen. (I have a suspicion it is the rockiest section of the trail, period.) It wasn't an easy day, but in all honesty, it wasn't a hard day, either. Truth is, I'm pretty used to walking and carrying a pack by now, and the extra mileage doesn't make a huge difference, except that it cuts into the amount of hang time you have for that day. For that reason, I wouldn't want to do 30 mile days often, but it is nice to have that option at the ready in the future if I decide for whatever reason it would be worthwhile to do that again.I get to the Gap, however, having called my mother earlier and convinced her to pick me up (she really didn't seem to have any desire to drive out and get me), and as I leave the woods and begin to walk down the road towards the hostel I find two mystery figures walking towards me up the road. None other than both my mother and Sock Burn himself! Which was exciting, Sock Burn was supposed to be at least 150 miles behind me by now, having visited Damascus again for Trail Days, but he hitched up to the Gap in order to get to some more interesting sections of trail (he won't have time to finish its entirety and has decided to just have fun and enjoy himself, I can't blame him). After reuniting with Sock Burn, I was headed home. Of course now he will be days ahead of me and I'll have to catch up to him to see him again.It's been weird being here. Seeing my family. Sleeping in my own bed. I feel like I shouldn't be here, and semi-out of place. It's not that I feel as if people don't want me back, but that I don't believe I should be back, and have become so accustomed to living outside with my Appalachian friends. Or maybe the truth is I'm becoming a woodsman recluse. Either way, tomorrow I'll be back out there, camping with the family, and then monday back on the trail. Which, while I'll have dropped behind my regular hiking crew, is exciting because I'll get to meet a whole slew of new people, or possibly people I met briefly in March and haven't seen since. And, the way the trail seems to work, is that I won't be able to avoid my gang for very long. It's only a matter of time before I run into them again, and I've got 900 more miles to do it.Anyways, back to trail talk. It's always tough for me to write these entries. An incredible amount of things happen between each one, and I never know what to talk about, or even remember some of the more interesting stories when I sit down to type them up. So, instead of an accurate report of the trail, you get, whatever I think of first to talk about, and that's it. I guess it's still accurate, but definitely not the entirety of the story at all. I apologize, but that method will continue, for I aint got nuffin' better. But, I will talk about the wildlife I have seen.Six bears (all in a single day in Shenandoah), two rattle snakes, tons a rat snakes, couple of turkeys, lots of frogs/toads, and plenty of dear. I'd like to talk turkey for a moment. I had absolutely no idea that they were aggressive. I was absolutely wrong. Just south of Palmerton, PA (home of the best climb on the AT for hundreds of miles), I was headed down a mountain and ran into a turkey. A turkey with a couple of chicks. I didn't realize this was the case, and went in for a look, when I realized there were chicks, I went in closer, and separated them from their mother. That was a mistake. The turkey charged me once, but I chased it off with a swing of my trekking poles, I thought that had handled the situation, but the turkey must have flanked me, and charged again from my backside. I turned in response ready to combat another attack, and in the maneuver twisted my ankle, fell, and skinned my knee. Now I was pissed, and as I hobbled away the turkey came at me again, this time my trekking poles connected firmly with the bird, and it did not return for another attack. (I hope it wasn't injured, however, as I would hate to have left those baby turkeys with an injured mother.)Also, I got some pretty cool snake pictures (which I'll be uploading at some point today). I can't go an entire day anymore without seeing at least one snake. So, check them, and all that other good stuff I've seen, out.Anyways, when I'm not fighting turkeys, I've been hiking. And that has been good too. As far as the "dreadful Pennsylvania rocks" they aren't a big deal. In fact, they don't really start until the very northern portion of the state, and I went through the thickest worst part of it all in a single day. Once again, this supports my theory that you cannot trust a section hiker, for they aren't in the same physical condition as a thru-hiker, and you can't trust a thru-hiker, because they're all just doing whatever it takes to tell a compelling story. But! You can probably trust me, good ol' Mellow Yellow.Like I said, I never seem to adequately get down in words what's been happening on the trail. But, take my word, it has been happening. I'm looking forward to getting back out there Monday, though.