Date: 2006-07-15
From: Port Clinton

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 84.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Lets Get caught up!Monday July 10 - 15 miles heavy rain!I left Port Clinton and headed north to the Eckville Shelter which is really a garage owned by the NPS. There is electricity which we try not to use so as to not attract any more bugs!In the shelter with me isPennsylvania DanPeddlerJohnny KWeathermanand#2, oh, and then there is Mick the care taker, helpful but not very talkative.Tuesday July 11 - 16 miles and rain again.The bugs are terrible. Not since the Florida Everglades have there been such bad mosquitos. They swarm at every moment and discourage any rest or lack of movement. I spend the night on the top of Bake Oven Knob hiding from the rain and mosquitos. The good news is that when it is raining the bugs are slowed down and hiking is speeded up. The humidity is nearing 100%, then some humidity falls from the sky in buckets of rain, then the rain stops the bugs come out and sweat runs off my body in little rivers, then it rains and all it starts over again. Oh, today is my Birthday. Next summer I plan on being 29!Wednesday July 12 - 15 miles.I spend my day dancing across the tops of Pennsylvania rocks, a scattered collection of mis shapen, irregular sized, sharp, glacier piled granite spaced at uneven intervals designed to test my wounded ankle and wound my tested but tired feet. This state is not any less than was promised. I for the first time have blisters from the twisting of my feet in my boots. I pass without stopping in Palmerton, named for the CEO of a Zinc smelting operation that covered acres of land, employed thousands of people and poisoned thousands of acres of mountain top. I hike through a barren wasteland at the top of a ridge that looks more arid than any dessert. Wait until you see the pictures. I hike up to Delps trail intersection. Pennsylvania Dan joins me at the only level spot for miles we spend the night tenting side by side hiding from the bugs, camping in the middle of the woods.Thursday July 13 - 15 milesRocks, mosquitos, rocks, mosquitos. There is no water except that which falls from the sky and today is a sunny day! Finding springs is difficult, since we are walking ridges, streams are non existant. It seems impossible to drink enough to stave off the thirst and the humidity continues so high that the sweat never dries, the effort is so significant that the sweat runs off the body in rivlets. My polypro clothes are wet all the time and although I have saved dry clothes to sleep in I am feeling wet all the time.Friday July 14 - 15 milesHooray, my last hiking day in PA.I decend into the Delaware watergap and hike my last mile in Pennsylvania. I am looking forward to spending some time walking in the Garden State.Saturday July 15 - 0 milesMy feet insisted on a zero day. I spent the day horizontal as much as possible and buying groceries, resting, eating and doing laundry, my socks needed it bad. I have 3 pairs which makes an average of 3+ days per pair of socks. They really needed to be laundered. I washed them twice. I hitch a ride to Stoudsburg, PA and find an outfitter and invest in a bug jacket. Tomorrow we will see if it works....Tomorrow I head north with more than 1,200 miles done and only 894.9 miles to go.....