The short version:

Don't believe the advice of people who have never experienced that which they advise on, AND don't go to New Jersey: you'll realize it isn't where you want to be, have to turn around, and have to pay a toll, booty.

The long version:

Tico and I started out right on time: an hour after we planned on it. We got there 1.5 hours after we planned: getting lost sucks. The trip up was pretty tame. Tico kept yelling at his GPS to "acquire that 4th satelite" so that we could see our altitude and how fast we were going. It was surprisingly accurate on speed. Once to the Gap (no, not the one that sells boxers, the one for climbing), we learned another lesson: don't ask the 40 year old ranger women where to climb. They don't know. The best answer would have been to look at the guide book which told us exactly.

We parked at the "Point of Gap" parking lot and then followed a mix of 7 different trails up and down over towards the rock. The trails are rough due to a large number of leaves that fell in the fall and haven't been cleaned and also due to the fact that the rock is so chossy that it leaves scree everywhere. We finally got to an area that looked like 5.2 climbing and said, OK, let's go a little further and see what we find. We found a section that looked like it was great: at our limits, protectable, and 2 pitches. We couldn't figure out where we were based upon the book, but who really cares about the book? We got harnessed up and all set. As I put my shoes on Tico said, "So, you all set." I responded with a wavering, "Yes." He said, "You're not inspiring confidence in me." I coughed to try and sound manly and said, "Oh, it'll be fine." So I started up the climb: fire an alien in this crack, a tricam here, nut, 5.5 crux move up to a ledge. Then the route split left to 5.6 territory: tricam, camalot, hex at the 5.6 crux, nut at the top of the crux below a roof followed by a traverse left to a tricam at the edge of the roof and up the last 7 feet of crack to a mantle to a 4 foot ledge. The ledge had a bomber tree, and two cracks that sucked up a 2.5 tricam, a camalot, and a flexi-friend. Tie all that together and you know you're safe.

Then it was Tico's turn. I must say that I didn't know it was Tico's first trad climb. Much more he's typically a boulderer type. More likely to hit a 5 foot route than a 100 foot one. This made for an interesting combo. As far as I could tell, he was making great progress. Belaying from the top is always interesting because it's tough to tell when they've moved up and if you have left slack down there between the two of you. Tico finally got up to a spot where I could see him. At the 5.6 crux he started shaking. He traversed left to get up around it and then traversed back right to get the piece of protection that I had placed at the top, I should have left it unprotected for him to choose his own poision...all things considered it would have been better. He finally made the final mantle and grabbed onto the tree for dear life. With eyes like dinner plates he finally panted enough to get a few words together, "That was the scariest thing I've ever done in my life."

We got him tied in, a little relaxed, passed gear and calmed down some more. I started thinking about the second pitch. Looking at the first section, it was going to be a nice little overhang and then who knew what. I put a #1 tricam in at the inside of the overhang and started up the lie back on the left of it and up over it. It was a great move, very fun. Then I headed up a little further, fired in a .5 tricam, and continued up. The climbing at this point was very easy: 5.1 or so. Unfortunately, all the cracks were filled with moss. I ran it out 15 feet and then looked up. There were 40 more feet of climbing like this followed by a blocky overhang that looked ready to drop on us. I decided we'd be better off calling it a day. So, I downclimbed, we rapped off, we hiked down the right trail, figured out where we really were from the guidebook, and walked back to the car. As we approached the car, I noticed something important: the lights were on. Yep, I'm an idiot. We flagged down a couple people, and then finally broke down and called a truck. Of course, once we called, the park ranger showed up and gave us a jump.

Back on the road we hit the first diner we saw. It's a great place that I plan on going to about every time I climb in the Gap. We headed home to the sounds of Sweet Melissa, and that's the rest of the story.