Day 29: New Shoes and Poles

Summary

May 24th

Delaware Water Gap to Mohican Outdoor Center
NOBO mile #1304.4

Tolmann’s daily mileage 10.8

Tolmann’s total mileage 280.7
Last night I slept on one of the couches at the hostel, which was good and bad. It wasn’t quite long enough, so I never quite got comfortable, but it was nothing like the hard surfaces I’d slept on the previous two nights. I was generally happy with my choice. 

Today I had to try to solve my toe problem and collect my replacement trekking poles. I decided to go to the outfitters down the street from the hostel when they opened at 10am. In the meantime, Meeko and I went back to the Apple Pie Bakery for a breakfast sandwich and coffee. Part of the tramily was there as well, so we sat together, talking about given names for while. Then Meeko and I went to the Post Office to get my poles, since the tracking indicated they were “out for delivery”. The woman behind the counter (named Tammy) couldn’t find the box, so she checked the email I had. She interpreted the tracking info as saying that my package was in Stroudsburg, the next town over. She called over and arranged for someone at the other post office to bring it to our PO. Well, the long and short of it was that neither post office had the package, because I had a UPS tracking #. 

I had to wait until UPS dropped it off, and Tammy wasn’t sure when that might be. So I would have to stick around town until I got a call from Tammy telling me they had arrived. 

Meeko had spent enough time in town, by this point, and got back on the trail, along with the rest of the tramily that had yet to leave. After they left, I went to the outfitters to look for a size 14 boot/shoe. They had one brand and style of shoe in 14: an Oboz Traverse. After some wailing and gnashing of teeth, I ended getting them. Then I went back to the hostel, said goodbye to Tilly and Hops (they got Hops’ replacement pack first thing in the morning) as they left for a 4-10 mile trek into the wilds of New Jersey. 

I was wondering if I would be able to catch up…

I diddled around with my food bag and my pack, pulling out a few things I might send home with my boots. A section hiker was dropped off while I was waiting, and the shuttle driver drove of with the poor guy’s poles. I told him he could have my old one, since I expected a new set. 

Around 1:30, I got a call that my poles had arrived, so I ran down to the PO, packaged up my boots and my redundant water filter gear, then went back to do final packing, getting back on trail around 2:15. All I really expected to do was get far enough in to set up camp for the night. 

The forecast for tomorrow is rain, so I also wanted to find a fairly sheltered site.  

Crossing the bridge, I encountered the state line: two down!!  

The hike up out of the gap was not too bad, and I started to get a feel for my new shoes. It wasn’t like I didn’t feel the toe at all, but it did feel better. Also, the shoes are significantly lighter, and I was surprised at what a difference that made in the ascent. 

I foundthe trail in New Jersey to be mostly pleasant, but with a goodly amount of the sharks teeth rocks. I had some rock scrambles around Sunfish Pond. 

The new shoes are not quite as sturdy as my boots, so I’m feeling the trail more. 

After the pond the trail was more manageable. It followed the ridge, meandering up and down. There are a lot of wild blueberry bushes in flower along the trail; with some sun and warm temperatures, it’ll be a feast! 

Suddenly the view opened out around me. 360 degrees. It took my breath away.  All this time I had been looking at the available camping; there were two campsites around the pond where camping was restricted to just those sites, and then after that the restrictions were lifted. Along the ridge were several lovely spots, but I was concerned that with rain moving in that they were a little exposed. It was after 6, and I was feeling some pressure to decide on a site. Around this time, I kept meeting up with members of a group of teens, 8-10 at a time. The leader warned me that the group was 60 strong. This went on for some time, maybe an hour.

I looked at my map app frequently to check for marked tent sites, but wasn’t finding anything that worked for a hammock. Then I noticed that here was an AMC Campsite called Mohican Outdoor Center. It had tenting and bunks. I thought I might grab a bunk (to keep my gear dry another day) and it was less than a mile, so I went for it, even though it meant coming in around  a half hour before sunset.  

So I tooled along, feeling pretty tired, and finally, coming up the drive to the center, I saw Hops putting trash in the dumpster. So I had caught back up to them, though inadvertently. I also learned that Meeko had grabbed a bunk and was here, too. There was no staff on duty (they close the office/store at 5pm), so no bunk for me, but there was a decent campsite.

So I’m all set up, lying in my hammock, listening to the whippoorwills and airplanes. Tomorrow is rain, and 14 miles to the next shelter…