Today's miles 16.7. AT miles 1289.6
Today we've been on the trail three months. We're still on target to finish in five months/20th Julyish, we're three fifths of the way in time and short just 20 miles/1 day in distance.
Another warm sunny day, we were hiking for 7am. We had just over a mile to descend to Wind Gap and then immediately ascend the other side. At the bottom of the climb though was some trail magic. Water, Guinness and a large cardboard box full of hiker goodies. Whoever left it, there was no name, knew what hikers needed. The box contained all sorts, soda, snacks, ramen, first aid items, hot chocolate. We took a can of soda and a honey bun each plus a tube of antibiotic ointment - we may need that one day.
The climb up from Wind Gap was fairly steep, but once up the trail stayed pretty level for the rest of the day. There were lots of rocks paving the trail today. We thought at one point they'd cleared but it was short lived. After about eight miles we reached Wolf Rocks. Other hikers had warned us about these rocks but they were actually the easiest out of all the rock fields. More like a cliff edge the large slabs of rock were quite easy to stride from one to the other, nicer than the small rocks on the trail. There was a bypass trail but if that was rocky like the rest of the trail, Wolf Rocks route would win in our book.
After Wolf Rocks the trail got easier and less rocky, although the ricks didn't disappear altogether, they did keep returning. A couple of miles after Wolf Rocks we stopped at Kirkridge Shelter for a break. From there it was a further five miles to Mount Minsi which seemed a popular local climb, we passed a few people out for the day. The descent from Mount Minsi was really nice, a little rocky in places but through pretty woods and rhododendron bushes. There was a lovely pond at the bottom.
We arrived in Delaware Water Gap about 2:15pm. A really attractive small town, lots of lovely old buildings and bus tours. We called in to the local outfitters, I got some Dirty Girl gaitors I'd been wanting to stop all the dust and leaves getting in my boots and Nigel got some new socks. I also got a lovely half price Outdoor Research top that'll be saved for wearing after the trail. Its very lightweight but will go in our bounce box. Our next stop was the Village Farmer and Apple Pie Bakery. They serve a famous Hotdog and Apple Pie special for $2.49, very nice. We also bought a couple of their Shepherds Pies to eat later. We bumped into 'Breeze', one of the Starsky and Hutch/118 118 hiker duo we met a few weeks ago, and Boston Chris who we'd not met before. We sat outside eating our hotdog and apple pie slice chatting to them for a while. Hopefully we'll see them on the trail tomorrow.
We wandered down the road a bit further to the Pocono Inn to get a room for the night, shower, laundry, food shop etc. usual town stuff.
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