Day 61 - Friday, August 12

Linda

Today was our all time record setting day! By the time the day was over, we felt like we could do almost anything! We were getting close to Delaware Water Gap, which was to be our next major stop. When we started out this morning we only intended to get within easy striking distance of the Water Gap for tomorrow. Or at least that's what I thought. In retrospect, I'm sure that Ronald had another plan altogether. After a few miles, Ronald suggested trying to get all the way there by tonight. That was 31 miles. At first I thought he was nuts - because we hadn't gone anywhere near that far to date. I told him I'd wait and see how I felt later in the day, but I never thought we could really do it. The trail was pretty rocky, but mostly level as it followed a ridge all the way. We stopped at a rare spring for lunch after almost 14 miles, and felt pretty good. We went on by Catfish Rocks Fire Tower, but it was so overcast we didn't bother to climb it. We stopped for a break around 4:00 and decided to go as far as Sunfish Pond at 26 miles, and make our decision. The trail continued to be rocky in places, but fairly level over Mt. Mohican.

Along the way we met a little girl sitting on a rock, all alone, trying to adjust a heavy pack, looking bewildered and miserable. We asked if she was okay, and she said that her group of 14 had gone ahead and she couldn't keep up, as she had hurt her ankle. We talked to her for a few minutes, and decided she wasn't in any danger. She was headed in the right direction and moving all right, so we went on the catch up with her group. This was a classic example of poor group leadership. There's no excuse for letting a 10 year old get so far behind with no one in a leadership position to follow up. When we caught them they were sitting around resting. We informed the leaders that they should send someone back, and said it was very irresponsible to let her get behind like that. Ronald really wanted to let the guy have a piece of his mind, but we were tactful. The head guy just said thank you, that they would take care of it, and that the girl was their slowest walker. He was so blasé, it was disgusting. All we could do was go on, but both of us were furious about his lack of concern.

A few minutes later we came to the famous Ed Garvey Memorial Spring that we'd been waiting to see. Took a picture of the rock and the spring, but there wasn't much else to it. The story, as Ed Garvey himself describes it in his book, was that while speaking at an ATC Meeting, he lamented his difficulty in finding water sources along some parts of the trail. A member, who happened to live in New Jersey was in attendance, and on his next trail maintenance trip, made it a point to mark a spring along his section of the Trail, so there would be no question of its location. He painted a sign in big blue letters on a rock next to the spring, proclaiming "E. Garvey - Spring ", meaning only to identify it for Ed Garvey, not to name it after him. I guess that's how legends are made, because before long, hikers were referring to it as the Ed Garvey Spring, and the name has stuck ever since.

We stopped there to snack and ponder about what to do It was 6:00, and we were 5.5 miles from the Gap. We were still feeling strong, so decided to go for it. We figured we'd get there around dark. The next stop was Sunfish Pond was beautiful, but there had been so much trouble with overuse, and a dispute with the power company, that now there's no camping or swimming allowed at the lake. We didn't stay very long. Most of the trail past the pond is downhill so we flew to the Interstate. The last mile or so across the Delaware River was right on I-80, which made me very nervous, being out at dusk with all the traffic whizzing by - but what else could we do but keep walking? The Delaware River is the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, so we could now add another state to our list of accomplishments.

As we were headed for the hostel at the Presbyterian Church of the Mountain, we met Doc and Peg Prior, a Northbound through hiking couple from North Dakota. They were staying at a hotel, so we said we'd go clean up, then meet them for dinner at the Omega Natural Food Restaurant. The hostel is very nice. It's in the basement of the church, and had one of my prerequisites for a four star rating - a great shower. Also, the church members have fixed the place up to be very homey and inviting. We finally got to meet Rand Elmquist also. He's a through hiker from Richmond who started at Katahdin two weeks ahead of us, but he has slowed down, and we've been just a day or two behind him for a couple weeks now. He's a nice kid, but very shy. He's a junior at the University of Virginia. He was just getting ready to go to bed when we came in, so we got settled and cleaned up quickly, then left to meet our new friends. After a bowl of chili and whole wheat toast and apple juice, we lingered around the Omega until midnight talking with Doc and Peg. They are a great couple, and we hit it off immediately. He's 57 and she's 42, and they have a veterinary practice in Devil's Lake North Dakota. They started in Georgia in March and hiked with some of the early crowd. They had to take off two months while Doc recovered from hernia surgery, so they were making up time now. We had a wonderful time exchanging stories, and I hated for the evening to end. We finally tore ourselves away, and went back to the church to fall into bed. The perfect end to what had turned out to be a great day.

Ron

Hiking began this morning around 7:00 after a semi restful night. After seven miles of easy hiking I asked Linda if she would like to attempt a super day. I thought it just might be possible to reach Delaware Water Gap tonight. She wasn't sure, but would at least keep the thought open. For some reason (probably the new shoes) I felt an exceptional amount of spring in my step. I was moving with great ease. The pack felt weightless and our pace kept up throughout the morning. By lunch we had covered 13 miles. Throughout the afternoon we fared well on the ridges. Occasionally the rocks were a mess, but we still managed to make good time. At about 20 miles we stopped to snack and replenish our energy reserves. It was 4:00 and we figured it would take a good two and a half hours to cover the six miles to Sun Fish Pond.

We kept up the pace, even though it was getting harder with the loose rocks. At the top of Mt. Mohican, we found a young girl on top all alone. With her sore feet and heavy pack, she could not keep up with her group. After determining that she would be okey, we took off down the mountain to catch up with her group. There was no reason for them to have left her behind, and I was pissed. We flew down the mountain and found her group a mile and a half later resting beside the trail. I informed the leader of the missing girl's condition and his irresponsible actions. There is just no excuse to leave her behind.

With my steam vented, we wandered down to the Edward Garvey Memorial Spring. Ed Garvey was AT hiker that wrote a book about his trip. He is somewhat of a joke on the trail because when he hiked he would contact the next town to have a reporter there to hear his story when he arrived. We replenished our water and debated if we should try to make the Gap. It was 6:00 and we had six more miles to go. We were a bit tired, but figured we could do it.

After threading our way through the rocks on the edge of a pond we flew. The rest of the trail down the mountain was on old rocky roads. We covered the last two miles to the parking lot of the Delaware Water Gap trail head in 25 minutes. From there it was just a mile and a half across the river to town.

There was still a little light left when we arrived at the hostel in a church. Just before we got here we met a couple of other through hikers, Doc and Peg Prior, and arranged to meet later at a health food restaurant. At the hostel we met Rand Elmquist. He was a Southbound hiker that we had been chasing for the last two months. He had started hiking with a friend Dave 13 days before us. Rand and Dave parted company and Dave is now a couple of days ahead of us. Linda took a quick shower and we headed off to eat. We ate supper and shared tall tales with Doc and Peg until midnight After exchanging addresses we agreed to meet them again in the morning.

(31 Miles - 870.5 Total)