Date: 2014-06-18
From: George Outerbridge Shelter

To: Campsite near Delp's Spring Trail
Miles today: 10.7

Day 35: No surprise rain last night! We awoke to a clear day and 75 degrees. We knew it was going to be a warm one today. We hit the trail at 7am.All our long mile days were focused on setting us up for this day. We were descending into Lehigh Gap. The climb out of this gap is considered one of the toughest on the AT. (Some of the climbs in New Hampshire are supposed to be worse.. Can't wait!!). We wanted to be in a position to tackle the big climb in the relative coolness of the morning and to have a short mileage day.We descended a couple hundred feet to the bottom of the gap, crossed the Lehigh River and started our ascent. The trail started up steeply with lots of rock steps, but soon "deteriorated" to a rock climb. White blazes showed the way up the rock-face. In some places we had to let our trekking poles hang by their straps as we searched for handholds and toeholds. It was definitely the most challenging part of this hike so far. To add to the "thrill", the wind was blowing fairly strongly on top. This was good, in that what would have been a very hot climb was kept tolerable. Unfortunately it also added a new demension in trying to keep our balance, as we stepped from rock to rock.An hour and a half after leaving the shelter we completed the toughest part of the climb. So we stopped for breakfast. We had great views down into Lehigh Gap and the nearby town of Palmerton.Like the other gaps we have transited that have rivers, Lehigh Gap was a break in a solid wall of mountains. The river was used to transport people and materials, starting with a canal in 1829, followed by the railroad, then a highway. It was particularly important for the delivery of coal from north-central Pennsylvania to the iron industry of eastern Pennsylvania.After breakfast we continued up a little further on a normal trail, before reaching signs indicating that the AT had been temporarily rerouted due to ongoing remediation on the original AT path. It turns out that we were hiking through a Superfund site. In the late 1800's a zinc company started operations it what is now Palmerton (in fact the town was created as a company town). It's zinc production was particularly important in World War II. (brass shell casings are made from copper and zinc).Unfortunately, as a result of decades of dumping slag from the smelting operation and heavy metal emmissions from the smelter, most of the mountain we were now hiking on was denuded of vegetaion. The smelter was shut down in 1980 and the area went on the Superfund list in 1982. Remediation of the toxic zinc and revegetation has been proceeding since. The attached picture shows that they still have a long way to go.Spider had mentioned yesterday about the dearth of trail magic on this hike. In previous years, many of the gaps had something whether it was an ice chest with goodies or a trail angel with his BBQ set up grilling burgers. But except for the one offering in SNP, we had seen nothing over the last ~300 miles. Well I guess all Spider had to do was complain, because half-way through yesterday's hike we came upon a chest full of goodies, including fresh fruit. Boy did that brighten up our day. So what should happen today after completing our transit of the Superfund site? There sits a man and woman with the back of their truck full of ice cold sodas, candy and fresh fruit, offering it to passing hikers. Wow, 2 days in a row! Spider says he's going to continue to complain, if thesevare the results it gets!!We arrived at our destination campsite at 2:30pm. Water availability has been getting scarcer, the further east we travel. So we've had to pay closer attention to how much we carry and not pass opportunities to refill. When water is available it often is not on the trail, since the trail is on the crest of ridges. Instead, one must descend off the ridge, to a springn thankfully noted on the map..Where we are camped is a perfect example. The campsite is on the ridge, but the spring is 0.4 miles and 200-300 feet down the steep slope next to it. It took Spider almost 45 minutes to get water today...but when you need it, you need it.Typically, springs flow from underneath a rock. They are "developed" by pushing in a length of PVC pipe. This one was hardly running. Spider noticed that it had a clogged screen. So he fixed it and we now have delicious, clear, cold water (that we still iodize) for tomorrow.