Date: 2007-10-06
From: Stealth Site

To: Delaware Water Gap Church Hostel
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: few clouds

mi. 17.2sleep hosteldest. Deleware Water Gap Church Hostel day 86 I was thinking today. I need to find a way to keep my journal interesting. If anyone has any questions for me or whats to kow anything, post it in my guestbook and I'll add it to an entry. Ok, I was a little scared last night. I awoke at 4am to a very strange noise. I woke up for the last little bit. All I have to say was it was loud and sounded kind of like a whine or yelp. Hard to explain when I only heard a little when woken up from a deep sleep. All I could tell was it was coming from the direction of our food bags. Torque had the honors of throwing the bear line. It came out pretty good I thought. After the noise stopped, I said Torque did you hear that. He replied yeah. It sounded like something a bear would make. We didn't hear anything moving or any other noises. After that neither of us got much sleep. We were talking about it and both of us probibly got an hour total the rest of the night. Not at one time though. When it got light out we walked over to the foodbag. Everything was untouched. Either it couldn't get to it and was pissed or was coming from farther away. Either way I am glad we cooked away from where we set up and hang even farther away. Probibly a good 30 to 40 yards away. Oh and the people we heard last night were camped out really close. They got an earlier start than us and walked by. Also My gear got wetter last night than any other night. It didn't rain, but the dew and fog was so thick drops were falling randomly. I pulled my hammock sock over, but it and my underquilt were damp. My foodbag, pack, 1 pair of socks, and hiking shirt also got it. I packed up and decided to dry it at a lunch break. It was to damp now for anything to dry. There was also no sunrise. Everything was all socked in. I did get some good views of the stairs last night though. I woke up this morning feeling really sick to my stomach. I even got out of the hammock and tried to blow chunks, nothing happened though. No food to come up. In trying to figure out what it is, I looked at anything else not feeling right. My feet are rather swallen right now. I have also been having strange food craving. Yep I must be pregant. However under closer examination I determined that there is no way I can be. The feet issues and craving can be attributed to hiking and the stomach issue to what I eat or getting worked up on last nights events along with laying down and not sitting up. Anyways, one rant for the day. Torque and I were walking when a weekender and his dog rounded the corner and started barking and grawling at us. I stop and get this I will stab it with my trekking pole if it gets any closer look in my eyes. He puts it on the lease and steps to the side. the dog continues it's behavor until w are passed it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             never actually bites anyone. Anyways again. The hiking today was really easy. It is getting rocky though. Something PA is known for. This is the start of that mountain range. Funny how no one talks about the rocks in NJ or some parts of NY. Water is getting really hard to find. I started with just over 2 liters from last night. That lasted until we got to an outdoor center .3 off the trail. It is actually ran by the AMC. They let hikers stay there. We were thinking about it, but the miles for the days past didn't agree. We did relax some and drink up and fill up. I only carried out 2.5 liters but it turned to be more than enough for the rest of the days hiking. Good thing too. I didn't see any more water until almost the DWG. I am liking my new hiking pace. It is a little faster. We got to a really nice pond around 1:30. Only 6 miles into town. I need to hit up the outfitter, but I can do that tomorrow morning. A good break here was much better. I got in the first swim in forever. It felt great. It was hot all day. I came out refreshed and cooled off. This turned out to be a long lunch. We ate and laid around in the sun until 3pm. We figured we would get into town and sit around, may as well do that here. DWG is a small town without much close. A funny thing happened. The trail goes around a pond. We walk passed a few people. After we pass a woman asks if we are southbounders. We said yes. She said that we are hard core for going that way. She said she went northbound in 2003. I told her she was hard core for hiking that year. It was the rainest on record. Something like 100 days with rain. Rally Poptart, that is hardcore. We walked away thinking yep, we're hard core. We determined it was because we were hiking shirtless. We couldn't look hard core with shirts. From there it was an easy rocky downhill to town. I will say we passed a ton of people today. There are a lot of people out during the weekend here. Funny how you may see one or two a day during the week, than 30 or so on a weekend depending where you are. Going in to town there is another road walk. It actually didn't feel that bad. Switching back to new balances make a huge difference. Road walking in my old shoes and light hikers killed my feet. Now everything is fine. That and a comment of a day hiker that we must be out for the weekend had me thinking. I don't look like the typical thru hiker right now. I showered a few days ago and clean off when I am. I just got a new pack and shoes. I am relatively clean shaving. My clothes are in good shape. Not what most of the opther thru hikers I have seen look like. But oh well, it makes me feel better to be clean and clean shaving. DWG has a great hostel. It is at a church 2 building off of the AT. It is in the basement of the church. Best of all, it doesn't charge anything. We dropped off our stuff and headed to the dinner for some food. We ate up there and picked up an apple pie from the bakery for later.