Date: 2006-10-09
From: Rattlesnake Mt, NJ

To: Delaware Water Gap, Pa
Miles today: 23.8
Weather: clear sky

23.8 miles todayMotelDelaware Water Gap, PaI slept great last night and woke up early to darkness and a nearly full moon lighting everything up.It was a very good choice to walk out of Culver's Gap last night and tent on top of Rattlesnake Mountain.I had the rest of my Entenmann's chocolate covered donuts and 10 chocolate covered expresso beans for breakfast.I could hear Yolanda was already up too and packing for an early start.When I got out of my tent, it was still dark, but there was a pink glow starting to show in the east and the moon was still high and shining bright.I started taking some photos and got some nice shots before we walked on for the morning.Yolanda had started out first, but I caught up to her when I found her backpack laying in the Trail. I waited until she came out of the woods and we walked on together.It was very rocky out again, so I was taking it easy on my heel and walking slowly.We walked by Crater Lake, then on to Blue Mountain Lakes Rd where I stopped for a morning snack.I pumped some water from an old hand pump that was there, but the water came out brown with iron. I filled one bottle and carried it just in case I needed water before we found more.Yolanda knew where Rattlesnake Spring was. I had never even noticed it before, so I was happy to dump out that bottle of rust I had and fill it with nice, cool spring water.The spring was in an area that I had always just walked through because it was so muddy. There were lots of rhododendrons in the area....the first I've seen in a long time.It was getting warm out today and by the time we climbed up to Catfish Fire Tower, it was too warm to sit in the sun. We kept walking.We started seeing some day hikers as we got close to Mohican Outdoor Center. We didn't take the side trail up to the center...we just crossed Camp Rd and kept on walking.We climbed Mt Mohican and as I got close to the summit, I saw quite a few people up there. They were bird watchers and had spotted two eagles and a few hawks, but said there weren't many out flying around the area today.They even had a fake owl on top of a post and said that it draws some of the hawks in closer.Yolanda said the guy told her that a hawk could spot the owl from 10 miles away on a clear day.Yolanda got delayed again when we passed some day hikers with a small dog. I kept walking because she can always catch up to me now and we wanted to get into town as early as we could.I finally had to stop because my heel was hurting, so I took my shoes and socks off for a while and taped up a toe that was getting a hot spot on it.I saw Yolanda coming up the Trail, so I started getting ready to walk again.We walked around the edge of Sunfish Pond. The Trail takes you right along the very rocky edge. It looks like a great pond to take a swim, but there are no swimming signs posted all over the place.We walked past the Backpacker's Campsite, then started descending that mountain.There must have been 30 to 40 day hikers out today for a walk. Most of them were heading up to Sunfish Pond and they all smelled so clean. :-)))I wonder what they thought Yolanda and I smelled like. Ha!!!I could hear the stream near the bottom of the mountain, so I knew we were getting close to crossing I-80...leaving NJ and entering Pa.When we got to the road and bridge walk, we were moving right along until I had to slow down because of my heel. We walked into Delaware Water Gap, Pa and walked right down to the diner and ordered dinner.Yolanda had called Blip '03 earlier from up on the ridge and made arrangements for Blip to pick us up and take us to where Yolanda was renting a car to get home to get ready for The Gathering.We finished eating and still had about 10 minutes before Blip was supposed to be there, so we walked next door to the pie place and picked up some deserts. :-)))Blip showed up and found us in the pie shop. I wonder how she knew to look in there for us. Ha!!Blip drove us to Lehigh Valley Airport where Yolanda rented a car. We thanked her, then we went and got a room to get cleaned up before the ride tomorrow to pick up Yolanda's car to head down to The Gathering.Our plans are to take a few days off and go to The Gathering to see some of our hiking friends. Yolanda has a presentation to do and a business meeting to attend before we plan on getting back on Trail next Sunday.It was a hard choice for Yolanda to go to The Gathering because she only has about 147 miles left to complete her thru hike. It wasn't too hard a choice for me because I just like to play....and I still have 585 miles left. :-)))It was another good leaf catching day....I'm up to 122 leaves now. From the totals I've heard from some friends, I'm way out in the lead, so I'm back to saying that....dang, I'm good!!!! :-)))Oh yeah, I uploaded 28 more photos today of the last couple weeks on the Trail.