Date: 2014-06-14
From: PA 115

To: Church of the Mountain Hostel via PA 611
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: few clouds

It is nice to stay dry the entire day! Although the forecasted sun never remained out the entire afternoon, no rain fell on us today!Escaped the Gateway Motel this morning - we had to make a getaway from the Gateway. Started up the trail from Wind Gap and were greeted with our old friend Mr. Rock and his buddies - trail was fairly tough on the climb and as we worked our way towards Wolf Rocks. Big Dawg is still not friends with the rocks and the two fought all morning.Ran into an AT ridgerunner out and about. Chatted with him for a little bit and he told us the rocks would stick around until we neared Delaware Water Gap. Bracing ourselves for the trail ahead, we climbed Wolf Rocks and then encountered nicer trail down into the next gap - ran into several day hikers going up to view the Wolf Rocks. Maybe they should be called Snake Rocks - saw two of them but no wolves...From the gap we decided to stop for lunch and a rest at the Kirkridge Shelter - a nice place for lunch and I did not have to pump water! We talked to Mom and Stef after lunch and I was the first one to sign the new shelter log - very exciting! I even drew the first picture too!The trail after lunch was mostly nice with a couple of tough spots - ran into several trail crews doing maintenance on the trail. It was great to see since some of the trail from I-81 to Wind Gap needed maintenance bad and the crews were helping to fix that. We thanked them for their work and continued on past and old fire tower site and a dead porcupine to Lookout Rock. Saw the valley and the river below which sparked two kinds of excitement - one for seeing actual views finally and one realizing that PA was almost conquered!We wound down the side of the mountain a lot and passed many day hikers going to Council Rock and Lookout Rock for views - although the view from Council Rock was treed in. Finally got down to the road through Delaware Water Gap and we walked towards our evening destination - a church hostel right in town.The Church of the Mountain Hostel is a great setup - run completely by the church and mostly self-sufficient. You can get a shower and a towel at the hostel and they provide shuttles to Stroudsburg when church members are available to help out. They do not have laundry but it can be done for cheap at a local hotel. We settled in and were greeted by the pastor of the church - a nice older lady who had just started two or three weeks ago. it was great talking to her about the trail and the hostel - even gave her some tips on how to improve the hostel! Picked up our resupply package from the local outfitter and sorted the food before going to eat at the Sycamore Grill - great place to get a meal! The pub food is well-priced while the regular menu is a bit steep for hiker fare - overall good food and service. Completed laundry and returned to the hostel for the rest of the evening.Spent the night with Tittycakes, Sharp Knife, Hiccup, 19, Two Braids, Key Lime, and Kristo - a full house but three people slept on couches in the main room. As a side note it was hilarious when Tittycakes introduced himself to the pastor - laughing ensued.Don't forget Father's Day tomorrow!