Date: 2009-06-25
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Dear Readers,It's been a week since I've been at a computer, so brace yourself for a long entry (are they ever not long?). First of all, I have fallen way behind in my shoutouts so I'm going to list all I have neglected to mention in my prior few entries:-Allison for baking me my favorite cookies!-Aunt Carol and Uncle Steve for taking the time to come visit me on my zero days with my parents (for sending the awesome care package that I got today!(Ted and James included)-Russ from Port Clinton, PA, the nicest postal worker I have ever encountered, who re-opened the PO at 5:10pm so we could get our maildrops without having to wait until the morning-The Keller family for sending Gangsta and I an amazing box full of our favorite treats!-Saint and WindUp's parents for taking us out to lunch at Delaware Water Gap-Sara and Chris for driving to DWG from NYC for an afternoon visit (and Les for sending love via a card and visitor center log book)-Sara for sending me treats and a lengthy letter from Ireland! (winner of the care package that has traveled the farthest to get to me!)Whew, I think that's all for now. Alright... the million dollar question. Where do I begin? I guess from the beginning, Gangsta's birthday. We had a great time, weather cooperated (for once), cosmos were the perfect way to end the day, and the hiking was incredible (more on that later).Currently, we're in New Jersey, but about to enter NY tomorrow. I can't tell you how excited I was to finally be getting out of PA! Man, that state was by far the most mentally and emotionally challenging state/two weeks of the trail. Weather was not good. We saw a tiny bit of sun on G's birthday, but other than that, the state was rainy, and gloomy. And of course, there were the rocks. There wasn't very much of the slow-going bouldering like I was anticipating. Maybe only a mile or so total of that kinda trail (of course always in the rain), but the majority was small rocks that wear on your feet after two weeks. The soles of my feet felt bruised at the end of the day and I often felt headaches coming on from looking down at my feet concentrating for 14 straight miles. And of course, my boots got destroyed. Oh PA... I was glad to be done with you.However, there was one highpoint to PA, and that was the climb out of Lehigh Gap. Yes, it was all rocks... a scramble up 1,000 feet in just over a mile, however it was incredible. Ironic that the rocks are what nobody likes, yet at the same time, this stretch was my high. It was incredible hiking, different than any other climb on the trail. Very different, and even reminded me of the Iceline Trail I backpacked in the Canadian Rockies last summer. Yes, I just compared a one mile stretch of PA to the Canadian Rockies. Besides that, the state kinda sucked, though. I hope I never have to backpack on the AT in PA again.Oh wait, there were two highs in PA! The second one being... (drum roll)... NAKED HIKER DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! June 21 annually (also summer solstice) and it also happened to fall on Father's Day this year. Okay, so Gangsta and I didn't actually have the courage to hike naked, but we did have plans as to how we'd honor and celebrate it in our heads. Thanks to the help of Loon and Hot Sauce (who we'd known less than a week), we were able to celebrate the holiday with some fantastic photographs on a rocky vista that morning, before the day hikers celebrating Father's Day arrived. I'd post them, but I'm not sure they are TJ appropriate (no worries, no frontal nudity). However, my mom is the one in charge of posting my photos for me, so I guess we'll see what she thinks... sometimes she surprises me.After putting clothes back on, we resumed our hike down into the Delaware Water Gap. I was THRILLED about the prospect of New Jersey, simply because it was no longer Pennsylvania. Little did I know, the wonderful little town of Delaware Water Gap awaited me first! This town was great... you know why? The AMAZING bakery there! How come hikers were not talking about the Apple Pie Bakery? I had never heard of it, yet, I can confidently say it has been my favorite food establishment on the trail, thus far. Fresh baked pies, pastries, cookies, ice cream, and other tasty treats occupied it's walls and I was in pure, unadulterated, indecisive heaven. Key Lime Pie? Lemon Meringue? Chocolate Cream Pie? Strawberry Rhubarb? Conveniently in 8" diameter single serving for a thru-hiker. I ate almost every meal there. Where else can you get a hotdog and piece of pie for $1.50? (I'll take three and three, please). Yes, Apple Pie Bakery, you made my stay at DWG wonderful. Oh, and the church hostel there was also great, too! Close family friends, Sarah (formerly Ransdell) and Chris Bayer came out to visit me for the afternoon there as well which was a wonderful surprise!That brings me to New Jersey. I was pleasantly surprised by NJ! I had zero expectations and it was actually quite lovely. Who knew? I thoroughly enjoyed hiking through, and already I'm about to enter New York tomorrow. These states are small, which I'm realizing now, as I'm in disbelief that I'm on to the next one so soon!The excitement of New Jersey happened over the past 24 hours. 1.) We got harassed by donkeys at our campsite last night. We were hoping to sleep in a "secret shelter" on a guy's property listed in our guidebooks, only to discover it was closed. The door was locked but there was a note saying we could use his well water/privy and tent. We chose to sleep on the porch of the locked shelter. As soon as we started cooking dinner, donkeys walked up outta nowhere. They tried climbing onto the porch and in general, would not leave us alone. Gangsta finally scared them away, though. She and I were the only ones there that night. It was a little creepy being surrounded by a bunch of locked sheds/buildings. I reminisced about a creepy night on a Hells Canyon backpacking trip where we camped outside an abandoned 1930's cabin. But we sucked up our fears, determined not to be weenies, and acted like the fearless women in the wilderness that we are (sometimes). I was glad to wake up and see sunlight.Also, we saw our first bears in over a thousand miles! Everybody seemed to be seeing bears but me. I never saw any in SNP and a few days ago everyone was coming into camp saying they had seen 4, 5, 6... me, zero. I was bummed and annoyed at my lack of bear sightings. But, as life always seems to prove, things happen when you least expect it and aren't thinking about it. Gangsta and I came around a bend today to see two cubs quickly climbing a nearby tree. It was cute and exciting until we realized we had no idea where the momma was! And yes, it's always my first instinct to do a 180* when I see a large animal. G makes fun of me. I started southbounding when a momma grouse puffed her feathers and started coming at us two days ago. It was pure instinct, not actual fear, I swear. I don't know if I will ever live that one down, though. Anyway, after observing the scene and making a lot of noise we figured it was safe to continue down the trail directly under the cubs who were 100+ feet up the tree. Once we were well past the tree, we heard a really loud noise up ahead. It was momma bear and we were directly in between her and her babies. An "oh sh*t" crossed my mind (I stood my ground and fought all instinct to turn around), Gangsta grabbed her pepper spray, and then it safely ran off circling out wide around us to get back to her cubs. Whew. It was an exciting couple of minutes! I got some photos, but they didn't turn out so great since the camera was pointed up towards the sky.Tonight, we're relaxing at a hostel and it's just Gangsta, myself, and fellow hiker, Oblivious. We're within a day of all the goonies and have been crossing paths, but camping in different places. We caught up to all of them when they zeroed. It was a fun reunion in DWG, but we're all continuing to pursue our own itineraries for the second half of the trail, due to visitors, deadlines, visits home, etc. Oh, and shoutout to Oak for leaving trail magic and note in the register for the Goonies at a recent shelter! Life is good, except for the numerous mosquito bites all over my body. With the heat and humidity, bug repellent just sweats right off. A lot of NJ has been really muddy/swampy. We walked across some cool boardwalks today! The bugs have been outta control. I wake up at least once a night clawing my legs off. The Afterbite is always right by my head, waiting for me to lather it on like lotion in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, I think it's a problem that will plague me daily for the rest of the trip. New ones form as old ones disappear.Okie dokie, time to get off this computer. Looking forward to New York... 'til then!Happy Trails,Wags