Delaware Water Gap 1296.9 to Backpacker Campsite 1301.7 (4.8 miles, 276.25 total miles)
I’m starting to believe the best nearos come the day after a zero. Last night, in my happy place aka my tent, with my earplugs in and my wool hat pulled over my eyes, I passed out like a light, full of pie and good hiker vibes.
I’d decided to hit the bakery with The Cult one more time in the morning before hiking out, so around 6:30 I got up and started breaking down camp. My tent was soaked, as I knew it would be, having camped in tall grass, which made things very dewy.
Jedi found me a sunny balcony spot to lay everything out, and I made sure Sandals was awake, as he’d asked me to do the night before, “even if he was grumpy”. As I suspected, once the tubing started, the drinking didn’t stop all night. I was glad I had stayed behind.
Jedi and a young woman hiker named Pesto, who I’d first met at the Ensign Cowall shelter, had also stayed in the shelter with Sandals and were up as well. As I was packing, Jedi said he had just found a tiny tick embedded in his leg and had taken it out. It was the smallest tick I’d ever seen.
We figured he must have gotten it sleeping in the shelter. That can happen, and is another reason I generally prefer my tent. The mice that run around the shelters can have ticks on them, and they can get onto hikers that way.
A couple minutes later, he found another tiny one embedded in his leg. We used my Gossamer Gear tick tool to remove it, and it did a nice job once we got over the learning curve.
When the bakery opened at 8, just about every hiker made their way down in waves to get some breakfast. Jedi and I spotted some amazing looking apple pastries that we found out were apple cinnamon buns with caramel topping. We decided to split one, since I had a little sugar overload from last night.
We ate that and I sipped my iced latte while we waited for our food. Sadly, I forgot to get a picture of it, but that apple cinnamon bun was a solid 10/10. We sat and talked with Cult members Neon, Piñata, Platinum, and Quarter Tank about ticks and Lyme disease, dead mice, frogs on the trail and other random conversation.
I then ate two hash browns and a bacon egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on sourdough bread, and I was stuffed full. I was only planning on doing about 10 miles to a campsite ahead, so when we walked back to the hostel, I decided I’d hang for a couple more hours to let my breakfast digest and enjoy the social scene a little longer.
The Cult did their best to corrupt me into staying for another zero in town. It was very tempting, I won’t lie, but the amount of money I’d spent on town food in the last day was dangerous, and I wanted to escape the town vortex. Some trail towns just have that effect, and Delaware Water Gap is so hiker friendly that it makes it very hard to leave.
I packed my Altras in my bag just in case the Brooks didn’t work out, which was a good suggestion from Jedi. I weighed my pack with food and water and it was 27 lbs. Not terrible, and the heavy water carries are over for a while as far as I know.
I hung out inside the hostel common area with the rest of the hikers for a while, until I reluctantly got my life together and said my goodbyes. It was 11:15 when I got back on the trail in town, and started walking.
There was about 1.5 miles of road walking to the mountain out of DWG, with a big highway bridge over the Delaware River to walk alongside for a while. It reminded me of the hike out of Duncannon, except this time the weather couldn’t have been more beautiful. It was warm and sunny, a high of 80 for the day, and I enjoyed the heat that didn’t seem to hold any humidity.
I reached the PA/NJ border a half mile into the day, and took a bad selfie with it, as semis drove by six feet away from me at highway speeds, shaking the bridge under my feet. My second complete state on the Appalachian Trail, including one of the longer ones, and 12 more left to go.
I walked through a couple parking areas, and was reminded that it was the weekend and people would be out on the trails. Finally, I reached the forest, and began a very gradual 3.5 mile ascent of 1,000 feet to the ridge.
It was a very nice trail, kind of gravel terrain at first, following a really pretty flowing creek to my right, with lots of little falls and rapids. I saw plenty of day hikers, and tried to suss out how my new shoes were feeling.
After about a half mile or a mile, I heard some rustling in the forest ahead and to my left. I thought it was my pack making noise at first, but stopped to be sure, and I still heard the sound.
I had a feeling of what I would see, I’d been hearing lately how notorious they are in New Jersey, and sure enough I saw a large black bear poking it’s way out of the woods.
He saw me, and I hurriedly took out my phone camera. Jedi had been taking about how on all three triple crown trails he still had yet to see a bear, and I had been in NJ for all of two miles and found one right away.
I recorded a video, and backed up while I did so, not sure if the bear was feeling like I was a threat or not. Ready to yell out if it got closer, I watched and recorded as it crossed the trail in front of me.
I noticed it was limping, and holding up one of its back legs. That made me sad, and I watched it amble off into the forest on the other side of the trail.
I saw two young women hiking in the other direction a little way ahead, and I told them about the bear, and asked if they see any of the park staff, that I had noticed earlier, on their way down if they could mention there is an injured bear. I wasn’t sure if they would do anything or help the bear, but at least figured I had tried to do something about it.
I passed a father and young son hiking in the same direction as me, and when I heard someone hiking behind me, I stopped to let them pass. To my surprise it wasn’t the father and son, it was a thru hiker I had seen at the hostel.
He is from MA and his trail name is Grinder. I’d say he’s in his 40s maybe, and has a big blonde beard. We talked for a few minutes, and he said he was trying to get to Great Barrington, which is a couple hundred miles up, to meet his daughter for Father’s Day.
I thought that was sweet, and we discussed escaping the town vortex, how easy it is to buy lots of expensive town food, and how mountains have a spiritual energy to them. It was a good chat, and after a few minutes I let him hike ahead, definitely faster than me.
I’d noticed the rocks were picking back up, and the Brooks weren’t really feeling much better than the Altras, honestly about the same except the heel is a little looser. I’ll give them time though, but I’ve heard there is about 30 miles of PA-type rocks in NJ, so my ankles don’t quite get the easy terrain they deserve yet.
Sandals texted me and asked if I was hiking, and said he’d stopped at the Backpacker’s Campsite for the night. That was 5 miles from town, and I was going to go 5 miles farther than that, but thought I might take a break there.
I chatted with a couple day hikers here and there, and made my way to the campsite. I saw Sandals relaxing in his tent, sunburned and hungover from the day before. We caught up on our time in town, and he said he saw a different bear in the woods earlier in the day, too.
While I was sitting with him, the absolutely gorgeous campsite was calling to me to stay for the rest of the day. It was around 2:00 or so, and Sandals had found a lovely, breezy spot at the top of the ridge.
What was more, was the site had two privies and bear boxes as well. I didn’t think anyone else was going to be staying at the campsite I was aiming for, and with there being so many bears around, I thought it would be nice to be around people and have a bear box to store my food. Plus, I had dug a lot of holes in PA, and being near a privy sounded great. Food just goes right through thru hikers, especially with how much we all eat and how protein and fiber dense much of it is.
I scoped out the map, and Sandals and I settled on a plan to hike the 20 miles to the first shelter of New Jersey tomorrow. We’d get up around 5am, and hike out at 6. That way there would be time for breaks on a big mile day. There are plenty of tent sites to bail out to, but I just like the idea of being near some shelter amenities again, and having a big mile day after taking it easy for two days.
The father and son arrived, and the dad came over to ask about the bear boxes, and I was happy to answer his questions. He had heard me talking to day hikers, saying I was almost 300 miles in, and he asked me a bit about my hike. It was his son’s first trip, who looked to be around 8 years old.
Andrew, the dad, said they were having a great time, and I absolutely loved seeing a young kid out here learning about backpacking. I hadn’t been exposed to it till I was an adult, so I love anytime I see kids getting to try it out and start early, and I always hope they will enjoy it as much as I do!
Sandals dozed off most of the afternoon, and I got to do some writing and reading, collected water, soaked my feet, and just got to enjoy the breezy, perfect weather day comfy in my tent with the rain fly off before it got dark. At dinner, I made chili ramen with jalapeño tuna, delicious and spicy.
Sandals got up around 7, when a sweet female ridge runner a little younger than me stopped by to say hi and see if we had any questions. Her name is Stretch, and we had a really nice time chatting with her. She’s hiked the Long Trail and 500 miles of the AT, and seems to really love the backpacking community. It was awesome meeting her.
I found out from Stretch that the bear I saw was most likely the bear that shut down the Brink Road Shelter recently. People had been talking about a bear that got into a tent in NJ on the trail for a few days. Apparently this bear had been hit by a car, got the shelter shut down, and now had gone 20 miles south and crossed the trail in front of me. How interesting, I had met the famous New Jersey bear.
This is my second nearo the day after my second zero, and I honestly thoroughly enjoyed it. I got some town and social time, but also some trail time, and saved money by not taking a double zero in town. I got a few more miles in, and got to rest up to get some miles in tomorrow. I felt perfectly content with life all day, and enjoyed the last couple days immensely. I watched the sunset over the ridge, listened to the music coming from the town below, and felt ready for a big day tomorrow.
