Date: 2012-06-09
From: allentown shelter

To: palmerton JAIL
Miles today: 17.7

.....(our mileage data today should include 2 extra miles on the blue blaze into town that someone forgot to mention had a LOCKED gate at the end on weekends!....argh!)............paw is the ultimate trail blazer however......he found a way "around"........bible batteries are dead this a.m.... :-(....i LOVE the allentown privy!....(ya gotta have a little "whimsy" to "begin your day"!) :-)...."KNIFE EDGE" scrambling today!......(THIS, to me, is what hiking the AT is all about!......well......especially when the experience is "shared" with other hikers....so good to see "dudeman" up there today with his "noodle"!...heh heh!....click on the photo above and then "next").........hmmmm....blueberries off the superfund site.....untreated water from the spring below the outerbridge shelter......DEET for ticks.....are we TRYING to poison ourselves????..............(all making for a very enjoyable day, however).........but oh!...how we DO love palmerton!....(AND the "gardens" atop the ridge getting here!)....there were FERNS! (which i still maintain smell just like hot buttered peaches!....yes....HOT BUTTERED peaches!....guess i could just simply say "peaches", but that's not how hungry thruhikers roll!....anyway....the ferns perfumed the air and softened the rocky ridgetop!....the mountain laurel (abundant) was in full bloom, most tending toward the pinkest we'd seen yet!....."hair grass" (deschampsia... a very favorite native grass of ours) formed stands of billowy "clouds" beneath shrubby oaks, cherries, witchhazel and the happy melodies of birdsong!.....i wanted to stay FOREVER!.........but....we're in the "jailhouse" now! (hmmmm...that'd make a good song!).....it's the basement of the palmerton burroughs....and we're here with several other hikers (like august and bambooie, among others).....we have loved this place in the past, but, unfortunately, with the removal of bunk mattresses, the absence of scout troop "gift packages" and coke machine, a less than hot shower and a stack of wet dirty towels, it wasn't exactly "home sweet home"...(especially for someone thinking they may be having to stay here a few days to recover from possible surgery?)..........we DID have "bert's" for supper, however!....and though some hikers think bert's portions aren't large enough, after ordering up everything from appetizers to dessert, paw and i were more than reasonably satisfied (and at a very reasonable price!).....we had : bert's own homemade split pea soup, icy crisp salads with chunky homemade bleu cheese dressing, hot, crispy fried-to-perfection fantail shrimp and onion rings, soft loaves of warm french bread and real butter, cold glasses of chocolate milk AND big thick slices of strawberry rhubard pie a la mode!...(hot fudge sundae for paw!)....found out later from august that our meal cost no more than if we had gotten (as he had) 2 each of the impressive italian sandwiches (LARGE) at tony's pizza.....needless to say, "bert's" came through for us once again!.........and even though i (maw) do feel like my stomach problem is ebbing a bit, i guess i'll submit to a visit to the ER just to make sure it's not my appendix....(hope the doc doesn't ask me what i had for supper!...heh heh!)