This will be my last entry for this hike. I got a good night’s sleep in the motel. I woke up this morning at 5:30 – no alarm necessary. I got up, consolidated my gear and packed up for the journey home. I then put on my boots and started walking for a local bagel shop about 3/4 mile away. This was first time I had done some walking WITHOUT my pack – how liberating. I feel like I could fly without the weight. I think my body is probably substantially lighter as well. I feel great. My feet are beginning to heal.

After having a lazy breakfast at the bagel store, I walked to Walmart – about another 1.5 miles – no problem. I picked up a pair of shoes, a shirt, a razor, some deodorant, and a lemon. I then went to the the Total Wine and Spirits across the road and picked up a small bottle of gin and some tonic. I hiked back to the hotel, gave myself a haircut and beard-cut (don’t tell Allyson), arranged for transportation to the bus terminal in the morning, and then mixed myself a few gin and tonics. I then retired to the motel lobby to write these journal entries with my third gin and tonic of the day – it’s great to be retired.

After I finish here, my plan is to walk about to a Japanese restaurant close to the Walmart to have an early dinner and then back to the motel for one last sleep before coming home. In the morning, I’ll take the Martz Bus into Manhattan, an Uber to LaGuardia, and the flight home.

I don’t have anything earth-shattering to say other than the experience met all of my expectations. My mind, body and spirit feel reset and refreshed. I have some bruises and bug-bites but am whole. I feel with a few more days of rest, I could go another month. But I miss my family. Today is my anniversary and so I called Allyson for a long talk. Hopefully, this weekend we’ll get to do something to celebrate.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. If you have followed my blog, bless you for your perseverance. Thank you. I’ll see you soon.

Woke up at the artesian water camp, ate breakfast, filtered some more of that beautiful water, packed up, and headed out. It was bittersweet packing up for the last time. I expected some rain today. The trail out was just as rocky as the previous days, but at this point, I didn’t care. Coming up were Wolf Rocks. There was a bypass trail marked on the map. The description said that “If you’re not sure of your abilities, you should take the bypass trail around Wolf Rocks because there are several steep four-point climbs.” At this point, I’m not skipping anything – I’ve come this far, I’ll figure it out. Just in case, I took my bear rope and attached it to the outside of my pack – something Allyson will tell you I never do. I don’t like anything hanging on the outside of my pack, but I thought I may need to get the rope quickly if I needed to lower my pack down a steep climb, or something like that.

The first mile of the trail was rocky leading up to Wolf Rocks which was a knife edge of rock very similar to what I encountered coming out of Duncannon, only not as bad. As usual, the reality of the situation was not a scary as the imagined. I was able to manage very well through several steep boulder descents and get down safely from Wolf Rocks.

Once down, the path notably softened to clear 100% path, level, peaceful, and green. It’s as if the mountain had finally given up trying to kill me. This pleasant trail lasted for about a mile, then some rocks returned, but nothing like the last week’s trail. I was able to complete the first 5 miles quickly. I bumped into Accountant whom I had met about a week earlier. There were several good vistas for the last half of the day. At least two miles were along an old logging road – level and smooth – thank you Jesus.

Once I began the descent into the Delaware Water Gap, the trail was very pleasant, steep in several places, but overall very pleasant hiking. There was a beautiful creek at about 500 ft. elevation with a waterfall tracing down into the Delaware river below. I encountered some young (20-something) Indian kids hiking up the trail in jeans and tennis shoes, each holding a bottle of PowerAid. “How old are you?” they asked. “57” I said. “Wow, we got to hand it to you for doing this at your age.” I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I had met half-a-dozen through-hikers twenty years older than me.

I finally made it down to the Delaware Water Gap, which is the name of a place and a town. I was shouted down by Dreamsicle and Lucky, who had somehow gotten behind me. We met up, and decided to go to a restaurant on Main Street in town. We were joined by Masters. We had a delightful lunch, and I learned that my first impression of Lucky was wrong. She had a Master’s degree in Parasitology and had worked in several specialty bars for some time. She was deeply knowledgeable about spirits and had a specialty in Absinthe. I took note of some spirits that she recommended. After lunch, I said my goodbyes and got an Uber to my motel which was located in Stroudsburg.

And so ends my hike. I’m ready to be home. I have tomorrow to here in Stroudsburg to rest, recover, repack, and get ready to travel. Friday, I’m taking the Martz Bus to Manhattan (Port Authority Bus Terminal) and then an Uber to LaGuardia for the flight home.

Today’s Mileage: 9.3

Total Trail Miles: 271.4

I’ll be honest. I’m noting this journal entry 2 days after the fact and I don’t remember the details of this day. I’ve learned over many years that if you don’t make an entry immediately at the end of the day, the details and lessons are lost. Perhaps this was meant to serve as a reminder to me to act quickly in the moment.

I do remember that the Leroy Smith Shelter turned out to be perfect. I arrived about 5pm. No one was there and I began to setup to stay in the shelter. About 5:30, a mother and daughter rolled in. They had come from Delaware Water Gap and were bragging that they had done 20 miles that day. They were also complaining about the rocky trail. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the entire journey south was worse than what they had probably come over. I asked them if they were planning on staying at the shelter and warned them that I snore. The mother responded that she snored as well and that they were so tired that it wouldn’t matter. One useful piece of information she gave me was that there was no water at the next shelter. This changed my plan for the next day, and I’m glad that she mentioned that otherwise I wouldn’t have had water the next day.

I consolidated my gear into a corner of the shelter to make room for them then got into my bag to give them some peace to get settled. I dozed and woke up about 45 minutes later. The mother and daughter were gone – I guess they thought spending the night in the shelter with a grizzled old man was too much of a risk.

I saw one more through-hiker come through about 7:30, but he decided to setup in tent nearby, so I had the shelter all to myself. I remember that this night was the best sleep I had over the entire trip. I had pleasant dreams and woke to the sound of the morning birds at 5:30. I got up and visited the privy for the first time. I was well maintained, no smell, and a pleasant experience in the cool morning air. I don’t mean to be graphic, but a well-maintained privy is a delight.

I got up and headed for the seasonal spring about 2 miles south of the next shelter. Reports were that water here was good. The day relatively uneventful. The trail was 90% rocky, 10% soft. But at this point, my feet were beyond sore – I moved slowly and made steady progress. By the time I got to the spring, it was about 4:30. There was one other through-hiker in a tent nearby. I setup my hammock and went to check out the water.

This water supply was the best of the entire trip – a two-foot deep pool about 6 meters in diameter with truly artesian water bubbling up from the bottom, then running down the mountain in a stream for as far as I could see. This was a real artesian source, cool, clear, absolutely sweet. I took some to filter and headed back to my camp about 50 meters uphill. By the time I got back, Fizz, the erstwhile through hiker that I first encountered at the Rausch Gap shelter was pulling in. I remarked that I thought he would be far ahead of me by now. He noted that he was having “foot and ass” problems and took a zero day in Palmerton.

So it seems that the tortoise always catches the hare. Perhaps I’m not as slow as I thought.

Today’s Mileage: 11.0

Total Trail Miles: 262.1