Date: 2008-07-08
From: Kirkridge Shelter

To: AT Parking Lot on NJ side of the Delaware River
Miles today: 8.2

I slept as good as I figured I would last night. I was tenting on hard packed ground instead of the soft leaves I like to sleep on and I ended up turning a lot to get comfortable. It was foggy out when I woke up a little after 5am. I had a couple Poptarts and a small honey bun, then packed up and walked down to the shelter. Everyone was up and in various stages of cooking their breakfast, so I sat down and talked. Steadfast and HiLo left first, then after Mother Nature and Smokestack were done eating and all packed up, we headed north on the Appalachian Trail at 7:30am. I forgot to mention the PA ridge runner that stopped by for a short time last night. His name was Rue and I told him to get to work. (just passing along a message from Mechanical Man who knows him) :-) Rue seemed like a good guy. He thru hiked north in '03, so he was part of the "whiney bunch". I asked him about that and he told me that the "whiney bunch" was back around Liteshoe and the bunch she was walking with. He said he even heard about them whining way up ahead on the Trail where he was. ;-) There was a little breeze blowing, so it didn't feel too bad out...even with the 100% humidity. We walked by Lunch Rocks, then down a little to Totts Gap. There was a short 1/3 mile relo of the Trail north of that. It took the Trail off the old forest service road and into the woods. I was glad to get back onto the forest service road because it's nice to walk on easier stuff sometimes. :-) I was walking along on that forest service road and got to thinking how things happen on the Trail that would be misunderstood off Trail. It was almost dark last night and I was just nodding off after reading a chapter of Cold Mountain, when I heard Mother Nature come up and start setting her tent about ten feet from my tent. She said that there were two people already snoring in the shelter. The funny part is that Smokestack slept in the shelter with two other women while his wife came up and slept next to me. Can you imagine listening to the five of us if we were having breakfast and you were at the next table....Smokestack might say to Mother Nature, "Hey dear, you got up and left me to sleep with those two women last night." Mother Nature might say, "Oh, I just couldn't get to sleep, so I went and slept next to Stumpy".It would be perfectly innocent to a thru hiker, but someone listening might just get interested in backpacking. Ha! :-) Anyway, we got to Mt Minsi and sat down by the old fire tower pilings while Mother Nature adjusted her socks and aired out her feet. View from Mt MinsiThe rest of the walk was mostly downhill, past Lookout Rock, then Council Rock, past Eureka Creek and past Lake Lenape. Water Lilies in Lake LenapeThere were quite a few white flowering rhododendrons in full bloom in the area. I had been seeing some off and on lately, but really got into a bunch in this area. I had also been stopping a lot and eating blackberries and blueberries. We got to Delaware Water Gap and walked down by the outfitter where the car was. I passed by the PO, so I stopped in and picked up the maps for the next few hundred miles of Trail. We drove back to Wind Gap and had a second breakfast at the diner. It was lunch time, but the breakfast tasted great! We then picked up their truck that had been parked at the gap and drove back to Delaware Water Gap. Mother Nature and Smokestack both wanted to walk into NJ today! They wanted to be done with PA and all the rocks. (I didn't have the heart to tell them that there's lots of rocks all the way to Katahdin) ;-) We drove over to the AT parking area on the NJ side of Delaware River and parked the car and walked back to Delaware Water Gap, PA. That walk took us along I-80 over the Delaware River. It was about half a mile that we walked along a pedestrian lane with I-80 right next to us. Mother Nature and Smokestack crossing over the Delaware RiverWe stopped in the middle of the bridge and got some pictures at the zero milepost on the interstate. There was no "Welcome to NJ" sign, so that had to do. Mother Nature got a great big grin on her face for having finished a tough state. :-) We celebrated at the local bakery with some fresh pie and ice cream...and I just had to have a hotdog too. :-) We got rooms and I got cleaned up and washed my clothes, then took a nap...for the second day in a row! I almost never take naps. Mother Nature and Smokestack are taking a zero tomorrow. I'm going to go back to walking by myself again when they drop me off at the NJ parking lot tomorrow morning. It's been great fun walking with them this past week, but they like to eat too much and I'm gaining weight, so it will be good to get back to walking the way I usually do. ;-) Thank you, Thank you Mother Nature and Smokestack....it's been a blast! :-) Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)