Russell hikes the final segment of Pennsylvania’s A.T. and meets up with Jessie in Delaware Water Gap only to run into another issue.
July 17th-18th, 2026
A rather rocky section in Wind Gap.
People will have you think that from the moment you step foot into Pennsylvania, it is a rocky pit of hell. This is a falsity. In fact, I would venture to say that the first 150ish miles of this state is almost pure bliss. However this state still has a notorious reputation for grueling trail littered with rocks.
This means the last 75ish miles of this state’s trail has to be something so horrendous that it strikes fear into every thru-hiker. I had thought that the past few days were an atrocity, but the final 15 miles from Wind Gap have sealed this state into my mind for eternity.
Since we were starting the day in a hotel, and the previous night was by far our worst on trail, I wanted to take advantage of a late checkout. Me and Jessie laid in bed until about 10:00 AM, barely mustering the energy to pack up our belongings. She had a shuttle to catch at 11:00AM, and I had 15 miles to blast through before this godforsaken state was over.
We said our goodbyes to each other and then I went to go drop off the keys. Luckily the hotel manager was in and I was able to purchase some snacks, eat some wonderful croissants that she had made, and acquire some face masks in case the wildfire smoke turned sour again. (Thanks for everything Amena! Apologies if I spelled your name wrong!)
An example of the embedded pointy rocks that littered the trail. Perfect for tripping and stabbing.
I set off and started with a loud and stressful walk along the highway followed by a STEEP climb up a staircase of rocks. That’s ok, nothing I hadn’t done before on this trail. Then, there was what was on top of the ridge. The former sets of rocks in Pennsylvania at least gave the courtesy of allowing you to find a navigable route through them without injury. It would slow you down tremendously, but there was at least some clear path across.
There were thousands of the little devils. I did not enjoy a single part of this segment.
THESE rocks, were jagged in every direction, as abundant as mosquitos in the Everglades, and perfectly sized to roll your ankle with every step. I HATED these rocks with the core of my being. And they never seemed to stop for at least 5 miles straight.
It was almost more frustrating to see that the blue blaze was wonderfully smooth, running right next to the red line trail.
When I had finally reached the Wolf Rock section, I was so unbelievably over the prospect of walking on more rocks that I took a blue blaze to bypass the section and walked abandoned forest roads all the way to the next shelter. The trail had finally got so bad that I willingly took a blue blaze. Still walking all the way to Maine, but to remain a red-liner through that segment is superhuman.
To my overwhelming relief, the remainder of the trail after the shelter seemed to follow an old access road all the way into Delaware Water Gap. I could have cried profusely and kissed the hands of whoever made the decision to finally grant us some mercy.
For the first time in days, I had a nice and calm walk into town. Delaware Water Gap caught me by surprise in the sense that it was undeniably quaint. I met back up with Jessie who had already been hanging around town all day handling our resupply. We decided to stay at a hostel a local church put on. Rather than stay in the bunk room, which smelled of the feet of hundreds of hikers, we elected to pitch our tent on the gazebo. Frankly, I think it was the best spot in the place by far.
Our lodgings in town.
The traffic noise had died down after 10:00pm and the clock tower stopped chiming after 9:00pm. The town was quiet as could be, and I slept through the entire night for maybe the first time since starting the trail.
Jessie sitting in an Icecream parlor with the electricity out.
It was a very slow morning to get up, but the motivation of coffee and food got us moving. We elected to go to a coffee and ice cream parlor just down the street. It was hosted in a fabulous historical building with a constant stream of jazz classics playing in the background. We had a wonderful morning chatting with the staff and asking about the town.
Just as we were about to pay our check, we saw a flash of light. BOOM. Lightning had struck not too far away. The power was out instantaneously. We couldn’t believe that upon finally reaching a town and deciding to zero, a power outage would prevent us from doing our chores and eating all day.
We were told to hang out as long as we wanted until the power came back on. A few more folks that worked in the building had shown up to asses the situation, and we enjoyed conversations with them about the storms that hit on the Fourth of July. I suppose the area had been getting bombarded with storm after storm, power outage after power outage. It was just our luck to be in town for the most recent event.
Eventually we ended up scrounging together some cash to pay for our meal and went to see if any other restaurants were open. Luckily a few were running on generators and we were able to satisfy our hunger while the power was getting restored.
A pie shop that was able to boot up their register and keep the fridge running.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect as the town regained power just as we finished eating. Nothing more too exciting happened after that. Just laundry and resupply organizing.
Tomorrow we enter New Jersey, and I can only hope and pray that it treats us a little better than the tail end of Pennsylvania did. We need a little break.
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