Date: 2004-07-19
From: Palmerton, Pa.

To: Wind Gap, Pa.
Miles today: 20.7
Weather: light rain

Start Palmerton, PaDestination Wind Gap, Pa.There was no swish swish of tires on the pavement this morning when I woke up. The rain had seemingly stopped, but the mountain was covered up under a cloudy mist. That's okay; I got enough of a look at it Saturday to know it is going to be a pain to climb. There is a 1000 foot climb in just under a mile. The first half mile or so is up a nearly vertical rock face. I am glad I am slack packing this and doubly glad it is not raining. I wander over to Bert's and force myself to eat a bowl of Cheerios. Here lately I am nauseous in the mornings and I have very little appetite the rest of the day. Our trail angel Caroline is picking us up at 9:00, so I walk down to the post office after breakfast to mail some letters and cards. By ten minutes after nine, Trail Dog, Spincycle, and I are headed up the mountain. Had I had a full pack, I am certain there would have been times I would have had to take it off, just to get up and over boulders. I wish I had of went to see Spiderman 2 yesterday. I really could use some thing to glue me to this rock wall. At one point, I turned around and looked behind me. If I fell, I would bounce completely down this mountain. It is a Blue Mountain and for years and years zinc had been mined out of here. In fact it was the leading producer of zinc in the world. Now it has been declared an EPA Super site for cleanup. The mining has left the whole mountain, basically dead. It seemed so strange to be walking across a cleanup site. The trees are dark and black, standing like burnt matchsticks shooting up from black soil. Once I got on top of the mountain, for several miles the trail followed an old mining road. It was so nice to walk on a flat surface. Then just about the time I got my breath back from the initial rock climb, I was back to stumbling around desperately searching for a place to put my feet. Although the skies remained dark and overcast, it made for cool hiking, and the absence of rain made the rocks a little less slippery. At lunch time I came to a clearing where power lines went over the trail. Right in front of me was a tom turkey and a hen. They both took off like shots as I came closer. Because of the mining it is not recommended that we drink the water out of Metallica Spring. I have three bottles filled with water and Gatorade, so it is not a problem for me. I am delighted when I find that I have hiked ten miles in just over four miles. Not having a 30/35 pound pack on my back makes a difference. I am equally delighted when I come out on the road leading to the motel, well before dark. From there the rest of the evening goes downhill really fast. The whole bright spot of the evening was getting into the dive that was called my room and finding a tray of fresh homemade banana muffins, compliments of trail angel Caroline. I stood, speechless, surrounded by a dark, damp and grimy room. The tray of muffins was like a bright bouquet of flowers. Caroline had brought our packs forward for us. What a sweetheart!! The manager of the motel was a tired old man, who obviously had spent way too many years drinking. He came over to where I was sitting outside my room and introduced himself and stuck out his hand. I shook his hand and tried to pull mine back, he held onto it just a bit too long for my comfort. I assured him that my hiking partners would be here shortly. The outside of the motel was clean, and freshly painted, but oh boy the rooms. To think I hiked twenty miles for this. The manager graciously volunteered to drive us into town. Just before we left T and Rally hiked in. There asked about paying the extra and staying in one of the rooms with us. It would cost them 15.00 each which I thought was steep, but the manager insisted because they did not have a reservation it was a more than fair price. Since it was almost dark by then they did not have much choice. They chose not to go to town to eat but cooked at the motel. Then a friend came up and volunteered to take them home with him. So, they asked for a refund and left. For some reason the manager had it in his mind that we were trying to rip him off by putting extra people in our rooms. We got a stiff sermon which set all of us off. This guy just would not shut up about having to have the exact number of guest. I finally told him, no one was in my room, nor would they be unless they paid. I had brought some leftover pasta back for T, not knowing he was gone. I handed it to the manager, smiling and asked him if he wanted it. He looked at me speechless. I really wanted to shove it up his nose. In spite of the dirty room and questionable cleanliness of the sheets, I fell into bed, too tired to care. But I did prop a chair in front of the door before I went to sleep.Total miles 20.7