Smith Gap road to Wind Gap Miles hikes - 8.1 Today was the day. I hit the trail about 9am but there was alot of anxiety before that. I found out I forgot my tent stakes, spoon, and multi-tool. So frustrating. I googled nearby stores and found that Walmart had some stakes but not the Shepard hooks I like. I bought them and some snacks for the day. Once of the trail I felt a lot better. Months of looking forward to, and being nervous of, the trip was here. I took a picture of the first blaze, said goodbye to the parents and headed out. The trail was pretty foggy to start but cleared out by about 10. Initially I left the headphones in the pack and just listened to nature. It was sooting. Soon though a flood of memories came forth from last year and I missed the amazing times I had with Rage, Smack-dad and Judge. It was a little sad. Also I didn’t de anyone the whole day. Very odd for the peak bubble, supposedly. I did find it incredibly odd how New Hampshire and Maine last year morphed my perception of trail terrain. I vividly remember hating northern Pennsylvania because of the never-ending sharp rocks but today I didn’t mind it. Maine and New Hampshire also had their fair share of rocks and rough terrain. My feelings could be due to it being day one though. We’ll see because I know the rocks continue throughout New Jersey. I reached wind gap around 1:15pm and my parents picked me up. They helped me do laundry, buy food, and then we had dinner at a brewery we tried to go to the day before. Beer was god, food was meh. Overall the day went well, some emotion, not a lot of pain but also not a lot of miles. Looking forward to more miles and new experiences.
Today is the day. Well, the day before the day. My parents, Ellyn and I left around 8:30am from the house to embark on a 9-10 drive to Allentown. We have to pick up a car from the airport for Ellyn to drive to a survey tomorrow. While riding along I-80, I though about how much I love air conditioning and about how heavy a 30 lb backpack was. Is this trip really something I want to do? I’ve gotten too used to modern amenities again in the 10 months since summiting Katadin I briefly distracted myself re-subscribing my Garmin InReach just to get frustrated how the process seemed to change since last year; having to download a new app and “re-activate” my Garmin. It appears that now every time I un-subscribe my monthly plan, I have to pay $40 when I reactivate it. Thanks, Garmin. Just as I thought the drive was going to be boring, it got exciting. We got hit by a real nasty storm that turned a 1.5 hour drive into a 3 hour drive. We were able to eventually drive through the storm and get to Ellyn’s rental car. After picking up the rental car we drove to a restaurant in Easton/Nazareth by the hotel, Catty Corner Neighborhood pub, which had surprisingly really good food. After dinner w quickly unloaded all our stuff and went straight to bed. Before that thoguh I double checked I had everything and realized I had forgotten all about toilet paper! And also I couldn’t find my Danny pack. Hopefully it’s still in my parents car but that’s an adventure for tomorrow.
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