Date: 2014-06-21
From: Red Carpet Inn, Wind Gap, PA

To: Pocono Inn, Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: light rain

Day 38: We awoke to a clear, cool (55 degree) morning. We packed up and headed for the trail at 6:20am. We had timed it so we hit the nearby McDonalds for breakfast when they opened at 6:30am.After breakfast, we continued our 2+ mile hike through the small town of Wind Gap, back to the AT, by 7:35am.What would we see today? This being the Summer Solstice means it's traditionally Hike Naked Day on the AT (There's the same tradition on the PCT.) ET said "No Way!!" would she participate and Spider didn't want to put all the young men to shame, so we hiked fully clothed. Apparently others felt the same because everyone we saw on the trail was fully clothed. So much for tradition!After a climb out of the gap, we walked the ridge that was highlighted in yesterday's picture. It continued to be a very rocky trail. The rocks are pointed, with some embedded in the ground and some not. The problem is you don't know how stable the rocks you will be stepping on will be until you step on them. The result is that we hike with short steps and trekking poles at the ready, in case the rocks move. Thus we make slow progress and expend a lot of energy, which is not something we want to do on a big mileage day.About an hour into the hike we came upon Jersey Girl. It was she and her husband, Ron, who had been doing Trail Magic a couple of days ago, after our steep climb out of Lehigh Gap. She said she was section hiking and that Ron was up ahead at the next road doing more Tail Magic.. Wahoo!! Sure enough, when we arrived at the road, there was Ron with cold drinks and snacks. Also The Lorax was there. We had last seen him in SNP.. He had taken some time off the trail.Ironically at the next road were some more people setting up and providing Trail Magic in the form of cold drinks and sandwiches...Sometimes "when it rains, it pours"!We finally reached the Wolf Rocks. These were big slab rocks that we had to boulder hop to get through. The significance of these particular rocks is that this area is the southern limit of glaciation (as noted on the map). As we continue our trek north, we will begin to see the effects of the glaciers that covered the area eons ago.Maybe it was coincidence or glaciation, but after crawling off of Wolf Rocks, the trail got less rocky and the rocks were more rounded. This coupled with a long walk on an old fire road allowed us to make some good mileage.The attached picture is from an overlook we stopped at just before dropping off the ridge. The picture is of the Delaware River. It's the river that created the gap that is our destination for today. Ironically the freeway next to the river is I-80..the same freeway that runs near our home in California. This one of the few highways that goes from coast to coast.After the overlook the trail dropped steeply down to river level and to town of Delaware Water Gap. Apparently this area was developed later than some of the other gaps because it has such steep cliffs. When it did develop it was a retreat from the big cities with lots of big resorts. Now it is just a sleepy little town that we walked through. We finally arrived at our destination inn at 5:30pm...a 18+ mile day total.Animal sightings: Bear, Bear!! Just as we finished our climb out of Wind Gap a large bear crossed the trail about 30 feet in front of Spider. The unsettling part of this was that when the bear spotted us, it didn't run. It just continued to wander into the woods. Obviously this bear was not afraid of humans!!