Rained out

May 13-14, 2025

Stroudsburg, near Wind Gap PA

Mile 1274

Our hostel hostess, trail name Mary Poppins, had several different dropoff locations for us all, so we’d agreed to be ready to go at the same time to lighten the load. In truth, I would have preferred to get an earlier start, though, since I had hopes of doing big miles today. I was taking a pass on the difficult climb over Lehigh Gap, which would have been a challenge even if it weren’t raining. Even so, it would be just over 15 miles to Wind Gap, and I’d never gone that far in a day before. As usual, I had some earlier milestones ready as bailout points, just in case.

I had a heavier pack than usual, too, because I was carrying an extra 1.5 liters of water. This area has no on-trail water, and since most of it is a ridge walk, going off-trail to the few springs that do exist involve longer and steeper downhills. Volunteers in these last miles have been leaving caches of water at key intersections, which is awesome, but as Mary Poppins reminded me, there would be no guarantees, so I loaded up.

comments on FarOut help you know when caches are available and/or how much water might be left. Today, the cache was close to my starting place, and so more helpful for other hikers than for me

Whether it was the heavier pack, the rain slowing me down, or just being more tired than I expected, I was just not making good time today.

I kept expecting some of the other hikers from the hostel to pass me, but they didn’t until mid-afternoon; Lehigh Gap must have really slowed them down. I did run into Ezra, to my surprise and delight—he was back on trail after his interview and hoping to stay at the upcoming shelter.

The terrain was okay, and the weather was not the river-like trail or constant downpour of the last time.

The new rain jacket was more effective, but even so I was still thoroughly damp and starting to shiver by the time I reached my first bailout milestone at mile 8. This milestone would be my only chance to get off trail, if I intended to do it, but I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. Things were better than they’d been last time this happened, but if I was already shivering while moving, it was unlikely to improve once I stopped. I dithered at the milestone for a bit. Was I letting my last brush with hypothermia cloud my judgement? Was I just running from the rain? Was it better to be safe than sorry?

In the end, I called for a shuttle to pick me up. Then, I called the motel at Wind Gap—and there was only one, to my vague surprise—but they were full up. Looks like I wasn’t the only hiker trying to come in from the rain. It was a bummer, but the knowledge did reassure me a bit that my choice to get off trail again was a sound one.

I ended up going a fair bit off trail to a Holiday Inn. It’s been hostel city with me since the end of last week, so I’m still feeling a bit conflicted, but in all truth I’ve got no real regrets about being here. Even in the hotel, it took some time to stop feeling cold to the bone. I need to give some serious time and thought to revising and improving my rain setup if the weather continues like this.