Date: 2009-05-30
From: Delaware Water Gap, PA

To: Rattlesnake Spring
Miles today: 13.4

This has been a good town for meeting friends! Pop had a birding buddy come up early in the morning and take him for a spin down the delaware to get some different birds while I continued to sleep. At 9 am we met a good friend of ours named Rich who works as an interior designer in Trenton. He and the birding friend named Bob joined us for a breakfast at the Diner. After that we returned to the hostel to pack up and head out. Climb was fairly easy after we crossed the river into NJ! I soon found out though that sunny weather on a saturday in the summer equals ALOT of people. Either that or Jersey just has traffic everywhere. We saw at least 200 people on our way up to Sunfish Pond which is this beautiful pond up on a ridge. It is the first glacial body of water we have encountered on the whole trail. We then met up with our birding friend Bob again and hiked up to Raccoon Ridge. Contrary to PA the views were spectacular from here (the best since Mt. Rogers in Southern Virginia). We could see a long way in every direction. Towards late afternoon we came to the Mohican Outdoor Center where we had planned originally to camp for the night. We got some goodies (ice cream) at the store and I got a hot shower as I had neglected to do that in town (too many friends and too much food). Decided that the weather was nice and we still felt good so we headed on. Back up on the ridge we ran into our third rattlesnake on the trip. After about 3 more miles of great views we decided we would camp near a good spring. It was a little buggy but a nice spot and we ate well before going to bed.PA birds: 8 New species: 4 (American Kestrel, Eastern Kingbird, Bobolink, Double-crested Cormorant)PA list: 97 Trip list: 133NJ birds: 28 NJ list: 28Pennsylvania birds: House Sparrow, red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blackpoll Warbler, Tufted Titmouse, Great-crested Flycatcher, American Crow, Acadian Flycatcher, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Scarlet Tananger, Ovenbird, American Robin, Chipping Sparrow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Northern Carcinal, Black & White Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, Hooded Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Downey Woodpecker, Gray Catbird, Mallard, Pine Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Black-throated Green warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Turkey Vulture, Yellow-throated Warbler, House Wren, Northern Parula, Brown Creeper, Barn Swallow, Morning Dove, Eastern Wood Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Broad-winged Hawk, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Thrasher, Yellow Warbler, Northern Flicker, American Goldfinch, Alder Flycatcher, European Starling, Common Yellowthroat, Great Blue Heron, Least Flycatcher, Cedar Waxwing, Red-breasted nuthatch, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, White-eyed Vireo, Mute Swan, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole, Bald Eagle, Blue-winged Warbler, Roughed Grouse, Winter Wren, Chimney Swift, Magnolia Warbler, Carolina Chickadee, Black-capped Chickadee, American Redstart, Warbling Vireo, Great Egret, Forster's Tern, Rock Pigeon, Cerulean Warbler, Wild Turkey, Lousianna Waterthrush, Veery, Wood Thrush, Yellow-throated Vireo, Canada Goose, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Black-billed cuckoo, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Rock Pigeon, Barred Owl, Prarie Warbler, Black Vulture, Commmon raven, Carolina Wren, American Kestrel, Tree Swallow, Eastern kingbird, Red-tail Hawk, Bobolink, Sharp-shinned Hawk (96 species)