[at-l] HATT Hike

[greyowl@rcn.com (greyowl@rcn.com)]

WInd Gap to Delaware Water Gap

Ever since I fell and cracked a rib on the first HATT hike my wife insisted=
 that I hike with a partner.  I completed the AMC Hike Leader's Training th=
is spring so I listed the hikes as AMC hikes.  I had originallt scheduled t=
he hikes to fit the HATT Hike protocol.  Unfortunately there was no south b=
ounder to shake hands with and John O said he was going to bail out.  John =
did not realize that editing the Companion would consume every waking momen=
t of his day.

The hikers met at Wind Gap and shuttled to Fox Gap.  The group totaled seve=
n.  The weather was cool and the skies were sunny though clouds move in lat=
er in the day.  Ideal hiking weather.  he first 1.8 miles to Wolf's Rocks t=
ook approximately 40 minutes.  I pointed out to the gang the rock that I sl=
ipped on and the rock I fell against to crack my rib.  Niether rock looked =
all bigg.  Maybe the rocks erroded in the past two years.  We hand some pre=
tty decent views from the rocks.

In all my years as a member of the AMC I do not know remembera hike over th=
is section of the trail.  It soon became obvious why as there were no views=
 and a lot of rocks.  Three of us managed to cruise over the rocks but the =
other three did not do very well.  In fact one person did nothing but bitch=
 the rest of the hike.

The downhill into wind gap was pretty nasty, but we flew down as we could s=
mell the gas in the gas tanks of the cars.  We ended up doing 8.2 miles in =
3.5 hours of hiking.  Three southbounders passed us, but none seem to want =
to stop and talk.  I hope that they were not in a hurry to get to the post =
office, as it was already closed when they passed us.

The drought had greatly affected the foiliage.  Many leaves were on the gro=
und and the leaves on the trees were turning brown.  Obviously we are not g=
oing to have a lot of colour this fall. Rain, yes we had a little rain as w=
e drove back to Fox Gap to pick up cars.

Saturday evening I listened to three different weather forecast for Sunday.=
  The pessimistic forecast had rain starting Sunday morning and that was wh=
at it was doing when I woke up.  The drive to Delaware Water Gap was throug=
h rain.  There were several cars in the trailhead parking lot, but none of =
them belonged to AMC hikers.  In fact no one showed up.  I was a bit disapp=
ointed but by 10 am I had decided to call it quits.  I grabbed a water bott=
le and did an hour loop hike and headed home.  It was more important for me=
 to get my son off to college.  It rained all day.

Monday was colld and I thought about finishing the hike.  My daughter was d=
riving to Minnesota and I decide she was more important than the hike.  Aft=
er she left the sun came out and I ended up working in the yard.  I know, I=
 copped out but I did get to do things that were important to me; see my ch=
ildren off, work around the house, hike, and spend time with my non-hiking =
wife.

This weekend I am off to Connecticut to hike.  I will be hiking a section o=
f the At that wa not hiked last weekend.  A delayed HATT Hike?  A trip repo=
rt will be forth coming.

Bob Dudley
aka Grey Owl