Day 94 – Crossing the Delaware

Another early morning to get going, since we have a lot to do on the agenda today. Today we will hike to Delaware Water Gap in search of a hero and then cross into New Jersey and hike 1,300 miles!

Delaware Water Gap

We hit the road a little before 7am and had a rough start to the day. After a mile we reached Wolf Rocks, a run with good views to our left as we crossed them.

After that, the trail became gentler and we had a couple of miles of moderate cruising before reaching the next shelter. There, Shooter, Birdie and I took a break and drank some water before continuing. We had a few more trouble-free kilometers after that, which increased our optimism that the worst was behind us. I also encountered a snake during this time.

Unfortunately, a couple miles from Delaware Water Gap, we had a steep descent that was very rocky for about a mile, which slowed my pace and further aggravated my left ankle.

Slowly but surely, I passed through that section and emerged onto a road outside Delaware Water Gap. We all met up at Marty’s Yellow House, a hostel literally right down the road on the outskirts of town. There we did a sort of day pass that allowed us to charge our devices, shower, and do laundry.

It also gave us a place to leave our backpacks for the day. We arrived at the hostel around 11:30am and headed into town after showers and laundry started, all before 1pm We then headed into town and met up with Blueberry Turtle and Queso at the BBQ where we had lunch.

The food is pretty solid, I especially loved the lemonade and the Hush Puppies, probably the best Hush Puppies I’ve ever had! After a great meal there, we headed to the bakery down the street where my original intention was to buy a slice of cake, however, they had giant cookie sandwiches with cream filling that finally called my name and I gave in to the impulse. I also bought a cinnamon roll that I packed for tomorrow. I ate about half of the cookie sandwich outside the bakery while we tried to come up with a plan for the rest of the day. We finally landed and headed to the convenience store to do a mini resupply and then headed back to the hostel to get ready to leave town.

To New Jersey

Once back at the hostel, we changed into our hiking clothes and organized our bags before heading out. We hit the trail a little after 4 pm and walked through the Delaware Water Gap before reaching the bridge over the Delaware River, crossing into New Jersey! I don’t know anyone who was so excited about crossing the Delaware from Washington in 1776!

This marked the completion of my seventh state and the beginning of my eighth state on the road! After crossing the bridge, we walked along the road for a bit before re-emerging into the forest and starting to climb. We had a pretty decent climb, a little over a thousand feet in a couple of miles. Fortunately, most of it was on a fairly wide and smooth trail and alternated between some steep and flat sections. Halfway up the climb we officially reached 1300 miles of trail!

After reaching that milestone, it wasn’t long before the trail returned to Pennsylvania’s rocky roots. It’s not that bad, but it’s not what I expected either. This continued for a couple of miles and certainly peaked in rockiness along the edges of Sunfish Pond. But fortunately, I didn’t have much further to go during the day. We finished a little later, near a water source and some decent tent sites. It was a good thing we called it early, as the rains came shortly after I set up my tent.

Listening: Anything Bruce Springsteen

Day 94 Statistics:

16.3 miles

2,267′ ascent, 2,320′ descent

Hidden site to hidden site

2DSLC…

Stove use times: 14

Snakes seen on the trail: 18

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