Date: 2013-06-01
From: Danielsville, PA

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 0.0

1258.3 Miles Danielsville, PA 6/1/13On Saturday 5/25, Gloria, my brother Anthony, and my grand daughter Ali made it Duncannon while we eating breakfast at Goodies diner across the street from the Doyle Hotel. It was great to see all of them and I introduced them to some of the other hikers that were in there. Ali got her picture taken with Gummy Bear and I think she was pretty excited to see some of the hikers in person that she had only seen pictures of so far. I think my brother Anthony was too. Them coming into the restaurant let me get away from the 3 manhole sized pancakes that I had been trying to finish. That has been the only time so far my hike, that I couldn't finish all my food. The were huge!!! After we left the diner and we took everyone up to our hotel room to show them the luxury accomodations.They weren't impressed. I guess hiker trash don't need much to get by. Then we rolled out onto the street where Gloria shuttled hikers to the grocery storeand everyone sat in front of the Doyle re-packaging their food to put into their packs. There was Clark Kent, Chin Strap, Gummy Bear, Z, Warbler, Bag of Tricks, Mot and I. Then Gloria broke out a Strawberry and Rhubarb pie that everyone enjoyed. After saying our good-byes, Mot and I headed out. We walked out of town and across the Clarks Ferry Bridge and then started out climb up out of the river valley. If you've ever crossed the Clarks Ferry Bridge going towards Harrisburg, the AT goes straight up the mountain in front of you.Made it Peters Mountain Shelter and the temperature dropped down into the 30's for the night. Guess who just switched his 15 degree bag for his 40 degree bag that morning. I froze. The next night it was the same thing. Very cold and I froze again. The third night we made it to the 501 Shelter which is an actual building with windows and doors, so I made it through that night ok. That night at the 501, Nomad showed up. Nomad is a Trail Angel that follows the hikers and gives them assistance any way he can. We made arrangements to slack pack and Nomad would take our packs and meet us about 9 miles up the trail. Ground Pounder, Clark Kent, and Warbler were going to do the 24 miles to Port Clinton. Mot and I didn't think we could go that far, but by the time we did the 9 miles and met Nomad, we decided to go for it. We made it into Port Clinton about 6 PM. Nomad took us to Wal-Mart to re-supply then he took me to Cabela's in Hamburg and I bought a sleeping bag liner that would help keep me warmer. The next day, thanks to Nomad, we slack packed again to the Eckville Shelter, about 17 miles. The next 2 days were torture. We had to negotiate through some difficult rock formations, "The Knife's Edge" and Bake Oven Knob.We made it to the Bake Oven Knob shelter for the night. Our next stop was Palmerton to stay at a hostel run by the town. It's called the Jailhouse because they had originally planned to install a jail there but changed their plans. Now they let hikers stay there free, with a shower.Today (6/1) we left Palmerton to hike the 5 miles to Little Gap where Gloria picked us up. We drove to East Stroudsburg and are staying in a motel tonight. Gloria and I went to Mass at St. Mathews Catholic Church, then we came back and picked up Mot and went to Wal-Mart for a few things then out to eat dinner. This may the last time I see Gloria for a while. Tomorrow she'll drive us back to Little Gap and we'll head towards the Delaware Water Gap. I hope we're out of PA by Tuesday.(Start my rant here) The AT from Duncannon to the Delaware Water Gap is not a hiking trail, it is torture chamber designed to test your patience, physical ability, balance, hand/eye co-ordination and nerve. I'm sick of climbing over rocks, around rocks, under rocks, and through rocks. I'm tired of stepping on pointed rocks, slipping on wet rocks, stepping on wobbly rocks, trying to step between rocks, getting my foot wedged in rocks, getting my hiking pole wedged in rocks, staring down at the trail for 4 hours at a time without looking up for fear of falling, (Lord only knows what I didn't see) and when I did look up all I saw was more rocks! I hope that there is some type of geological change at the Delaware Water Gap that ends this nightmare. I now know where the saying "Rocksylvania, where hiking boots come to die" came from. The next large rock pile I look forward to seeing is Mt Washington in New Hampshire. Maybe my feet will fill a little better by then. (End my rant here)So anyway now I'm looking forward to state number 8, New Jersey, which I should be in by Tuesday. Yesterday I told Mot We're so close to New Jersey that I can smell it. Mot said "That's me you're smelling"