Date: 2004-12-03
From: Palmerton, Pa

To: Lehigh Gap, Pa
Miles today: 15.8

15.8 miles todaySleeping at Goosebump's houseLehigh Gap, Pa.We planned on getting up early to start walking and then to get over to Goosebump's home as early as possible. We have a nasty game of Hearts planned for tonight and it's going to be Goosebump that looses that card game.I picked a terrible trailhead to park at overnight because there was traffic all night long. I didn't sleep very well, but at about 4am, I must have finally fallen asleep soundly. It was a little after six when I woke up and we had planned on being at the diner by then.I woke Hippie up, but she wasn't feeling very well and needed a little more time to get ready.We passed on the diner for breakfast and just bought some donuts at a convenience store and then drove to the Wind Gap trailhead.I started hiking just before 8am. It was another mild morning out with the air temperature at 27 degrees, but with calm winds, that feels pretty good.I had a small 500 foot climb to get up to the ridge that I would walk on the rest of the way to Delaware Water Gap.The first 7 or 8 miles today is nothing but rocks...1,394,294,895,284 of them to be exact!!I got up to Wolf Rocks and enjoyed that rocky section. I don't mind the big rocks because I can walk through those without slowing down, but those little spiked, ankle twisters are the ones that make my feet tired by the end of the day.I walked on to Fox Gap, the gap we tried to sleep at last night and then to Kirkridge Shelter. I thought for sure that Hippie would already be there, but she wasn't.I sat down and took a 15 minute break and then hiked on.I finally ran into her just south of Lunch Rocks. We sat down and talked for about 10 minutes. She was telling me about a hunter she ran into and enjoyed talking to.We both hiked on in our own separate ways and before long, I came up on a hunter sitting down and enjoying a cup of coffee. It was the same guy Hippie had talked to. He was expecting me to pass by. He said that he was just sitting down waiting on a friend of his that was supposed to be back. I told him that if I ran into Jim, his friend, that I would tell him where he was at.It was only about 20 minutes later when I ran into Jim. He seemed surprised that I called him by his name, but was happy to find out where his friend was.I hiked on to Mt Minsi and then to Lookout Rock. I stopped and got a picture of the mountains across the way. I was careful not to get Interstate 80 into the bottom of the picture.The puddles on the trail held onto their ice all day. The ice that was in the trail melted and made those areas of mud nice and slippery. It was fantastic hiking weather today.I hiked on down into Delaware Water Gap and drove my truck back to Wind Gap to pick up Hippie. She got there about 30 minutes later and we drove over to Rainbow Slick and Goosebump the Snow Princes's house in Whitehall.We got good news when we got there...Rainbow Slick is going to be able to hike with us for the next two days. I thought he was going to help someone move this weekend, but I guess that fell through.Goosebump threw together a quick meal for us from left-over turkey and then they had to go to an office Christmas party for a short time.Another great day on the A.T.