Day 14 - 15.8 miles - Delaware Water Gap, PA

To continue from yesterday . . . Shakin' got to the motel around 8:20pm for a total trip of 12 hours and 40 minutes.  The trek beat him up pretty good.  Nothing like a hot shower and an order of pizza to try to revive one's spirits.

Got a little later start (9am) this morning.  Shakin' was telling me his back was hurting him but to go ahead and meet at the first shelter.  Unfortunately, when I got to the first shelter (9.6 miles), Shakin' texted me to tell me he had only gone about 4 miles.  His back was hurting him so much he had to stop to camp for the day.  I decided to go ahead and make the push for the additional miles to the Delaware Water Gap.



Looking Down Into the Delware Water Gap

It was a hot, humid day.  I drained 72 ounces from the bladder along with additional water by the time I got to town.  That was with the temperature just in the mid eighties.  It's going to be harder as the temperatures continue to climb. 



I met another interesting trail character today - he goes by the trail name of Kentucky Geologist.  He is section hiking and slack packing.  He is with two other friends but he latched onto me as I passed him and we talked for the next 3 miles leaving his other friends in the dust!  He was quite the chatty traveler.  He has his doctorate in Geology, a master's degree in Physics and an Engineering degree.  Every summer for the last 5 years he has gone to China for the summer to teach English to high school students.  His conversation made the miles whiz by.  We parted company at a point where we took a break.

I then ran into four young hikers from University of Notre Dame.  They had placcards attached to their backpacks that were approximately 2 feet x 3 feet proclaiming that they were doing the whole AT to raise funds for a hospital in Tanzania.  Nice guys and committed to their cause.  I only had a brief moment to snap a picture since they were flying so fast.



Church of the Mountain Hiker Hostel



At the Water Gap, I'm enjoying the hospitality of the Church of the Mountain Hiker Hostel.  It was so nice to feel air conditioning when I walked into their Center.  I hope to get a good night's sleep, I've covered a lot of miles over the last two days.