Date: 2005-07-14
From: Leroy A. Smith Shelter

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: broken clouds

OK, so I lied. Lied about the 4 of us doing big miles. Once again, we pushed 20+ miles. That means that I have done 70 miles in three days and the girls have done 80 in four days. The day didn't start with the plan to go into DWG, at least for me, but Gypsy, Touk, and Sunshine were planning on it. I left camp camp around 6:00. I had five miles to do to get to Wind Gap where I was going to do a little resupply and maybe a laundry. I also wanted to just have a cup of coffee and relax a bit. I was moving along, dealing with the rocks, when I heard a voice say, "Hi Cuppa." I looked up, from my careful foot placement, and just about fell over in shock. It was Sunshine! She had gotten out of the shelter area before me! This is a surprising occurance because it is very rare that anyone else is awake when I get up. They all think I am crazy for getting up so early! She started laughing at the expression on my face and we started hiking. She had wanted to leave early so she could get to DWG early. As she put it, "Get me the hell out of PA!" At this time I still wasn't thinking about going in. I wanted to give my feet and legs a break. We got to Wind Gap around 8:00 and parted ways. I told her I would see her soon. I wandered into town, got my cup of coffee and just sat. I stayed at the diner for awhile working on my journal and drinking coffee. My feet were happy and I was happy. After I left there I went to the grocery store and resupplied a little. It was easier to do it here as opposed to DWG where you had to catch a shuttle to another town to get to the store. After stocking up I headed back toward the trail when I saw the laundry. I decided to stop and do mine. It doesn't really matter if I do it or not. My pack has a funk of its own and once I put it on it will stink up any clean clothes! That's OK, at least the illusion of cleanliness is there. As I was doing laundry I was thinking about what Sunshine had said about getting out of PA. The more I thought about the more I wanted the same so I decided to hike into DWG after all. 15 more miles to go. Off I went. Another thing I realized was that today was my four month anniversary. Four months on the trail and tomorrow, when I cross the bridge out of DWG I will be in New Jersey with a little less than 900 miles to go! Seven of those fifteen miles consisted of rocks. I cannot believe how much I have gotten to hate these rocks! My feet pray for just one little area where your foot will lay flat on the ground when you make a step. Mile after mile of contortionist movements take its toll on you. At least the last stretch into town was decent. Doesn't mean the rocks are over. I hear they go on for at least 10 miles into Jersey. Guess PA wanted to share the love with Jersey. I made it to the hostel, which is run by a local church, just in time to get a couple of hot dogs and a piece of cake. The crew was there as well as a lot of people I hadn't met yet. We did what we did every night, talk until dark and then head to bed. I wonder what has happened to Free. She was planning on hitting DWG on Friday, as I originally was, which meant she should have caught up. She may have changed her mind and kept going with Serenity and Poet. If I keep up the pace I am going I will be ahead of them by quite a bit. Hopefully they decide to kick it in gear also.