Icy Delaware Water Gap Loop

I was struggling with where to run today.  It got into the afternoon and I still had no concrete plans.  Ryan and I were talking about going to the Delaware Water Gap next weekend and I said we should just go now.  He had never been there.  He drove and we planned to do the Mt. Tammany loop.

It was kind of warm compared to some days lately.  It was in the 20s, but there was no wind.  I had on my fleece vest over a lightweight long sleeve shirt.  I went with tights and had a headband and gloves too.  It worked out good.

I was surprised to see so many cars in the parking lot.  It is a popular place to hike, but I figured there wouldn't be that many people on a cold winter day.  I also mistakenly thought that perhaps the trails were in better shape than I originally thought.

I hoped that the warmer weather would melt a lot of the ice.  I still expected some, but not a lot.  Was I ever wrong?  It was clear at the start, but once we got into the rocky stuff, it was icy everywhere.  Apparently Janine and her husband finished up when we started.

We were able to run the beginning and I was feeling pretty good.  I was running better than I usually do on the first technical, semi rocky part.  However, it was already too icy.  I had no choice but to start hiking.  That was very frustrating.

Hiking the ice covered rocks was both fun and dangerous.  I went along as a pretty good pace.  Ryan was more cautious.  He dropped behind a bit.  I was in no hurry, so I waited after some of the climbs.

I was happy to find some clear trail and then I began running.  We passed a few hikers and a guy taking pictures at the first lookout.  I ran past there, since the trail was actually runnable at this point.  However, that wouldn't last long.

I did run some semi icy and semi technical uphill terrain.  Then, we got to the boulder field climb.  That part was straight up crazy.  The first small boulder section wasn't bad, but the main one was unbelievable.  This ascent is hard enough to do in the summer and with clear conditions.  It was downright stupid and dangerous to be going up the ice covered rocks.

I made my way along.  Again, Ryan was more cautious and fell behind.  I was going up this stuff like a mountain goat.  The main trail and rocks were a sheet of ice.  I did find that it was snowy and had a lot more grip just off to the side.  I used that.

As I was going up, a guy was going down.  I couldn't imagine going down that stuff.  Ascending was hard enough.  I asked him if he came up that way or the Blue Trail.  He didn't even know of the Blue Trail.  I had been wondering about the Blue Trail.  It was easier on that one, but I know it doesn't get as much sun as the Red Dot Trail and Red Dot was icy.

I didn't have too many scares on this tough terrain.  That was amazing, since the rocks were even glazed in ice.  It was often difficult to grab them to get a grip.  I waited after the boulder for Ryan.  I saw him way down at the bottom.  He had on a bright green jacket, so he was easy to spot.

After a few minutes, I couldn't see Ryan.  I decided to go back down.  If I was going to wait, why not go down and come back up?  Then, I'd get more elevation gain.  As I got to the bottom, I couldn't find Ryan.  I suspected he thought it was too dangerous and turned back around.  I headed back up.

I got up the boulder scramble fairly quickly and then sent Ryan a text to let him know I was finishing the loop.  I found out that he was already at the top.  Turns out he didn't turn and follow the trail up the rock scramble.  He made his own trail.  Now, I had to move quicker.

I got to the top main lookout and still couldn't find Ryan.  He thought he was near me, but it turned out he came out near the Mt. Tammany Fire Road and Blue Trail intersection.  I slipped on some ice at the top, while waiting for him.  It was an easy, non technical section.  It hurt like crazy.  My arm broke my fall and my thumb was jammed on a rock.  I was in a lot of pain initially.  It wore off though.

Finally, Ryan and I caught up.  We headed on the Blue Trail along the ridge.  Then, we started the rocky descent.  Much as I suspected, there was even more ice on the Blue Trail.  We had to hike down the sides of the trail in the beginning.  There was snow on those parts.

After a bit of hiking, the trail sort of became runnable.  I'm a little more careless.  I am also more used to running on technical terrain and ice.  Therefore, I pulled ahead of Ryan a bit.  It was mostly slow running down, but some sections still required hiking.  I couldn't open it up much.  I do feel like I'm good at changes gears as the terrain goes from less technical to more technical and back.  I'm definitely improving as a trail runner.

The last steep section of the Blue Trail was very icy.  I was wondering the whole time how much better MICROspikes would make things.  Maybe I'll find out in the future.  I fell again on another easy part.  There is a waterfall at the bottom and most of it was frozen.  The middle still had some water running down it though.  That was really cool.

After the waterfall, we got on to the Appalachian Trail.  We were now moving okay and nearly done.  However, we had already lost a lot of time.  It was going on 2 hours and we were only over 4 miles.  We passed a few hikers on this section and coming down the Blue Trail too.

Finally, we were back to the car and finished up.  It was a very slow run/hike, but we survived.  I'm eager to come back there with MICROspikes and see if I can run more.  I was glad to show Ryan around too.  Hopefully next time there, the weather will be better.

I'm not sure where I will run tomorrow.  I'd really like to log some good mileage.  We are supposed to get freezing rain and then changing over to rain later in the afternoon.  I think it may be dry to the north, so perhaps I'll give that a try.  I was also thinking about maybe heading to the Palisades Cliffs, near New York City.

4.59 miles - 1:55:45 (25:12 pace) 1460 feet of elevation gain