HIKE: delaware water gap to wind gap, pa

three of my friends are registered for the tough mudder bear creek, pa event on april 9.  im into it.  i wish i signed up with them to do it honestly.  the thing about me is, im all about challenges, because i just do things.  sometimes i pack a bag and walk in the mountains for a few days, i usually walk out when i run out of food or have to go back to work.  the thing about mountains is, they're all about challenges.  its not easy to walk up a mountain, sometimes its not easy to walk down one either.  sometimes the mountain is really flat and boring for a long time, thats not easy either.  sometimes, you walk and walk and you don't even know if, or when its going to end.  if you are walking to a shelter, you start to think, "did i pass the sign?  was there a sign?  if i passed it, maybe i should turn around.  what happens if i did pass it, do i just keep going?" or if you are walking just for the day from one car to another 9 miles away, you might get to the car after walking all day and realize that you left your keys in the glove compartment of the first car.  this actually happens.  what do you do?  you put your backpack on and walk back, even if it is 4pm and you probably won't get out until 8pm and you'll have to walk in the dark for a couple hours.  i mean, what else are you going to do?  or, some people who also like to walk around in the mountains will give you a ride.  whatever, the point is you are supposed to climb your hill, everyone has a hill, or a mountain to climb, and you aren't supposed to just stand there staring at it.  mountains are meant to be climbed, challenges overcome, and goals achieved so stop being a little bitch.

sometimes, you plan a trip with no map and what you approximated to be 12-14 miles by holding your goddamn finger up to the scalebar in a google map on your computer screen and "measuring" a meandering section of the appalachian trail from delaware water gap to wind gap, pennsylvania turns out to be 16 miles.  this is disappointing.  and this is what happened when i tried to take my friend and tennis instructor, will, who is one of the three friends training for the tough mudder, on a moderately strenuous day hike one brisk but sunny sunday in february.  honestly, the first half of the day was dope.  i strapped my $20 clamshell speakers from radioshack to the outside of my pack, plugged them into my droid and turned up the volume as we walked up the side of mt minsi on the pa side of the gap.  we got to a shelter like a quarter mile after a hang-glider launch clearing with a pretty nice view out into a huge valley.  cooked ramen at the shelter, ate a peanut butter crunch cliff bar, and some random beef jerky and trail mix i had leftover in my bag from two weeks ago.  our lunch conversation:  people's irrational fear of NOT having kids.  conclusion:  just be a rad uncle.  its good enough.  the rest of the day sucked.  plus, i forgot to bring whiskey.  all i wanted to do was get the fuck out of the woods but the trail was never-ending .  and i knew will was getting more and more pissed at me for planning this piece of shit hike and taking him on death march through the snow in this piece of shit state of pennsylvania.  fuck that hike, and fuck pennsylvania, that fuck feeling shitty about not having kids if you never have them.  next time we're going to the catskills.

a few quotes to leave you with:

"Anyone who thinks they cant be pushed on the At hasn't hiked the JR trail: Water Gap to Wind Gap."
"It takes a real Tough Mudder to tackle 15.6 miles on Sunday stroll."
"Im pissed off Will! My legs hurt."