Date: 2016-05-08
From: Blue Mountain Summit, PA 309

To: Superfund trailhead, Lehigh River North
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

Today was the second day of our PA makeup hikes. We¢re covering the sections of trail that we skipped over in order to enjoy the Deer Head Inn and jazz last week. We checked out of the Blue Mountain Summit B&B a little later that we planned this morning. When the alarm went off at 5:30 am, we could hear the rain pelting on the roof. The forecast said that the chance of rain should essentially vanish by around 8, so we went back to sleep. And when we woke again around 7, the rain was over. We divided today¢s hike into 3 key swaps. I¢ve explained the process before, so I won¢t bore you with details (except that we used Bake Oven Knob Road and Ashfield Road to access the AT at intermediate points). We had 3 tough sections today: Knife Edge, Bear Rocks and Bake Oven Knob. Knife Edge is a little intimidating. I¢ve done it twice before, but this was the first time by myself. It¢s a narrow crest of angled slabs of rock with steep drops on both sides. It¢s not very wide and the slabs are not continuous, so I had to pick a path along the crest and switch from one side to the other. I¢ve included a photo of the crest, and the views of the valley were dramatic. There was a strong crosswind and that was a little disconcerting when I had to move from one slab to another. Also, the descent from the crest at the north end was challenging, but I remembered the direction the trail took so I didn¢t have to search for blazes. Shortly after descending the knife edge, the trail leads into Bear Rocks. I¢m not sure exactly where this feature starts since the trail is loaded with so many rocks - however, there is a point where the rocks are much bigger and more difficult to maneuver through. Fortunately, the rocks had mostly dried by the time I arrived so I was able to hop across the larger rocks and move through them more quickly.Bake Oven Knob was as difficult for me as Knife Edge, mostly because it seemed more difficult to find the blazes. It¢s mostly a boulder scramble across a knob, so there isn¢t a specific path through the boulders. A group of 4 hikers were 30 or 40 yards behind me and they became skeptical that I was still on trail. They had started to head in a different direction when I spotted a clear blaze in front of me and I think they got back on course. I think my pace across the knob was about the slowest I¢ve done so far this year. The descent into Lehigh Gap wasn¢t as steep as other gaps in the area, a longer gradual descent with a shelter in the middle. When we both finished, we headed for the Filbert B&B in Danielsville. The Filbert is another of favorite spots and this is our third visit. Kathy runs the Filbert with help from Sherry and we really like the place. Kathy is willing to make breakfast for us as early as we want and she shuttles to and from the trail. Tomorrow we¢ve asked her to lead us in her car to our end point, where we¢ll park our car, and then she¢ll drive us to our starting point. That way we can hike together and we don¢t have to worry about getting to the end point at a specific pre-determined time to meet her. We just hike to our car and then drive back to the B&B. Tonight we had a good dinner at the Covered Bridge Inn and now we¢re ready to go tomorrow. The first thing we¢ll tackle is the steep climb out of Lehigh Gap to the Superfund Site. So I¢m off to get some rest.