Date: 2003-08-14
From: Williams', Walnutport, PA

To: Leroy A. Smith Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Woke up about my usual time this morning and started some journaling. Amy tapped on the door and invited me out to breakfast ¢ homemade granola, toast, fruit, and soymilk! So good, and healthy!!I packed up and showered again. Amy had to leave for work, but reiterated the offer she¢d made last night, ¢Please feel free to stay as long as you like!¢ I would have loved to stay longer, but wanted to make sure this weekend came off smoothly, and before Toby caught up to me. I¢ve made up my mind to stay with Alan all weekend, go back to Delaware Water Gap Sunday and wait there until he came. I judge it should be Sunday or Monday when he arrives.When I was ready, I said good-bye to Jenny and Bob drove me back to the Trail. I could have skipped a half-mile or so of road there at Lehigh Gap, but I had him drop me off at the same parking lot they¢d picked me up at yesterday, and I walked across the bridge and intersection (another one of those sections I shake my head at when I recall the AT slogan, ¢For those who seek fellowship with the wilderness¢¢¦) to the Northbound climb out of the Gap. Which I loved. A lot of bouldering, and it¢s in the bright open sunshine. Today is a beautiful day, too. It was about 9:15 when I started.Just North of Lehigh is a section in which all the trees have been killed by pollution from some kind of mining ¢ I forget what. It¢s kind of neat up here actually, a little like a desert. But sad to think we caused it. You know a part of me has to be glad, though, because I get to spend all morning in the sunshine!I passed a SOBO, Fox, I think, and said hello just before the next road crossing. As I came down the hill it hit me ¢ I¢m still on this Trail, and I¢m going to keep going. I smiled, and sent up a little praise God-wards.The rest of the morning was uneventful. I finally stopped for a break around 1pm and sat on a fallen log to eat a snack. Not much farther to go I noted, so I stretched out on the ground, my head resting on my pack, my feet on the log, and snoozed for a little while. I¢m pretty tired today ¢ guess the late night last night. Actually the last few nights have been late.When the bugs started crawling on me I gave up on the snooze. A chipmunk even dared to approach me, deeming me motionless enough not to be a threat. I watched him with interested until he at last scampered off.Shouldering my pack once more, I headed off again, feeling fatigued. Glad it wasn¢t too much farther!Leroy A. Smith is small and sort of old; I¢ll spend the night in it alone. One of my greatest fears was realized as I sat here and read ¢ I was stung by a wasp of some sort. Sitting here minding my own business, it landed right on me out of the blue and seemed to sting me simply out of spite! Ouch. Took some Benadryl just in case, but one doesn¢t hurt nearly as badly as the 18 did last fall! Since I got here early I lay and read for quite some time. Apparently the shelter trail continues on down the hill to a parking lot below; before long I heard someone huffing and puffing up the trail. A lone man, shirtless and smelling a little of booze, came up and sat at the shelter for a while. Told me all about how he¢d grown up in the area, hadn¢t been there in a long time. He kept saying the same things over again after a pause in the conversation, as if he just wanted to keep it going. Seemed a little preoccupied with the fact that there weren¢t any other hikers around; I said several times there were lots of hikers around, that some would likely arrive yet tonight. I felt a little nervous about him, but at last he headed back down the hill, saying he didn¢t want to get stuck in the dark.Thank you, God.