Date: 2004-07-03
From: Wind Gap, PA (Gateway Motel)

To: Backpacker Campsite #2
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: clear sky

New JerseyMileage Countdown: -906.7After a fully satisfying nero day, I got back on the Trail before 7, not much later than my usual time. I was pointing toward a meal in town (Delaware Water Gap, PA) before before hiking on to my first night in NJ, at a backpacker campsite.A few hours out of Wind Gap I crossed PA 191, which leads to Bangor, PA. That is the first time I have heard that name in nearly 45 years. A college friend lived in that town, and I remember spending a very pleasant weekend there back in those days.But my stomach urged me on toward DWG. My friends from Star will be interested to know that just before the descent into the gap I came across a puddle that was full of tadpoles. But I had a previous commitment to go to a restaurant (see above), so I pushed on with hardly a pause. Makes one wonder who is in control here.I had hoped to get to Delaware Water Gap by 2:30, so I could eat and be on my way by 4. You see I have some tent issues, so didn't want to get to the campsite too late.But my schedule was not to be realized. It turns out that yesterday was Founder's Day, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the town. The streets of this fairly tiny town was full of people. Since the diner I wanted to eat at was at the other end of town, I had to negotiate my way through lots of people. And it seems that thru-hikers have some sort of celebrity status here. I was stopped and asked questions by 3 or 4 people.I even was stopped by one of the 30 living descendants of the founder (Pierre? duTot, from Paris via Haiti) who were in attendance here. He was out from New York with a full TV camera crew, interviewing other attendees, and in particular asking whether it was proper to honor someone who had owned slaves. I gave him some particularly witty responses, which most of you no doubt caught on today's evening news :-).After that, as I was rushing to try to get to the diner by 3, I ran into Koi, Timber, and Tumbleweed (of Hike Naked Day fame), along with Tumbleweed's grandmother, who were all staying in town. We chatted for about 15 minutes, but one obvious topic of conversation never came up.Just after leaving the town of DWG, I left PA. And I really let out a cheer as I crossed into NJ (No, it wasn't because I was finally through with the PA rocks. See below.). I have travelled with many people while in PA, but haven't acknowledged them fully in this journal.First, even before PA, thru much of the Shenandoah and MD, I often stayed with Boonie, Stretch, Mouse and Gaiter Woman (By 'travelled with', above, I don't generally mean walked with. Rather it more means 'stayed with at night'. In fact the only people I have really walked more than 5 minutes with on the Trail are Zuma, a ridgerunner in GA, Boonie, Gaiter Woman, Mouse and Cocoon.). I travelled with Sox, Tree Frog, AD and Fire Marshall from Alec Kennedy shelter to Duncannon, and with Blue Bell, Little Bit, Moonstone and Castro from Alec Kennedy to Port Clinton. Fire Marshall and Moonstone have gotten off the Trail, and the rest are somewhere close behind me, since they took more zero days (or drunk more beers) than I. From Port Clinton to DWG, I travelled with Chill Out, Chasky and Cocoon. Cocoon is probably ahead of me, Chill Out is with family in NJ for a few days, and Chasky is probably a few hours behind hiking with a friend who has joined him for a few days.My first impressions of NJ: Believe it or not, as soon as I got to NJ, the Trail flattened out! That is because the first mile + in NJ was the bridge across the Delaware and a service road along I-80 :-). But even after that, the climb out of the gap was on a smooth trail, with a minimum of rocks, and a tumbling brook alongside. The brook particularly was a pleasure, after all the nearly waterless days since Port Clinton.When I looked at the hike ahead from The Pinnacle a few days back, it looked like the mountains ended at Delaware Water Gap. That was just an optical illusion. When I looked across the gap at DWG, the NJ side was just as high as the PA side. It's just that the mountains change at that point from running ENE to running NNE, just enough of a bend so that the NJ ridge was hidden behind the PA ridge from the vantage point of the Pinnacle.At Trail Days I bought a new tent that is a full 2 lbs lighter than my old tent. Unlike my old tent, the new one doesn't hav a fly and doesn't have a built-in floor. It is essentially a big pastic tarp with a bivy sac for ground cover.I slept in the new tent one of my first nights back on the trail. I was not happy with it. When I used the bivy, my thermarest pad, along with my sleeping bag and me, kept trying to slide out from under the tarp. So I have been avoiding using the tent since then. Tonight I set it up in a more level place, and used my old tent footprint under the pad for a ground cover. It worked out quite well this time, and I expect I will be tenting more often from now on. However I must admit that I don't have full confidence in my present setup in case there is a heavy rain, which I will likely continue to avoid as long as possible (In any case, I will be switching back to my old tent when the weather cools, probably before the Whites.).Milestone: I have now completed 7 states (except for that niggling 16.4 mi in PA), which is half of the 14 states on the AT. NJ is the 8th state, the reason why I celebrated upon crossing into NJ.