Day 96: Pie vs. Cake

Hiked 20.2 miles, staying at Church of the Mountain Hostel.

Today I got up and out of camp well before anyone else.  Other than web walking all morning it was a really nice relaxed morning.  I had lots of time to make twenty miles.  There were not many views to speak of today so there wasn't much to slow me down.  The rocks made the day tougher for sure, but now that I have hiked all of Pennsylvania I can definitively say that the "horrible" rocks in this state are not as awful as they are built up to be.  I'm not saying it is easy, just that it is blown way out of proportion.

There was one big climb today as I descended into then climbed out of Wind Gap.  Wind Gap is supposed to have a bar in town that is supposed to be great and also allows you to tent out back.  This would have been cool if I'd hit the mileage right, ah well.  I ran into Bogie and Ledge about halfway through my day and hiked with them for the remainder.

Where I camped last night

Early morning view from a powerline road

Hahn's Overlook

9 AM photo

We hit trail magic at PA 191.  Someone had left bananas and water.  This was great because I could now fill up here for the remainder of the day, rather than having to hike to water at the shelter.  I stopped at the shelter for lunch but made it a very quick stop as it looked like rain was moving in.  The rain did hit, but no downpour, just drizzled for a good chunk of the afternoon.  Since it never came down hard I would say the rain was a welcome addition to my day as it drove away the heat and bugs momentarily.

The last part of the day was nice and easy as a lot of it was on an abandoned two-track road.  At the top of Mt. Minsi I got my first view of the Delaware River, the boundary between Pennsylvania and New Jersey!  The descent was rocky and steep in the beginning and we had to be careful because the rocks were slick from the rain.

View from Wolf Rocks

In summary Pennsylvania is either this...

...or this

View just after Kirkridge shelter

As we descended down to the river, as usual, talk turned to the food we were going to eat when we got there.  There is a bakery in town where you can get a hotdog and slice of pie for $2.50 and this was the clear choice.  Bogie then proposed the conundrum: if you could only have pie or cake for the rest of your life which would you choose?  What followed was the longest discussion I have ever had on the culinary aspects of cake and pie.  We were initially all in agreement that pie was the clear winner, until I pointed out that cheesecake fell into the cake category.  Boy did this throw a wrench in the spokes.  We never really came to an answer but we did go through and analyze just about every type of desert known to man.

When we got to town and got to the bakery we found that they had a solution to our cake vs. pie problem: Chocolate chip cream cheesecake pie.  Yes this actually exists, cheesecake on a pie crust, awesome.  We didn't try it as none of us wanted to buy and eat a whole pie, but it looked mighty scrumptious.  After two hotdogs and two slices of pie (pumpkin and apple), I headed to the hostel to check in.  

My first view of the Delaware River!  Taken from Lookout Rock

The other side of the Delaware Water Gap, climbs up pretty steeply

Rhododendron starting to bloom

Town of Delaware Water Gap

The hostel is cool.  It is in the basement of a Lutheran church and is donation based.  It consists of a bunkroom, bathroom and lounge.  It also has a shelter out back and tenting.  The bunkroom only has 8 bunks and I got the last one.  It is a full house tonight with people sleeping everywhere.  Still Don't, Muffins, Mr Dallas, Hotfoot, Good Sam, Slim Jim, Weasel, Skunkfoot, Shrek, Peepaw and BMW are all here along with some new faces including Chuckles, Jean Genie, Hammer and  Littlewing.  Why Not, Dip'n'sip, Brownie, Whistler and Newton are also in town but got a couple hotel rooms.

I briefly caught up with the latter group for a beer and some wings.  Tonight I bid farewell to all of them for a while.  They are all zeroing in town while I am moving out tomorrow.  My friend Kevin is spending the 4th with his parents in southern Connecticut and invited me to join him sitting by the pool for a day.  So I am hiking on to Port Jervis, NY which is the easiest place for him to come pick me up.  After that I plan on hiking a few days then taking the train into NYC for a day, so I may not catch back up with my friends until Connecticut, depending on their mileage.  It is hard to believe that I am only two states and 160 miles away from being back in New England again!