Saturday, July 25 8:02 pm 14.1 mi
AT 1281.9 Stealth Site → AT 1296.0 Delaware Water Gap/Stroudsburg Bridge View Hotel
Weather: Hot and sunny
Trail Conditions: Rocky and crowded – tons of people on climb down into town
My Condition: Excited to walk into a new state tomorrow and to spend the night in town tonight!
Early start – on trail before 8, done trekking by 1. Not sure if this area has a special event going on this weekend, if it’s normally busy, if it’s a tourist spot, or what, but we had a heck of a time finding a place, and the place we found was $140 plus we had to Uber to it, compared to the $50-80 hiker rates most places have had. But we all stink and really could use a town night, so we splurged a little. I made a much needed replacement of my shoes – pieces were flapping around and falling off, my tent stakes would pierce right through the bottom when I would push them (try to at least) into the ground. Definitely noticed the effects of the trail more prominently. Loved the Hoka Speedgoats overall, so I went with a fresh pair of those. Hopefully I’ll feel the difference! Ate a milkshake and Thai food. The Doordash people brought us the wrong order, but we ate it and it was one of the best meals I have had on trail which will forever haunt me because I’m not sure what we actually had so I can never order it again. Resupplying tomorrow at Walmart and walking across the toll bridge into New Jersey. Talked to a large group of day hikers about thru hiking. They were fascinated and at one point actually applauded for me! Also talked to a marathoner/ultra/triathloner at the shoe store, who was blown away by what I was doing, while I was blown away by what she did. We have both been following Mercury’s AT FKT attempt. I told her I had finished the 4 state challenge the same day she did 69 miles – mindblowing that she’s doing bigger days than my 4 state every day!
Post Trail Analysis
Delaware Water Gap is an interesting town. For whatever reason, every single hostel and hotel was completely booked up. Loud jazz music serenaded the streets as I walked down to the outfitter, only to walk right out as I saw how overpriced everything was. I walked across the street to the pizza parlor and picked up a 6 pack of PBR tall boys, and wandered back to the center of town. We grabbed milkshakes from the local ice cream parlor, and splitting our efforts must have called every single hotel in a 25 mile radius on our way back to the pizza parlor. When we finally found a place that would take us (as well as an arm and a leg extra), we enjoyed a celebratory beer on the patio as we waited for our Uber. Puddles and I had the perfect business idea for the perpetually indecisive. Picture this: you’re hungry, but you can’t decide what you want to eat. You call in to “Naan Of Your Business,” a restaurant that doesn’t even bother asking what you want to order. Instead, they send you a mystery order, similar to our Doordash experience. It’s guaranteed to be the best meal of your life because you have no idea what it is, and you’d never be able to order it for yourself from anywhere else! We watched Expedition Unknown in our mismatched hotel room, savoring not just the food but also the fact that we were about to be leaving Pennsylvania.
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