Date: 2004-08-21
From: Pennsylvania

To: Connecticut
Miles today: 0.0

Well I've fallen way behind in my entries and i'm not even going to try catching up on them this time. Right now Kiwi and i are in Pomfret, CT at my parents' house. Tomorrow we will return to the trail in Kent, CT. I'll make a few comments on the last few states.PennsylvaniaSoon after my last entry the infamous rocks of Pennsylvania began appearing, tearing up our feet in the process. The rock scramble out of Lehigh Gap is an interesting place. This old Zinc mining site is now a superfund site, bare of life and soil but abundant in odd smells. Gradually the vegetation began to reappear and Underhill and watched our first porcupine climb up into a tree. Many snakes inhabit the many rocks of PA. At a outcropping called the Pinnacle, we found seven copperheads. Timber Rattlers popped up regularly on the side of the trail. As we approached the Delaware Water Gap and the end of PA, many commented on their surprise to be excited to enter New Jersey.New JerseyNew Jersey quickly became a favorite state among many hikers. Our first day out of the Delaware Water Gap turned out to be one of the best to many of the hikers in our group. A front full of nice cool Canadian air moved in the day before providing us with great temps and some of the best visibility we've had on the entire hike. We were all very excited to have a glider buzz us (close to ten times) as we sat on top of the first NJ "summit." From there, Knuckles, Underhill, Swedish, Ottie, Kiwi, Char, and i hiked into the Mohican Outdoor Center where we found ourselves crashing a wedding. After setting up camp and eating dinner we wandered around to the other side of the pond where we had heard music and people. A wedding reception with a great bluegrass band and homebrew was in progress and we were glad to find out that we were invited (some even considered us celebrities). It was one of the best times had on the trail. A few slow days later we found ourselves in Vernon, a town i used to live in. We stayed in a great church hostel relaxing and watching movies. Snatchy and Monk were there, unfortunately due to an injury to Snatchy's leg. They had to return home but will be back to finish up at some point. On the second day in Vernon, Underhill's parents came into town to return Mika (Underhill's dog), and drove us all out to Campmor, a outfitting superstore. There i bought a tent to replace my hammock. I enjoyed using the hammock but miss being on solid ground, plus it's going to be getting cold at night soon.New YorkNew York was very wet. It was nice to be back in some older forests again, but apparently there was some hurricane that caused lots of precipitation to fall. The trails (and in some places the entire sides of mountains) turned into raging rivers. Though my feet regretted it at the end of the day, it was kind of fun to walk through all the rushing water.ConnecticutSo now i'm about 12 miles into Connecticut. Zinc and Kiwi came back to my parents' place where Kiwi and I have taken two zero days (i think they should be called power up days). Zinc left on a plane for his home and school this morning. He plans to return to finish the trail next summer. Kiwi and i have no good excuses and must finish up now. It's going to be difficult as i seem to have developed a weight problem. I purchased a new, larger pack to accommodate my cold weather gear. After filling it up with all of my gear, 5 or 6 days of food and 2 liters of water, the pack weighs 48 lbs, about twice as much as i have normally been carrying. At least i'll stay warm... Wait, it's August...