Date: 2010-06-24
From: Palmerton

To: Wind Gap
Miles today: 20.5
Weather: broken clouds

Set my alarm for what I believed to be 4:00am. It was light outside when I awoke naturally without a sound. I¢d set the alarm for 4pm instead. I¢d missed the 5am shuttle back to the trail-head. Odd, I thought, that no one woke me up? I¢d slept on the floor by the fan in anticipation of a large amount of snoring. Oh well, I thought as I stared at my tired face in the mirror in the upstairs bathroom. I decided to forgo the coffee and head straight for the task of getting back on the trail. I had no idea how to get to the blue blazed trail leading back to the AT because I don¢t have my guidebook pages. I have to get a ride back to where I know it¢s at, or nothing. It¢s interesting to me how calm I am about that now, as opposed to how I would have been months ago. I¢m cool as a cucumber now about things uncontrollable. I like this observation!It¢s not long before a nice construction worker gives me a lift. I was so fearful of the 750ft rock scramble out of Lehigh gap. Lots of people warned about rattlers waiting on the hand holds out of sight. Boy Scouts warned that the trail had been relocated around the rocky climb and the white blazes are diverted around a neutered blue blazed winter/hazardous weather trail. I was thinking how disappointing it would be to miss this challenge that other hikers had accomplished before me. The question was raised, well, if the fun part is a blue blazed trail and the winter trail is the white blaze trail, does that make you a blue-blazer? Yes, it does.Luckily, the Boy Scouts were wrong! Duh. The trail still goes straight up the hard part on the exposed rocks! I scaled orange tinted rocks straight into the sunrise! I was looking the whole time for the legendary rattlers that everyone was talking about. I like my fingers. All 10 of them thank you. Honestly, I was intimidated even after all these miles. Not just from the stories I¢d heard, but from the sight of this monstrosity before me. Once I relaxed, it was fun and I must have had a silly grin on my face the whole way. Dreams of the Katahdin climb danced through my dizzy, oxygen deprived brain. At one point I had to use one arm and three fingers to life my huge ass over a ledge. Toe holds only in places! My pack is loaded with 3L of water because water is an issue here. Luckily, someone forewarned me of that information. When I got to top I couldn¢t help but to let out a yelp! YEAAAAH!!!The mountains at Lehigh gap almost touch each other from across the river. Steep on both sides leading down to Palmerton in the valley. This is what they call a ¢Super Fund¢ site where Zinc mining companies ruined the mountain tops in search of the valuable mineral. The mountain top here has been excavated and almost nothing natural remains. On the other side of Palmerton is another smaller mountain that looks the same as the bigger one behind me, only I can see what it looks like from above. The company must have planted grass and graded the roads they used to destroy this property. The trail is re-routed through tall grass on flat ground. Above, it¢s like the moon surface with rocks and dust as the fauna. It¢s a shame what they¢ve done to this beautiful area. For a change, I¢m glad that I¢m not tripping on rocks right now. Running my fingers through the waist high blue grass I lose myself in thought only to be startled back to consciousness by the sight of a small black shadow hiding in the grass with only it¢s tail stretched across the trail. So close! So incredibly close to having a horrible day! It was a Rattlesnake! I waited for it to move away on it¢s on sweet time. When it did disappear into the high grass, there was no guarantee that it wasn¢t still right beside the trail. Within striking distance! I removed a tree limb and thoroughly tested the area before passing by.I spent the rest of the day completely paranoid and staring at my feet. My neck hurt from looking straight down all day. Every root, shadow or crack in a rock became a snake! I even flinched at a stick hanging from a tree limb. I thought it was a dangling reptile!Delp¢s spring was dry! Haha! I¢ve got plenty of agua!! Nice flat trail to the shelter but still lots of rocks. Stopped for water with Lady and the Tramp (Dog), Maverick, and Thinker. Water was 0.5 miles down hill. Thunder in the distance, windy and sort of cloudy. They had a barometer that told us it wasn¢t going to rain! Neato! Talked to Lady and petted the Tramp while she told me about their SOBO thru-hike. He¢s the first Thru-hiker dog I¢d met. Apparently, he skipped the PA rocks the first time and is back to redeem himself of his omission.Rain holding off so I make a run for it! When I get to the powerline, I could see that I was definitely in the clear and it was about to be shady! YES! About time!Before I knew it, I was at Windy Gap and filling up my water at the motel there. The hostess takes FOREVER to fill the darn thing up. Sounds like she¢s cleaning it out with a brush or something. No, I¢m not buying a Pepsi! They tried their best to sell me something. Freight Train tried convincing me to stay and split a room with Animal, Magic Man and him. I¢m not having any of it. $15 be-damned. I¢m not missing the last opportunity I¢ll have to snuggle up with the PA rocks!The hike up Wolf Rocks with 3L of water was incredible! Highest concentration of small, football sized rocks yet. Going out with style! Way to go PA! You do your thing bro! Might have been 12 mile without touching dirt!Gave in and threw up the tent. Watching the light shining through the leaves on the ground reminded me of those crappy neon, velvet motion picture night stand lights you see at flea markets back home. The light and wind worked together to create a strobe light effect as I made dinner and reflected on the fun I¢ve had in PA. Maybe the lighting effects are an illusion created by my rattled brain. Must have been similar to a concussion by now as much as I¢ve been bounced around on the trail.The following are observations I¢ve made. Strictly, opinion, and not scientifically based:There are lots of Chipmunks in PA. Don¢t try to take pictures of them. They will scoff at you from behind a bush.Are there snakes in PA? Refer to the first observation. They must eat lots of Chipmunks.Don¢t night hike in PA, if you do, you definitely won¢t SEE what I mean.The best way to kill an eyeball fly is to give them what they want. Cup your hand and smear their pesky bodies all over your face. Don¢t swat, it¢s useless.You will sleep on rocks if you¢re not on a shelter floor.You should order some new tent stakes in advance of PA.The faster you walk, the more it hurts.If you¢ve ever stubbed your toe like you were punting a field goal you probably can imagine why you¢re going to want plenty of toe protection from the rocks.Take a can of white paint and do some fellow hikers a favor.The serious rocks don¢t start until after Duncannon and they don¢t stop until after New Jersey.