Date: 2003-06-21
From: Bake Oven Knob Shelter 

To: PA248/Palmerton 
Miles today: 7.7

The rain quit sometime in the night, but the mountain was quite wet this morning. Michelle and I took turns waking and sleeping and reading this morning, and finally got moving sometime around 7:30. Brian and Samantha got going around then too. A mouse took a liking to my shirt, which I hung from my pack last night, and chewed a few holes in the front of it. It's Naked Hiking Day today but I'm not partaking. No one at the shelter was going to, and no one I saw today was naked. I thought I might wear my now-holey shirt as my attempt at nakedness, but decided not to.Before we left the shelter, it had started to mist, but we only covered the packs, leaving off our personal rain protection. For a couple of hours anyway. We stopped for a break at 11am, after 2 hours of hiking, and I got chilly. I put on my rain jacket and when we started hiking again, I kept it on. It was still misting, but would become worse. Michelle put te poncho over herself and her pack after the break. Before long, we heard thunder. I was hoping the storm would slip by, but it did not, and soon it was pouring. There wasn't any need to avoid puddles anymore, since my legs and feet were getting soaked from the rain. A few bolts of lightning struck close by, making me keep my head down, as if that would help. Luckily, the lightning didn't last too long. The rain was steady for about an hour, then quit, leaving a stream running down the trail.We got to Outerbridge Shelter before 1pm, quicker than I thought we would, and had less than a mile before the road to Palmerton, where we'd meet Ma and the boys for lunch, and pickup. We got to PA873, walked across the bridge to PA248. The AT heads east to cross 248, then goes off the road, onto the mountain. We wanted to go west on 248 to Palmerton, but the area wasn't conducive to hitching. I tried, but we decided, since Ma and the boys were meeting us for lunch in Palmerton anyway, we'd call them and have them pick us up where we were.Before long we were in the van headed to Palmerton for lunch. We ate at Bert's, and it was yummy! Especially the banana hot fudge sundae. Mmmm good! When our bellies were full, we drove toward Allentown, where we will stay until Monday. That will give me most of today off, all of tomorrow, and at least half of Monday. I might take all of Monday off, but haven't decided for sure.I am disappointed Michelle didn't get better weather while hiking with me. I knew there would be lots of rocks, and I suggested that we could hike anywhere--on the AT or off--but she wanted to hike where I was. That was nice of her, and noble. She did great! Heck, I fell, and she didn't!! I am just glad she got to do this, and see what it's really like. I know that reading about it doesn't tell the whole story. I read a lot about the AT, but it has been very different than I thought it would be. Experiencing something is the only way to truly understand.It's strange being in a hotel room and having only a backpack as my possesions, while Ma and Michelle have suitcases of stuff. Ma did bring me some of my clothes. It's nice to wear cotton!!! When I'm away from the trail, I can get overwhelmed my all of the decisions that have to be made. They ask me what I want to do, where I want to eat, and when... and I get overwhelmed. I know they are being nice and doing whatever I need or want to do, but I'm not used to making a lot of decision in a day. It's strange. And if time is tight, and things need to get done, like preparing for Mich and I to hike the other morning, I get frustrated, and just need a quiet place to take care of things.Right now, I'm happy to be in a warm dry place, and in a bed. I'm not sure I will sleep well in the bed, but I'll yank the blankets from their tucked-in corners and that should help. Somehow the blankets end up tucked around me. Kinda like a sleeping bag would. Hmmmm... strange, isn't it? I'm going to enjoy my time with Sam and Tristan, as I haven't spent much time with them yet. It's nice to have family around. I know I will be ready to go back to the trail soon though. It doesn't take long.