Date: 2017-06-06
From: Wind Gap

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: light rain

I'd like to say last night's stay in the hotel was wonderful but the place was a real dump. Possibly, the worst I've ever stayed in. To make matters even worse, our "friend" Matador came to visit and brought a woman who he had only just met in the parking lot right behind him. It was immediately apparent this woman wasn't quite all there, possibly because of the glass of alcohol she was drinking from, possibly some other substance, or perhaps both. Now please don't misunderstand, Matador is naturally gregarious and he spoke to her briefly as he passed her in the parking lot. When she saw where he was headed, she followed along. She followed him right into our room. Matador then sat on the edge of the bed and enjoyed the ¢show¢. When he¢d had enough, he left leaving his new best buddy in our room with us.Upon entering the room, she immediately started telling us the room was haunted.  She said she used to live in the room before moving next door. There was a boarded-up hole in the wall where the closet used to be. She told us it was a ¢vortex to Hell¢. She informed us she had dealt with Gods and Devils in the past, and there was definitely a vortex behind the boards.  She told us she had once pried the old door open and looked down, down, down into the depths of Hell¢. She said she had even dumped two bottles if bleach into the hole to eradicate the demons. I was amazed, I had never known that common household bleach doubled as holy water! After moving her to another room, the management boarded up the opening again and continued to rent the room to unsuspecting hikers.As she was finishing her harrowing tale, I reached over and turned on the AC and we were immediately thrown into the dark. For just a moment I thought the vortex was opening. But she quickly explained the electric was haunted too and we needed to quickly plug something into an outlet on the other side of the room to save ourselves. I handed her my phone charger, she plugged it in, and to our surprise, the lights and A/C came back on. I had to use this life saving procedure twice more during the night---once at around midnight. Each time, I think I just barely stopped the vortex from opening (actually, the outlet had a short and wiggling it would cause it to work again, but she was convinced it was haunted).After such an exciting evening and a shower of only very hot water (wet down as quickly as possible, turn off the steaming water, soap up, and then rinse as quickly as possible), Beaker and I left the hotel at about 6:15 am. We weren't well rested but we were happy to get away unscathed.  After stopping at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and breakfast, a stop at a convenience store for snacks, and the 1.9 hike miles back to the trailhead, it was just after 7:30 when we started actually started hiking the trail for the day. As has most often been the case lately, it rained much of the day. We reached Delaware Water Gap just before 3 pm after completing approximately 15.5 miles of the trail.  Beaker then went off to spend the evening with his wife,.  After last night, I chose to spend the night in the Church of the Mountain Hostel.  Holy ground seemed the best way to go tonight!.Tonight, I'm safe, warm, and dry sleeping in a church. Tomorrow, I plan to do a zero here and resupply for the next leg of my adventure in New Jersey.  Pennsylvania is a beautiful place filled with incredibly nice people, but I'll be glad to leave it and the rocks behind. Goodnight from the Appalachian Trail.