Date: 2006-07-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I got a decent start this morning as FDR and I packed up and met again at the first spring to eat breakfast. He offered to go get water that was .2 off the trail. After 5 minutes I got a little antsy. After 10 minutes I started wondering. After 15 minutes I was about to start looking for him. He finally came back right as I was about to get up and go look. He informed me in his own words that it was defiantly not .2 miles to the spring. We packed up and took off. There were several bolder fields on the ridge line that I had to cross. It was challenging but nothing to bad. I made good time into Palmerton and picked up a hitch into town. When I got to the post office I let out a sigh of relief. Since yesterday was Sunday and tomorrow is the 4th of July I had been worried for a couple days if I would get there in time but I did. I picked up my package a headed for the pizza place. I got a pizza and started going through my packages. After I stuffed down half a pizza I was full. So I did what any hiker would do. I pulled out my Ziploc bags and packaged up the extra slices. Then I went back to the post office and sent some stuff ahead and the rest home. That brought me back to a familiar place standing on the side of the road with my thumb out hitching for a ride. After a short few a couple offered a ride. Usually people ask you the same questions about hiking or their town and stuff like that. The first thing this lady asked was, "did you call your mother?" which I had since I am a good son. She said she usually makes hikers call from her cell phone when she picks them up. I thought that was a great thing to do. When they dropped me off I still wanted to get some good miles in and catch back up with FDR. So on a full stomach I walked from the car through the parking lot towards the trail head. I knew I had a steep up hill but I wasn¢t prepared for what lied ahead. Once I got out of the parking lot I started climbing. It wasn¢t your typical climb it was like climbing a boulder field of sharp rocks. And since it was exposed to the sun it was hot. Real hot. It was one of the most intense climbs so far. The whole time I was climbing I kept thinking if I slipped I was done for. When I got to the top it looked like a nuclear bomb had been dropped and life never recovered. Actually it was an old zinc mine. They had taken all the zinc out of the ground and killed everything. I had to walk along the ridge for about a few miles. It was depressing; you could feel death all around. It started getting darker and I was about to take a break to switch from day hiking to night hiking and pulled off at an over look. While I was sitting at the over look I sat and enjoyed the view. There were plenty of rednecks who spent their whole pay check and them some on fireworks. It was pretty neat watching the fireworks being shot off and exploding below you. It was a clear night so I could see them everywhere. After sitting there a bit I decided to keep going in order to find FDR. I put on the head lamp and started hiking. Once I got on the trail I didn¢t have to hike far. Since I can only see where my head lamp is pointing I was afraid I might miss FRD. But I didn¢t he set up in the middle of the trail. Not right off the trail but right in the middle of the trail. We conversed for a bit then decided to get each other up in the morning early to get a big day in. Let¢s hope FDR gets up early cause im not the biggest morning person.