July 18

Water Gap

It started to rain a little bit last night.  Apache and I woke up and scurried to put up our rain flies.  Woke up this morning to a sunrise.  A really hot sunrise.  I couldn't sleep any longer since I was sweating.  It felt like someone had opened an oven door.  That was enough motivation for me.  I ate a honeybun quickly, downed a warm lemonade drink mix, packed up, and got to hiking.  I knew Delaware Water Gap, Pa. was only about 6 miles away, and so I just wanted to suck it up, deal with the heat, and get there ASAP.  I made it to Mt. Minsi and took a long break.  I was kind of surprised how long it took everyone to catch up to me.  The climb down from the mountain, into the gap, was really nice. There were a lot of hemlocks and rhododendrons.  The dense leaf cover provided a little bit of respite from the heat.  I soon came to a small break in the trees, and from the top of a rock I got my first view of Delaware Water Gap.  The Delaware River was several hundred feet below me.  The interstate mirrored the river's flow through the gap.  A similarly shaped peak to the mountain I was standing on, was just on the other side of the river, climbing out of the gap into New Jersey.  I can't wait to get to New Jersey!  Now there's something I thought I'd never hear anyone say.  I've heard the trail is surprisingly nice there though, and anything would be better than PA that's for sure.  We made it down the rest of the mountain, and into the quaint town.  The Presbyterian church has a free hiker hostel in the basement, so we stopped there.  There's tenting areas out back, and even a shelter.  There's also a bunk room inside, a living room area, bathroom, and the all important shower. They had an ice cold jug of water outside for hikers too.  Nice place.  There were already a bunch of other hikers there.  A trail angel named Guitar Man was there helping hikers out.  He told us about a coupon you could get for a hiker rate at a motel in town.  Apache, Rainbow Eyes, and I decided that some air conditioning sounded like a great idea.  $45 bucks split.  That's mad cheap for up north.  Good deal.  Took a shower.  Guitar Man took us to Walmart to resupply.  Glad to be in town.

Delaware Water Gap