Date: 2003-05-31
To: Delaware Water Gap/NYC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Life is really rough on the trail right now. This morning, I woke at 8:30 and had to force myself to lie in the Queen sized down-comforter-covered bed until 9 am. Then I had to take a bubble bath and hike .02 miles and a 30 foot descent down to the kitchen, where I had a cup of coffee and some butterscotch-chocolate confection and slaved away at the Arts section of the New York Times. Yeah, life is rough here at the Lewis residence on 5th Ave in the Big Apple. The BIG NEWS is that I have finished Pennsylvania! I almost cried coming into Delaware Water Gap. Okay, I did cry, but in a happy "the sun is out and the rocks are almost through and I am taking three zero days" sort of way. I realized as I was hiking the last mile that Passover was my last technical series of days of no hiking! For all AT hikers who are wondering about the PA rocks: they are really bad because you hear horror stories about the rocks, so when you hit the first wimpy rocky sections in southern PA you think to yourself, "so these are the rocks they were talking about. Ha! I could eat these rocks for breakfast." Then they get worse. The real deal is that you will not see anything unusual northbound until after Port Clinton. Then, there are some sections of rock scrambles, which continue sporadically until Wolf rocks.   The real killer is after Lehigh Gap (which is itself a really fun climb, unless it is storming). After a two-mile roadwalk, you enter a section where the trail is flat but with numerous sharp little rocks sticking up out of it that slow your pace and hurt your feet. I had a dream that Slatington was really called "Twisted Ankle, PA."   Though for me arch pain was the only injury sustained.yGear news! Getting new gear in NYC was a good call, because the good stores that really cater to hikers hadn't seen an in-progress thru-hiker and were impressed and incredibly helpful. Special thanks to Bobby at the Soho EMS and to Keith at Tent and Trails. Paragon in Union Square was where I finally got my Granite Gear Ozone, though they are not as knowledgeable. The manager, Bob, did let me trade in my flawed Gravity for store credit and thought that when my sister told him my trailname was Poptart becase I was "bright and perky in the morning," she had said "bright and horny in the morning." She told him he had selective hearing.The Ozone. Yes, I should commit to always carrying under 30 lbs (I think I am usually in the high 20's) and get the lighter Vapor Trail, but I think I will take the extra pound of weight for the better suspension. My only concern is that the Vapor Trail seems to streamline the contents of the pack up the back and to the head better; since the Ozone is bigger, you carry the load on your back and not up above your shoulders. I think I'll be okay, though :). OR also replaced my Wild Rose gaiters which were destroyed and EMS let me return the trail shoes I have put 600 miles on because one of them was falling apart. I felt I owed them one, so I upgraded to the Chameleon GTX. Honestly, I don't really need the Gore Tex but the way the venting system works on the other ones, you look at a puddle and your feet are soaked. So now I am in absolute heaven with so many people I love! I met Tania, my almost-20 sister, on Thursday in the City, went to stay with Aunt Bonnie and "Dr. Prof," my Uncle Russell, had great sushi, and then we all went out to Vietnamese last night with my roommates from college, Meredith "Berry" Osborn and Christina "Stinarama" Lewis and met the illustrious Emily "On Her Wei to Africa" Wei. I stayed up until 4am but still woke up early, and just had a fabulous breakfast of Earl Grey tea, fruit salad, pancakes, bacon and eggs. Since Stinarama and Berry are healthy eaters, I think Christina's cook Delia was very excited to have someone who would eat a healthy trucker serving!Signing out for now. Glad to hear Red's feet are healed and excited to meet Java and Dimples (and maybe Cannoli) to hike into NJ on Sunday! The Delaware Water Gap has a great bakery, by the way, where Cannoli and I ate an obscene amount of food, includind the $1.49 hot dog and apple pie special, free donuts, and devils cheesecake brownies discounted to 25 cents for three because we pointed out one of them was a little bit furry. Hope he had fun back in the sticks of Ithaka!