Date: 2017-06-06
From: Travel Inn, Wind Gap, PA

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 15.5

6/6/17, Delaware Water Gap, PAMiles hiked: 976.3 Miles to go: 1213.51st Sgt and I survived the Night of the Vortex. We speculate that it was the Air Conditioner of Protection that got us through.  Let me explain - while our crazy meth-head neighbor Tracy was explaining the Vortex to us yesterday, and its connection to Hell, and her past interactions with gods and devils (I'm not making this up!), 1st Sgt turned on the air conditioner and promptly shut down the power to the outlets on that side of the room.We were discussing walking over to the main office (no phone in the room) to talk to the manager about getting a new room or at least restoring the power when Tracy says, "Wait! I can fix this! Give me something to plug in." 1st Sgt gave her his phone charger and she walked over to the plug on the opposite wall, plugged in the phone charger and wiggled it around and, amazingly enough, the air conditioner roared back to life! At one point during the night, I sort of recall the air conditioner kicking off and 1st Sgt jumping out of bed and wiggling the outlet to get it working again. I could've sworn that when the air conditioner went off, the boards over the Vortex began to bulge as if something was pushing on them from the other side. When the air conditioner came back on, the bulging subsided.  I guess I could've dreamed the bulging boards part... We discussed the incident over breakfast at Dunkin Donuts this morning and concluded that the Air Conditioner of Protection probably saved us. We had to hike 1.9 miles to the trailhead, then an additional 15.5 miles to Delaware Water Gap, where Marguerite was picking me up for a zero day. 1st Sgt's feet were pretty sore and he was worried about us being late to meet Marguerite, so, once we were back on trail, he urged me to hike on ahead. The rocks were worse than ever, so I quickly outpaced 1st Sgt and left him behind. After awhile, it started thundering and lightninging. Then the heavens opened up, making the rocks even slicker than before and soaking me to the skin. I continued to hike for awhile; but, before long, I just couldn't stand it. This was the type of day where you really needed a hiking companion, especially if you were already hurting. I turned around and started hiking back to 1st Sgt. Before long, we were reunited and I think he was pretty pleased I came back. We continued northward and eventually reached Wolf Rocks. This section consisted of big tilted slabs of rock that were really slick. It was nice to cross it with someone else in case one of us slipped. In fact, we later talked to two younger thru hikers who fell crossing this section. After more adventures on the lovely PA rocks, we eventually reached Delaware Water Gap. Marguerite's plane ended up getting delayed, so we still managed to beat her to town. We found the Presbyterian hiking hostel where 1st Sgt planned to zero and rest his feet. It was like Old Home Week there, with Silly Spilly, Pluck, Shenaniguy, Sitting Bull, Lotus, Wizard, and Peace already there, and Matador, Tin Man, and Dirty Harry arriving soon thereafter. Marguerite picked me up in sheet order and we headed over to a hotel in Stroudsburg where we will zero tomorrow and take care of typical zero day chores. 1st Sgt is zeroing at the hostel, resting his feet and deciding what to do about his battered feet. On Thursday morning, we will enter New Jersey, where we hope we will soon see the end of the rocks.