Thursday, September 13

Another day with good cell reception so I was able to talk with Lyle several times.  The weather was great again but he was back into a lot of ups and downs.  Not the nice flat trail he had on Wednesday.  He gave a great deal of consideration to whether or not he should leave the trail to find a place to stay overnight and watch the Packers.  If you know Lyle you know he loves his Packers!  He came to a road crossing that was the best option as it lead to a town that has several places that cater to hikers.  He spoke to two women that were trying to catch a ride into town and they had been waiting for 45 minutes.  And it was a narrow 2-lane road so walking was a risk.  Lyle decided that as tempting as it was to find a tv to see the game he was really there to hike so on he went. 

He made 11.5 miles and reached the shelter with plenty of time to set up camp in the daylight.  He decided to set up his tent as Wednesday night he had a lot of mosquitos buzzing him in the shelter.  He ended up sleeping with his net on over his head as it was too late to set up his tent...it helped but the tent is a better option for an insect free night.

Scott and Now (spelling?) caught up to him again this evening.  They are getting to know each other as they end up at the same shelters each evening.  Scott spent 3 years in Japan for work and met Now and they have stayed in contact with each other ever since.  While Scott was in Japan they spent a great deal of time hiking the mountains in Japan and when Now came to the US for a visit, he wanted to hike some of the AT.  So as luck would have it they came on to the trail in Delaware Water Gap too.  They are hiking through NY so Lyle will have their company for another week to 10 days.  There are also a fair number of hikers each night at each shelter so I think the evenings alone at a shelter should be few this section.  Last night there was a hiker that hung his hamock and fell to sleep right away.

Lyle said it was a tough day for him too...he sounded tired.  He kept his phone on long enough for me to give him the first scoring update early in the second quarter of the game and then we said good night.  He'll be thrilled to get the final score update this morning.