Appalachian Trail – Delaware Water Gap to Bake Oven Knob, PA – August 27-30, 2016 – 45.1 miles

Up until this trip, I have everything on the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain, GA to the MD/PA line done. Now to tackle the horrendously rocky state of PA.

It does not have a very good reputation on the Trail over all. It is known for not only it’s rocks but it’s “Volkswagon size boulders.” It’s reputation did not lie!

I started on Sat., Aug. 27th about 2:00 p.m. at Delaware Water Gap — actually I walked across the bridge and actually stepped into N.J. and then back into PA – being the purist you want to make sure you do it right! Then I started my hike south.

Proof I was there!

I did not get to spend any time in this neat looking little Trail town — but I will be back when I start NJ.

And the climbing begins — looking down into the Delaware River.

My first view for the day.

Continuing to climb — a lot of traffic noise going into NJ, I couldn’t wait to get away from all of that!

And who says the Trail in PA is dry?! Ha! It really WAS dry unfortunately. About every other shelter had water and then it was a 1/2 mile hike DOWN and of course 1/2 mile back up just for water. As a result I had to carry a lot more water, which translates into a lot more weight in my pack. Not to mention it was pretty hot.

Now this is a little more like it! Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all?!

Only hiked 6.5 miles in the first day and this was my decided stopping point for the night — a wonderful field over looking a pretty farm valley down below. There were 4 other hikers here as well — all real nice. This was just north of Kirkridge Shelter, which actually had true running water from a faucet and was an easy couple tenths of mile walk from my tent site. I actually got to sleep in my hammock this night — “cowboy camped” under the stars — no tarp — what an awesome free feeling that is!

And THIS was my morning view from my hammock the next day! Life is (well, WAS!) good!

LIttle did I know I had THIS in store for me a few miles down the Trail — Wolf Rocks. This is actually steeper than it looks — ALMOST had to be on all fours — in fact a few times I was.

Top of Wolf Rocks

And THIS my Friends was the “norm” for the next 2 days — makes for slow going not to mention sore on the feet.

And here is some more of it. I ended up hiking approx. 17.5 miles the 2nd day. After reaching Leroy Smith Shelter and hiking down 1/2 mile for water and back up I decided to push on for another hour or so, 2.5 miles back to Smith Gap where my shuttle driver picked me and took me back to their house where I got a warm shower and tented in the yard for the night. I knew the next day was going to be a challenging one for me — climbing (literally) up Lehigh Gap

Day 3: I was shuttled to the bottom of Lehigh Gap where I would slack pack (not having to carry my major gear like tent & sleeping bag and only carrying lunch and a LOT of water as well as some other basic essentials) for the day. I actually sent out prayer requests by text to some friends, I was REALLY, REALLY scared to be doing this. When you see the next pictures you’ll know why! But just as I started my ascent the Lord showed me this flower and reminded me that He was with me. He then showed me a little airport off in the distance to remind me that my Dad was looking out for me too and then showed me a rock in the shape of a heart which reminded me that my Mom was interceding for me as well!

This my Friends is what I just climbed UP!!! On all fours of course. THIS is why I was really, really scared!

Continuing to climb up, thinking it was done, but no….

…there was more…

… and more. Then….

…I had to climb DOWN the other side! See the picture of the flag painted?…

…I’m continuing to climb down…

…and there is the flag again — THAT is what I had to climb down! Uggghh — would this ever end?

No, apparently NOT! This was about a one mile stretch and it took me about an hour to climb.

But finally some relief and normalacy!

This is looking down into the town of Palmerton, PA.

Now this is what I’m talking about!! The next 3+ miles was this pleasant, flat, wonderful cool breeze, no rocks part of the Trail! Why couldn’t it ALL be like this?!!

Another flower from Jesus!

More boulder fields.

This guy was a pretty good size. I saw another one the next day that was even thicker in girth and it was actually “rattling” it’s tail! But it was one of these black snakes — it was even starting to coil up, quite active! If I didn’t know better I would have thought it was a cross between a rattler and a black snake the way it was acting — never saw a black snake do that before.

I stopped for lunch at the bottom of Little Gap Rd. I was sitting on a log eating lunch and turned around and saw this little fella! Apparently a homing pigeon of some kind — it had 2 bands around it’s legs.

The rest of my hike this day was really quite pleasant — had another boulder field to climb up out of LIttle Gap but it didn’t put me on all fours! I even got to see a deer — just standing there looking at my while I took her picture! I ended this day by hiking 12 miles north from Lehigh Gap back to Smith Gap and the shuttle driver’s place where I tented once again in the yard. This day was my easiest day as well as most challenging.

Day 4: Was shuttled once again back to Lehigh Gap and this time I continued my hike south. The plan was tentative with several options of places to stop for the night. The decisions all revolved around how much ground I could cover in an hour and where were the water sources. I again had my full pack with tons of water, probably about 35 lbs. total. It started off pretty good for about the first 5 miles, conditions weren’t too bad and the Trail went through woods as well as exposed ridge lines.

Blue skes and white puffy clouds always cheer up my spirit.

But not when it is combined with yet another boulder field! This was the last picture I took this trip. The Trail continued on until I decided to stop at Bake Oven Knob shelter. The Trail became so miserable from this point on — lots of boulders to hike over, lots of pointed rocks otherwise. My feet were starting to scream at me and I was no longer having fun! In fact I was miserable! At fiirst I thought I would stay at the shelter for the night, which was not very inviting. But as I looked at the map and realized that there was a parkig lot just one mile away, I decided to call it quits. I called the shuttle driver once again! And had him pick me up. Little did I know that that one mile to the parking lot was one of the worst unexpected parts of the Trail so far — ANOTHER boulder field that I had to once again get on all fours to climb! But this time I had a fully loaded pack on my back! NOT fun! So instead of doing 8 days I only did 4 days on the Trail. I will have to rethink how I will tackle the rest of the northern half of PA — possibly no more than 2-3 days at a time. The problem is it is a 9+ hour drive away from home. Maybe on my infrequent trips to visit my family in western PA I will swing over to central PA and hike a few days. Eventually I will get it done — in bite size pieces! In the meantime I will continue to hike the Trail north. So only a total of 45 miles was accomplished this trip, but that is 45 miles less of rocky PA that I have to now do! Plus I DID get Lehigh Gap out of the way! I was beating myself up for bailing out but as I drove I-81 home to NC I looked at the Blue Ridge Mountains that ran parallel with the highway, and I thought of how many trips I have made up that highway just to hike the AT and it caused me think about all of the many miles I HAVE hiked so far on this beautiful and yet sometimes unfriendly trail called the Appalachian Trail. I WILL finish it all some day. Until next time, “Kool 91”

I decided to take 8 days and start in the northern part of the state first — what is supposed to be the worst part of PA — get it out of the way!