7/19/12 – 1319 miles
I left Delaware Water Gap yesterday just before noon and walked about two miles through town, across the Delaware river, and entered the State of New Jersey. It seems unreal that I’m in my eighth state. Past thruhikers tell us that the state lines fall quickly for awhile and then we hit Maine, over 300 miles of rugged wilderness.
I hiked only 11 miles to a place called the Mohican Outdoor Center and decided to stay in the bunk house. A front was quickly approaching and the forecast was for severe thunderstorms in the night. As it turned out, we only had brief rain before dark and the rest of the night was clear. It felt like I had wasted money by staying in the lodge, but it was a great time with good people.
I was up early and hiked out before anyone else was awake. It rained for a while but at least the oppressive heat is gone. The rocks are starting to let up a little, too. We still have sections of jagged rocks but we are starting to see some dirt once in a while.
The rain makes the trail slippery and I took my time over the mountain tops. A couple of times I did some skating down the rock face of one particular bouldered slope. Eventually, I covered 21 miles and made it to Gren Anderson Shelter where I’m tented for the night. It looks like I will sleep to the sound of more rain on my roof tonight.
Hey now no skating on the trails.
I’m glad that you slowed down to only 21 miles for a day.