New York New YOOOORK!

I broke these up (I've heard these blogs are a little long lol), but I (Graveyard) haven't moved or taken a break, so I'm just going to keep prattling on if you don't mind:)

We got to Delaware Water Gap with 5 days left till my Long Island amigos came to meet up with us - and, as we had already picked the location (a nice, flat-looking stretch just inside NY complete with a water fall and a high point from which you could see the City), we had to hike 20 miles per day every day to kill New Jersey and get there in time. We made it 18.5 the first day, and hiking in NJ was suprisingly beautiful - we were up on a nice ridge. However, in that 130 mile jump east (the Trail swings east for that section, rather than north), the temperature had risen into the 90's, the humidity had grown 10000%, and the mosquitoes had multiplied into the thousands. It was pretty miserable. No matter how much bug spray you slathered on, the mosquitoes would hover inches away from you and the buzzing literally threatened to drive us INSANE!! That night I called my parents, and was quite happy to discover that they had a few days off and wanted to come visit since we were so close:D So, not only did we not have to hike 20 miles a day everyday to catch my friends, but we could escape to the comfort of a real, air-conditioned hotel! I was very happy to see them - this was the longest stretch I have gone in my entire life without seeing my parents! They dropped us off on the side of the road by an abandoned building in Bellvale, NY, where my friends were meeting us.

A few hours later, Jenna (aka Castro), Rachel (aka HardRock), Gail (Mansion), Pacik (Porta-Pond), and Tom (WoodStock) arrived in dress clothes totally unprepared for a hike! But, they were just messing with us lol. We camped behind the abandoned building, Jenna almost cried because of all the bugs but successfully managed not to, Gail successfully scared Jenna half to death, and we called it a somewhat early evening in preparation for the next days hike.

I'll note here that 4 of these people have never been hiking in their lives, let along backpacking. Gail and Tom were the only ones with real packs; the others had school bags. Gail had brought a giant tent fit for 4 people, which we were able to replace with a GoLite we found on the trail in PA. Rachel and Pacik brought only canned goods and the DintyMore microwaveable beef stew dinners. I asked what they were thinking with the microwaveable goods, especially since I had sent them an email containing detailed instructions on what to bring and what not to bring, and cans were definately on the NOT list, and Rachel blamed Pacik, and Pacik said he had a plan. Gail and Jenna brought p.b.&j. and a loaf of bread each and nothing else. And, now that I think about it, I have no idea what Tom ate. I went through the girls' packs and tossed the body spray and other assorted goods they wouldn't be needing - Pacik insisted he needed everything, including his giant knife for who knows what and other such just-in-case gear, and Tom... well... he's done this before, and he's a beast anyway, so I figured he'd chug along all right. We had a breakfast of dry cereal, or, in Pacik's case, a can of oranges and instant coffee, which he promptly threw back up. After he recovered, we set off into the woods.

Tom knew what he was in for... Gail and Jenna seemed to have expected to have their butts kicked... Pacik might have... Rachel, however, certainly did not. I guess she was expecting something along the lines of the nature walks on Long Island. In case you don't know, Long Island is essentially a sand bar, with no hills, let alone mountains. They all walk a lot - Pacik and Rachel just had jobs going door-to-door, requiring 8 or more miles a day. And though I had picked a flat looking section according to our elevation profile, our profile is not detailed enough to reveal, say, hundred or so foot climbs - it shows little bumps at around 200 ft climbs or more. So, we climbed up to the ridge line, not too slowly, but requiring many breaks, and I was quite happy to see that there was a very nice view at the top. The top was the kind of ridge that's made of rocks, meaning that instead of there being a "trail" in the traditional sense of the word, there's some huge boulders and a white blaze at the top of them. So we had to scramble up and over boulders, often climbing strait up for ~10 ft (enough to be scary, but not enough to die - unless you fall of the ridge to your death into the forsests on either side 50 ft below). I think that's when Rachel decided we are out of our minds, and that she was never backpacking with us again. Despite this, she bravely soldiered on to the shelter, 2 miles from where we started. Pacik, still feeling quesy, decided he would not be hiking to the waterfall (2 miles and 600 ft down from the shelter), and Rachel and Tom quickly agreed to stay at the shelter with him. Jenna and Gail decided to get a little more in, especially since we could leave our packs with the others. The hike down was kind of hilarious, because at every steep part they would both say something along the lines of "we are going to die on the way back". But, they made it safe and sound there and back again, and promptly passed out, waking up again a few hours later for more hang time.

Meanwhile, Pacik had constructed his Porta-Pond. Apparently, on an episode of Survivorman or Man vs. Wild he had seen the guy cook a meal in a pool of water using rocks he heated in a fire. He was hoping this would be a microwaveable enough kind of action to work. Well... it wasn't. But it was highly entertaining. They ended up heating their meals right next to the fire, as the rocks weren't heating the water nearly fast enough for their appetites.

The next day we walked back to the road, all escaped unharmed, and my shuttle back to the trail is leaving so peace and love to all:)