In the process of making dinner I managed to have my dinner explode allover my hands (burning the shit out of them) pants and boots forcing me to use a few wet wipes to clean up what I could and hang the rest of my dirty clothes with my bear bag until I could wash them properly.
I called it a night. crawling into my tent my hands still burning and feeling a bit low. I listened to my Ipod and let Bill Bryson read to me about Australia. I awoke to the sound of gunshots. The hunters were out early and in full force.
I packed up in a light rain and crossed a stream within the first hour of walking; replenishing my water supply. About a mile later I came to what I now refer to as "that fucking cliff". There was a white blaze on what was a nearly sheer cliff with a little slit in it. Think a low relief of Jabba the Hut with his mouth open and a white blaze where his eyes should be. Now I don't know if Jabba's mouth was meant to be a foot hold or a hand hold or what. What I do know is I am not going cliffhanging ala Stallone style with a 40 lb pack on. I tried an alternate route of giant boulders covered in slimy decaying mushrooms and that didn't work either. The thing that worried me was: say I did manage to get into Jabba's Palace without falling into the pit of carkoon what if once up there I found it even more difficult in the thick fog? What if rotting mushrooms covered every surface? What if there was a Rancor up there?
So I said fuck NY/NJ. Well... first I had an emotional meltdown. Then I said fuck NY/NJ. I called my Mom and she helped me find a Bus that would take me from Greenwood Lake To Delaware Water Gap, PA. I bushwhacked out to a road falling several times and eventually sneaking through someones back yard to a road.
I spent the night in a hotel the next day busing it to PA and one more night at a Days Inn getting everything dry again.
Thanksgiving day I hiked the 3.2 miles to Delaware Water Gap and then the other 6 or so to my first shelter. I shared the shelter with two other hikers Rainfly and Checkers. They tried to give me a very pretentious trail name that I refused to accept. We all chatted and slept. I hiked South in the morning and they hiked north.
The rocks here are crazy. The path is like walking on a perpetual stream bed but without the water softened rocks. Instead I picked my way across pointy rocks for hours at a time. I can't really tell you what PA looks like because my eyes never leave the trail.
I am in Palmerton PA today taking a zero day. My knees and ankles need a break and I needed a night indoors. I stayed in a free Hostel last night in the basement of the Borough Hall. I dried out my stuff in the boiler room, ate some Low Mein from a restaurant across the street, and took a shower that more resembled being scoured by a pressure washer(bliss). I was also able to do laundry, after 7 days it was very necessary to clean the sweat out of my clothes.
I resupplied, trading in my normal cracklin oat bran for a some pop tarts from the dollar store. I also switched up my tortillas for some ramen.
I'll try to stay in a sort of boarding room tonight and hike to a shelter just a mile or two up on the trail tomorrow if the weather is still a bit bad. Then I will continue on for 5 days to Port Clinton and 2-3 more to Pine Grove.
I have basically decided to stop when the weather gets too bad to keep going. It is possible that I may decide to leap farther south for a bit if PA gets hit hard. But we'll see. I will just let this hike go the way every day goes: I'll hike till I can't anymore and then I'll stop.
I'm not sure when I'll be able to get pictures up. The library hear doesn't have a card reader that works with my camera memory card. I suggest if you really need pics of PA you google them.
