DELAWARE WATER GAP, PA

Hi all from PA's last stand. I'm writing from my sister Kim and her husband Daryl's house a few miles from the trail, enjoying the first home cooking I've had in months. Lots of food to fatten up with and a little rest period while another heat wave rolls through - temps are supposed to get into the mid-90s today, with high humidity. Not the best weather for hiking, so Zen and Donny (two fellow thru-ers with me) are saying the word for today is "swimming." As in swimming in the Delaware River. The river flows parallel to the trail through the picturesque Delaware Water Gap National Rec. Area, the last of the Natl Park Service units we will travel thru on our way north. The federal government bought up the lands along the river in the 50s and 60s in anticipation of putting a large dam at the Water Gap, but 30 years of sustained opposition to the project finally caused it to be killed in 1992. As a result, the Delaware remains one of the largest undammed rivers in the US, and it is a pleasure to tube or canoe. Also interesting to know that I could just stay in a tube and eventually float to the riverfront parcel in my Philadelphia neighborhood of Fishtown, where various forces have been trying to put a giant slots casino before encountering similar public opposition. Hopefully it won't take 30 years to kill that bad idea. But I digress. Speaking of pleasures, its nice to have completed PA, one of the longer sections of the trail. I feel like I may have given it a bad rap in my previous post, but 140 miles of rocks can really get your anger up. I can say that the Superfund climb out of Palmerton was really "super-fun," with exposed rock climbs and views all around. Maybe they should allow zinc smelting along other parts of the trail to open it up a bit. So after swimming, we will continue across the river and into New Jersey, hoping to stay near Sunfish Pond tonight. This pond is the southernmost glacial pond on the trail, visibly marking where the trail enters the area once covered by an ice-sheet. From here on out, many ponds and lakes and marshes (and mosquitos) will greet us, and instead of cobbles and loose rock that the freeze-thaw cycle gives PA, sheets of rock to walk on and exposed roots to trip over. But most thru-hikers are looking forward to another milestone New Jersey represents: the deli-to-deli hike that occurs in New Jersey and New York, where lots of delis and other eateries exist near the trail. So, bring on the reubens!