Day 2: “Keesh slowly walk towards me now…there’s a bear behind you.”

It’s day 2 of our journey, and we woke up to birds chirping and frogs croaking. It was a nice cool morning, and we wanted to get an early start to hike up Mt. Tammany, the southernmost peak of the Kittatinny Mountains on the New Jersey side of the Delaware Water Gap. We started our hike at around 8:30AM, taking the red dot trail up (which we did NOT know was the most difficult trail on the mountain until afterwards). Now, being the rookie hiker that I am, I DEFINITELY didn’t know what I was in for.

These rocks were NO JOKE. It was a steep ascent to the 1,500+ foot peak and there were a few times I felt like I was going to fall backwards with just one wrong step. Luckily, Joey kept a manageable pace for me, even though I knew he wanted to go a little bit faster. Two hours of climbing rocks and steep terrain led us to a beautiful clearing on the north face of the mountain overlooking the Delaware River and Mt. Minsi, which was about 75 feet lower than us and on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River.

We saw someone in their zen area on the edge of the mountain, and as Joey walked closer, I decided to stay behind and rest on a rock while I took pictures of the magnificent view. I realized I needed to get closer to him to get a better picture, and as I stood up to walk over to him, he turned around and looked at me with the most serious look and said “Keesh, slowly walk towards me now, there’s a bear behind you.” Of course, I thought he was joking and turned around, only to come face-to-face with a black bear, which was less than 5 feet away from me. I must’ve blacked out at this point, because I’m not entirely sure how I got from point A to point B safely…keep in mind it’s a downhill rock ledge overlooking 1,500 feet…but luckily Joey got me away from the bear and the camera from me to snap some great pictures.

Right where this bear was standing in this picture, there was a girl sitting there when we first walked up. When Joey gave me that warning about the bear, she had heard him, but wasn’t sure if he was joking either. As the bear walked past me and started to approach her, Joey talked her around the bear and she was able to switch locations with the bear using a big rock to keep them separated…so the picture you’re seeing was actually her zen spot. We ended up bonding about safely escaping the bear, and while walking back down the mountain on the blue dot trail, we found out that she was a local and has never seen a bear on this mountain before, which gave her reason to assume Joey was kidding…I should probably just trust him when he cries bear. So, there it is, my first hiking experience AND my first bear experience….hopefully the last of one, but possibly the last of both.

We safely descended the mountain, following the blue dot to the green dot trail, which were definite thigh burners, but made it to a beautiful little waterfall natural pool to dip our feet in the freezing but yet refreshing water. We made it back to the car just before noon and grabbed lunch on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River at Shawnee Craft Brewery. Luckily we got back to our campsite just before a serious thunderstorm hit us, but our tent kept us dry. We’ll head out early tomorrow morning towards Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then Dewey Beach, Delaware to stay with one of Joey’s friends. Keep you posted along the way!