Back to the Gap Again

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Hi Blog!

Our time here in Tobyhanna is coming to an end. We move back into the RV next week and head down to Virginia to spend some time with our son and his family. Before we leave the area, we wanted to join some of our friends from the Appalachian Mountain Club for one last hike.

Prior to hitting the road on our full-time RV adventure in 2012, we had been very active in the AMC, taking classes, leading hikes, hosting weekend get-a-ways and creating a hiking guide for the Mohican Outdoor Center, which sits on the Appalachian Trail in the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey. We had mapped over 23 different hikes in the Delaware Water Gap back in October 2009. When our friend Lennie suggested we do our last hike in the Gap, we were all-in.

We agreed to meet at the trailhead for the Mt. Tammany Red Dot Trail. Lennie suggested that Jim and Lynn (also friends from AMC) join us.  While not full-time RVers, they also travel and camp several months a year. We have been following their travels on Facebook, as they camped and paddled in Florida in many of the places we intend to visit this coming winter. We were also joined by Mark, who helps maintain the trails in Worthington State Forest, in this area. For Mark, this was a scouting and surveying expedition, but we were happy to come along for the ride.

Dave, Jim, Lynn, Mark, Kathy and Lennie

After months of our being flat-landers, it was interesting to actually have to hike uphill. All our hikes around Tobbyhanna Lake didn't prepare us for the steep steps needed to summit Mount Tammany. Kathy had to employ her "White Mountain grunt" on a few of those steps.

However, the views made it all worthwhile. That's the Delaware River behind us, making its way through the Delaware Water Gap.

We couldn't have asked for better weather! Just as we started the hike, the rain and clouds cleared out. The views were endless.

As we reached the summit, Kathy and Jim ventured out to the lookout.

Here, Mark pointed the the way as we reached the junction of the Pahaquarry and Blue Dot Trails. Mark and his crew will have their work cut out for them. There were several downed trees we had to clamber over. Mark noted each location. We actually help him push a fallen tree off the trail. We felt so virtuous!

We hiked part of the day along Dunnfield Creek. At one point, we had to cross the creek. Here is Kathy showing off. As luck would have it, she didn't fall in, but wouldn't that have been funny if she did!

One of the fun things about a hike along a creek, are all the waterfalls and the cascades just like this one.

While it had been years since we joined our AMC friends on a hike, we fell right back into the easy camraderie and shared enjoyment of the great outdoors.

Until our paths cross again, stay thirsty my friends.