Day 2 of the Slack Packing Extravaganza...Mount Tammany, NJ.
We awoke to the sound of rain (okay, I awoke to the sound of what I thought was a black bear nuzzling into our lean-to...it turned out to be something close...my brother...), but, by the time I brewed the black nectar of the gods that roused the rest of the group, the rain had lightened. After shuffling gear around, we all piled into a vehicle to head for Mount Tammany.
We parked at the same lot which was the terminus of our last section hike on the AT, and up we went. Much of the elevation gain on this hike is in the 2-1/2 km, And, although the clouds still hung low, the views of the Water Gap were sensational. We stood atop the mountain I had looked at from the other side of the Delaware last fall.
From the summit of Mount Tammany, we dropped back down to the creek that leads to Sunfish Pond. The trail to Sunfish Pond climbs gradually, crossing the creek it follows multiple times, until finally leaving the creek to climb over a ridge to meet the AT at Sunfish Pond. After a lunch break to rest our feet and recharge our batteries, we followed the AT as it gradually descended back to the parking lot at the foot of Mount Tammany.