Days 86 and 87 – Little Gap (Blue Mountain Drive) to Kittatinny Visitor Center (NJ)

We finished up our slack packing adventures in PA over the last 2 days. This section is (PA SPOILER ALERT) pretty stinkin’ rocky! We hiked north on day 86 (Thursday July 10) from Little Gap to 33. This section starts with a small rocky climb up Little Gap and then flattens out. For the most part, it’s easy hiking under the canopy.

Green trail near Little Gap

Green trail near Little Gap

On day 87 (Friday July 11), we started out in NJ and hiked south towards 33 for the first time on our thru-hike. This was a pretty cool change, as we saw a whole bunch of north-bound thru-hikers, including some friends we hadn’t seen since back in Virginia. Additionally, the weather was quite nice for hiking. There are a couple of nice views out by the Delaware Water Gap area.

Delaware River and I-80

Delaware River and I-80

The rest of the hike was fairly uneventful and easy. Wolf rocks provides a few views to the Poconos in the north.

Views from Wolf Rocks

Views from Wolf Rocks

We are now done with all of PA after this completing this stretch. This was cause for much celebration.

We are now taking the weekend off to rest up, hang out with friends and family, and to re-jigger our mail drops. We’ve learned a good bit from our rookie mistakes about the logistics on how to re-supply from the first half of the trip, so it’s really nice and convenient to have the opportunity to do this.

We are heading back to Jersey on Monday morning to resume “real” backpacking. It’s going to take some readjustment to get used to carrying full pack weight and being stinky again after having the luxury of showers over the past few weeks!

Vital stats : 
Milestone – finished PA (7 states done, 7 to go), less than 900 miles left to Katahdin
Miles hiked – 32.3 over the 2 days
Mood – psyched to be done with PA, but bummed to have to start hiking away from everyone for the next ~2 months on Monday.
Smell – still showering on a daily basis while I can
Song stuck in my head – Sleep Better by Pete Yorn

2 thoughts on “Days 86 and 87 – Little Gap (Blue Mountain Drive) to Kittatinny Visitor Center (NJ)

  1. Joann Adams

    Glad you’ve had some time to refresh & rejuvenate — hope you’ll stay healthy for the rest
    of the Great Adventure! Looking forward to checking in on your blogs!

    Reply
  2. AL

    Be stinky but be safe! You guys are amazing to be able to get back into it after days of luxury! God bless you and keep you!

    Reply

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