On this rain-drenched morning, I went on the intermediate hike on a section of the Appalachian Trail.  At 9:30, John drove a small group of us to the nearby Fox Gap Trailhead (of the 2,174 miles of the AT, 28 miles are within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area).  I’m not sure how we got there–maybe 402 south to 209 west, to I-80 west exit 307, to 191 south.  From there, I think we headed north on the AT.

Here we are hiking through the mist.  You can see the white blaze marking the trail on the tree in the foreground.

The top white blaze indicates that the trail veers to the right.

This fallen tree trunk was probably destroyed by a bear looking for insects.

You can understand why the Appalachian Trail is sometimes called the “Green Tunnel.”

Due to the recent rains, we saw quite a few species of mushroom; this unusual specimen caught my eye (I have no idea what it is).

When we returned to our starting point, John took us a bit further south on Fox Gap Road to the Columcille Megalith Park, created as a spiritual retreat in 1975 and inspired by Iona, a tiny island off Scotland’s west coast.

This beautiful stone structure is St Columba’s Chapel, erected in 1979.

The chapel interior is a space of mystery and tranquility.

This structure is known as Thor’s Gate; it set at the top of a small rise.

Columcille is certainly an unexpected find; for AT hikers, it’s probably worth veering off the trail for a short visit.

Six of us decided to do the intermediate hike this morning, a 1.9 mile loop around a small body of water named Hidden Lake.  With Richie at the wheel, we drove south on 402 to 209 east, then made a turn to the south on Keystone Road.

Here’s a view of the lake as we started on the trail.

Here’s another view from a different perspective.  The lake is popular with anglers.

Supposedly, you can see the remains of turtle eggshells in this photo, which lie scattered on the ground after the babies hatch.

Marshes and other wetlands are the preferred habitat for cattails (Typha latifolia probably).

Isn’t this an interesting natural sculpture?  The tree was probably injured in some way.

The sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum) has three different types of leaves: oval, mitten-shaped, and three-lobed.

We passed by a camp around half-way through the hike, but there were no campers today; we shared the trail with only a few others who came to enjoy being by the lake.