Greg, Mario, Vladimir, Dijana and I planned to camp at Delaware Water Gap on Oct 13 and 14 to catch the colors of falls. However, Vladimir and Dijana backed out and left three of us. On Friday (Oct 12), Greg and I went food shopping for the trip and drove up to Pennsylvania to spend a night over at Mario's.
Early next morning, we set off towards our destination. Along the way, we missed our exit while Mario was navigating and we had to drive for another 20-odd miles before the next exit. At the next exit, I suggested to Greg that we stopped and asked for directions but he refused.
He said, "I know my direction."
He made a U-turn to head towards the missed exit. After looking up on the map of Pennsylvania, I told Greg, "Actually, you could have continue on route 209 East and it would still lead us to our destination."
We arrived at Kittatinny Point Visitor Center in New Jersey and started to determine how much food we wanted to bring. On hindsight, we brought too much food for just two days and one night shared among three persons. There were coleslaw, beans, mashed potato salad, 3 cans of Campbell soup, muffins, cereal, roasted beef, turkey breast, hot dogs, hot dog buns, yogurt, one loaf of bread, half a gallon each of apple cider and milk, and water. Greg and I carried most of the stuffs while Mario's was the lightest since his bag was smaller. We stopped by the visitor center to get some maps and were told by a staff that we could only camp at specified campsites and not along the trail.
We marched north along the Appalachian Trail towards Backpacker Site 2, ascending 700 ft (213 m) in 2 miles (3.2 km). We switched backpacks along the way to share the heavy load. The trail was very rocky and I was wearing sneakers, not ideal for hiking. We had lunch at some place which looked like a campsite but did not know that it was actually Backpacker Site 2 since there was no mention of it on the notice board put up. We only realized that after we had reached Sunfish Pond which was another 1.7 miles and 300 ft climb with our heavy backpacks and saw a signboard that had a trail map.
We backtracked towards the campsite and set up two tents. Greg thought of letting me sleep in one tent while he would share with Mario. As the night temperature would drop to freezing point, I suggested that we slept in one tent instead where three body heat would warm up the tent. I learnt some cold surviving tips after reading Mike Horn's conquest of the Arctic Circle where he survived in extreme cold.
Thereafter, we hiked back to Sunfish Pond and walked around it. The pond was formed by glacial eons ago. Along the way, we passed by a group of scouts where one complained, "Rocks, rocks, rocks everywhere." I could empathize with him because my soles were hurting now.
As night fell early, we ate dinner around 5pm and cleaned up the area since there were bears which would be lured by smell of food. Metal boxes and a pole with hooks were available to store food. The trunks of two trees supporting the pole were covered with metal sheets to prevent bears from climbing. Hooking and unhooking bags of food and garbage high up were a challenge.
Since no camp fire was allowed, I turned in early around 7pm after a long day of hiking. In the middle of the night, I went out to answer nature's call and saw the starlit night. It was beautiful but I had to go inside the tent after a while for it was cold.
The next morning, we packed and headed towards the Red Dot Trail. Greg warned us that it would be arduous . The trail would rise rapidly in elevation and involved hiking over large boulders but "it would be worth it" (quoting him) where we would have an excellent view of Delaware River. My left knee was hurting and I was lifting my left leg by pulling my pants with every climb I made.
After climbing 1549 ft (472 m), we reached the summit of Mt Tammany. The view was magnificent. You could see areas of trees extending towards the horizon and the Delaware River meandering through the land. We had lunch at the Indian Head scenic view which was a rocky outcrop that dropped nearly straight down. I had included my feet in the photos to demonstrate it. Vehicles traveling along I-80 looked like small model vehicles. The wind felt good and there were vultures soaring in the sky. A couple even sat near the precipice to admire the scenery (what a romantic guy he was).
As we hiked down, both my knees were complaining at the steep descend and rocky trail. I overheard one woman complaining to her companion that this was not a staircase while she climbed timber-and-rock stairs. Her companion replied,"This is a natural staircase." I was laughing inside.
This trip would have been better if the trees were all red and yellow.
Delaware Water Gap photos.
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