Date: 2015-05-09
From: Little Gap

To: Mile 1282 (past Wind Gap)
Miles today: 22.0

Today, the trail started out rocky and stayed rocky. It wasn't really bad, but the loose rocks and slow foot placement cost me valuable time. One of the differences that I've noticed about this trail versus the others is the amount of large, loose rocks.I understand some of the difficulties in trail construction, but it just seems that shoring up loose boulders that could really injury someone would be a priority. I guess the trail builders have differing opinions.The gang --Bird ( from SW Georgia and Texas' SMU), LittleDebbie (from Delaware), and Deadline (the Daniel Day Louis looking firefighter from Massachusetts) were all still together and cruising well. The groups dynamics are great and everyone seems to really enjoy the personalities within it.As I walked behind LittleDebbie, he abruptly stopped. Curious as to why I watched him intently. He bent over and picked up a piece of trash. Without even an inspection, he quickly said "trail magic!" and ate the half granola bar. I couldn't tell you how old it was.... It was super funny and a bit gross!The bugs have been out for a month. What I haven't experienced until recently, was the incessant bugs that go from flying in your face to dive bombing your ears. I can't tell you how many times I've hit myself in the face trying to kill the little buggers. They have been really bothering me lately, probably because of the recent high humidity and temperatures.Luckily, a good portion of the morning was overcast and nice. The skies did eventually burn off the clouds and allowed the sun came out. This increased the temperature by at least 10-15 degrees. The initial weather for the morning really helped to save us water and a bunch of extra exertion. After several hours of walking, a sign for the next spring was fashioned to a tree. The spring was 0.5 miles downhill. We all stopped and discussed our options.We looked at the maps and data guide and found a solution. We happily decided to skip the extra mile... Or should I say defer it.... To Windy Gap. Windy Gap was closer to the trail and had water.....and beer.....and pizza!!! There was no convincing us and we hurriedly made our way to the road. The walk into town was quick, thanks to our continuous discussion of pizza, pizza toppings, beer, and the like.In town, we hit up a little pizza joint. We had hard ciders and beers. My well-done pizza was great!! We all really enjoyed our food. It was great! While we were there, we saw Whitehawk and called him over.It was Whithawk's friend and neighbor, Diesel, who gave us the rider back to the trail in Hamburg. We chatted Whitehawk up and really enjoyed the meal.We began noticing that we were loosing light. LittleDebbie, Deadline, Bird, and I all packed up (including leftover pizza slices) and headed back up to the trail.The climb up the gap was tough. We all had a ton of water and the climb was a real effort. We all walked until sunset again. I chose a camp-spot and LittleDebbie "seconded" it. It was a mile or so short of our original goal, but it was getting dark.Once we were all set up, we listened to some music and ate the pizza!! It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we hung out and I noticed something out of the norm.....there were birds whistling and singing at 1030 pm?!?! Pretty unusual!Tomorrow will be an easy day. I will do a 12 mile near-o into the Delaware Water Gap and get to see my great friend, Brian!