delaware water gap to brink road shelter

rocket and i got up early as we had a 25 mile day ahead of us. we had both got small pies from the bakery for breakfast, strawberry rhubarb for me and peach for rocket.

we were on trail by 06:15. and hiking across the bridge to new jersey within a few minutes. the traffic was deafeningly loud and when large trucks flew by, the bridge shook enough to effect my gait.

from there we entered new jersey forest and i’m happy to report that for the most part, the pennsylvania rocks are gone. unfortunately the new jersey trails are not particularly well maintained. we started off on a very wide path, i assume because it was near a parking lot, but it had essentially no water bars, so with the rain from last night it was just a stream. i tried to keep my feet dry, but it was futile. i ended up giving up and walking in the water. immediately my pace improved significantly.

once i got to the ridge, the trail narrowed, bit this too was problematic as the plants on the side of the trail were very overgrown, so wet foliage was soaking me. there were also some places i had to come to a complete stop to execute some crazy maneuvers to avoid a sea of poison ivy growing over the trail.

despite all this, i set out this morning to leave my recent negativity behind in pennsylvania, and i’m happy to report a good day hiking. it even rained and i didn’t allow it to bother me. rocket however had a rough day. i had mentioned to him on the way to the bridge that i hadn’t been enjoying the trail the last few days and he agreed, referring to it as a grind.

i passed a lake that had a ton of bullfrogs thrumming, and a sound i’d never heard before which another hiker, trillium, told me was also bullfrogs. it sounded like the sound a donkey makes at the beginning of it’s bray.

i stopped at a road crossing for a snack and rocket showed up. he was definitely having a bad day. the rocks were so incredibly slippery and it was taking it’s toll on him.

from there, the rest of the day was quiet moving. i stopped at an overlook for lunch. the clouds lifted enough to see the lake below, and even though i was facing east, there were trees as far as the eye could see. my experience with new jersey is generally the i95 corridor, that magz and i refer to as mordor.

as i finished my lunch, an entire school of kids showed up, and literally sat all around me! there must have been 50 kids and 10 adults. i packed up and made a hasty exit.

the afternoon was more of the same. there was some rain which reflooded the trails and turned them back into creeks. i carried on until i reached the shelter around 16:00. a few older section hikers were already there.

around 16:20 rocket rolled in. he had fallen more today than in the last 1300 miles and had broken a trekking pole so badly that the point and bottom third of one had flown into the woods and couldn’t be found. oof.

after we were all in bed, mixed up rolled in. he had taken some time off to visit family in the area.

some additional images from today: