Date: 2008-07-05
From: Little Gap, PA

To: Tenting near Leroy A Smith Shelter, PA
Miles today: 10.8

I woke up about 5:40am and finished packing my stuff into my backpack.I walked over to the lobby and got some coffee, then sat out front with Smokestack till Mother Nature was ready to go out for breakfast.We headed up to the diner and I had an omelet with Swiss cheese, mushrooms and onions, homefries, bacon and rye toast...and more coffee. :-)We had to shuttle the cars around this morning. I thought we were taking one to Delaware Water Gap, but Smokestack said they decided to just take one to Wind Gap for now.I didn't need to carry so much food that way, so I took about half my food out of my pack and left it in the car.We dropped the truck off at Wind Gap, then drove back to Little Gap where we parked the car and took our packs and started walking north on the Appalachian Trail at 9:40am.We had about a 500 foot climb up a bunch of rocks. The rocks were still wet from all the rain we've had, so they were a little slippery.We misplaced the Trail for awhile, but eventually found it again. I think there is a key white blaze missing in those rocks....or maybe all three of us just missed it. :-)It's very wet walking through all the heavy green growth along the Trail in this area.I got ahead of Smokestack and Mother Nature, so I walk real slow hoping they'd catch up.I had only walked about 3 1/2 miles by noon, so I sat down on my backpack and ate lunch.I had tuna salad with crackers, diced peaches, nuts and Fritos. I wasn't too hungry because I've been eating pretty good since I caught up to Mother Nature and Smokestack. At least my ribs aren't showing as much now. ;-)I started writing my journal while I waited on them to show up. It was 55 minutes after I sat down that I heard their voices getting closer.Turns out they sat down and ate lunch too.I forgot to mention earlier that we ran into Newt, a nobo, when we dropped the truck off in Wind Gap. We talked to him a while. He was wearing knee braces and it looked like he was having some pain as he climbed away from us.Anyway....after Mother Nature and Smokestack caught up to me, we all walked on together.We passed by the side trail to Delps Spring without stopping.We came to another side trail. This one was for Stempa Spring and we didn't bother going the .6 miles to that one either.I had carried 3 liters of water out of Little Gap this morning just so I wouldn't have to walk half a mile downhill for water. It worked! I still had 1 1/2 liters left...plenty to get me to the truck tomorrow.We kept walking and I got a little ahead of them again. A car came by when I crossed Smith Gap Rd and it slowed down when the driver spotted me.He rolled down his window and asked if I had seen Stumpknocker.He knew it was me. :-)Turns out his name was Mechanical Man, and his wife, Crayon Lady and the Blurr...his son. His real name is John Stempa...Stempa Spring was named after him.Mechanical Man has been reading my journal and knew I was in the area.They had to leave, so we all said goodbye and walked on.We still had 3 1/2 miles to go before we got to the shelter area we planned on tenting near tonight.I got ahead again and got to the side trail to Leroy A Smith Shelter just after 4pm. I sat down on my pack and Mother Nature and Smokestack showed up about 15 minutes later.We all walked down to the shelter together. A loud thunder hit off in the distance while we were walking there.We got to the shelter and I started eating dinner. It started raining shortly after we arrived. We must have done something right! :-)It threatened rain all day, but held off till we were under cover eating. By the time I was done eating, the rain had stopped.Mother Nature was almost out of water when we got to the shelter and she stuck out some drip pans and caught about 1 1/2 liters of water for tomorrow. That saved a 1 mile round trip to the spring! :-)I headed on up to the tenting area because I wanted to get into my tent and lay down. I was getting sleepy after eating my dinner.There was a doe near there when I found a good flat spot. She watched me shake a couple trees to get the water out of them before I tied off the side wall pulls on my tent.I think she was wondering what the heck I was doing. :-)I got a call from Carlene because she wanted to tell me not to worry about my ol' buddy Chief when he goes up to VT to hike the Long Trail. She said she did her research well and found a motel 10 miles from the beginning of the Trail and she made reservations....not for my ol' buddy Chief, but for her!She plans on driving up to VT BEFORE Chief starts his hike just so she'll be close when my ol' buddy Chief calls her to come all the way from NC to pick him up because it's too warm or cold or sunny or rainy or hard on the Trail. He's a sorry excuse for a backpacker, but he's still my ol' buddy, so I was glad to hear she's got plans already to rescue the ol' boy when he dials. :-)I may have only walked 10.8 miles on the Trail today, but that's 10.8 mile farther than my ol' buddy Chief walked! :-)Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)