Date: 2018-02-14
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Miles today: 0.0

Crazy Brit here checking in ,I did write a piece sometime back on our shakedown hike up in Pennsylvania. But I hit the wrong button It got deleated so I'm trying againWe left Bradenton on the 8-18 -2017 we're heading toward Pennsylvania and Eckville shelter that's 1200 miles so we are going to make one stop overnight, and I got two great guys going with me Dave ,aka ¢ Penguin Man¢ and Don who is yet to get a ,proper trail nameDave drove all the way it was a great trip not to much traffic ,and great conversation , when they could get a word in,we arrived at the shelter about three in the afternoon , nice camp site, set up our tents and drove into town to get a good meal and pick up a few items.When we were all set up Dave drove his car to a friends house where it would stay untill we were finished and need to get home, our aim was to hike from Eckville shelter to Delaware Water Gap, Made my first coffee on the trail, that done in to bed.We had a very good night sleep and woke to a really heavy dew this campsite is down in a small little valley so we get pretty damp anyway we dried our tents and had a good breakfast and then got all packed up and ready, let's do this,this is our start of the trail.of course it was uphill to the start of the trail then there it was the famous white blaze a bit faded but nevertheless my first white blaze. It was a nice walk through some woods ,though pretty easy so far where are all these rocks.Then it started uphill small rocks then these got bigger and bigger ,we had lunch at a place called ¢Dan's Pulpit¢. Great views, but on we go more more rocks I was sure that the ridge runners have piled them up right in our way, every Rockfield had a pretty white blaze going right into the center of it. We made it to the Allentown shelter. We were not pushing the miles as Dave was getting through a bout of test Testecular cancer, and it was at Eckville Shelter that he had to come off the trail and get treatment for this this was in 2013, so this is a pilgrimage for him to get back where he finished and to see if the chemo has messed him up.He is doing great just the big climbs get to him, and he has to stop and rest hey ¢Hike your own hike¢ , we are here to support him there but for the grace of God go I.Allentown Shelter is a great place, met some great people one was Scott a Sobo he was on his way and going to finish at Springer Mountain where he has a house, real cool guy then as we were sat around the fire in Walked a young guy didn't get his name, just had his dinner, very quiet guy he just set up is bivi ,that was it ,he had just done a 30 mile trek over this terrain awesome.I had a restless night, had breakfast ,coffee ,oatmeal then packed up our tents, our young Sobo was long gone, Scott had told us that the water supply was just down the mountain, and the first spring was dry but there was another just a bit further down on the yellow blaze trail,this was OK. He also said there was a blue blaze out to the trail just below the shelter.¢WRONG¢ we must've heard him wrong as we cannot find the blue blaze, and after bushwhacking we decided to head back to the shelter, Dave by this time was in trouble so we decided to rest up there, there was no pressure to do miles as we were out testing no good trying to kill Dave that bloody Chemo really Sucks.We set up our tents and had a nap, hey there is no agenda let's collect some firewood and stay here tonight we are learning stuff all the time, and you ¢don't leave your wing man¢, this night I slept really well and we broke camp at 8 o'clock nice easy hike out to a service road there we find our first signs of trail angels ,there were 10, 1 gallon jugs of water left by the trail angel, his name was ¢Dapper ¢ and he had done a NOBO hike in 2017 thanks ¢Dapper¢ .We topped up our water bottles and headed out, we came out of the forest at US 309 right along side the Blue Mountain Inn, and we were invited in for lunch and a couple of beers, pretty cool, after lunch it was onto Tripoli campsite it was a hard climb down to the campsite really steep Dave is going to find it tough tomorrow morning coming out, a really cool campsite, a hunter has set up an A-frame shelter , we set up our tents had dinner I had a mountain house chicken breast and mashed potatoes it actually tasted like chicken I also had a double hot chocolate got into bed at 6:50 hard day tomorrow ¢Crazy Brit ¢¢out¢ good night.10-21-17, hiking out looked tough we were looking straight up and Dave had gone on, so myself and Don decided to push and do it nonstop, which we did it was awesome ,we met Dave at the top he was fine just sat there and resting. On over rocks boulder field's, and we came out at the legendary Knife Edge ,wow this is a hard climb up but on top the view was stunning the White blazes went right down the center of the Knife Edge really amazing, there were big drops on either side, the view was absolutely amazing ,we had a snack and met some hikers going north and a couple going south.On we went ,rocks, rocks, ¢oh did I tell you rocks¢ from the top of one of the huge pile of rocks and boulders, I looked into the forest, and there was a perfectly nice trail, the only difference was no white Blaze, So up-and-down every rock or boulder pile we saw had white blaze¢s going over them ¢ Sadists ¢.Eventually we came out to the Oven Knob car park, this is where we stopped for lunch it was at this time that Dave decided that his hiking days in the mountains was over, chemo had taken it's toll on Dave's body ,and for now he was done, I have never seen a person so beat down it was really sad, at least he was man enough to admit defeat ,tough as this was.Dave called his friends and they said they would bring his car over, after checking that all was good, he told us to go so with heavy hearts Don and I left him and walked into the forest up the trail, we were heading to Asheville Tower Road, so Dave would meet up with us.We had a great hike there was some really tough places ,we even have time to check out Oak Oven Knob this is a lump of rock sticking out through the forest, there we saw the Audubon Society doing a raptor count the raptors were on a migratory course, there were lots of sightseers at this point it's not far for them to walk in from the car park and enjoy the view.We had to check out the shelter at Bake Oven Nob this shelter is one of the oldest on the Appalachian Trail, there were two guys there setting up for the night it looked really cozy we had a little chat, good times, I went into the shelter to check out the visitors book, and on the opposing page were I was to sign there was a note from Graybeard the 82 year old guy who would be setting the record for the oldest person to Thru Hike the Appalachian Trail in one Year.Of course I should have taken a photo of his message and his logo right opposite mine, then it was on again rocks, rocks, rocks ,these freaking rocks must've been piled up here to piss off Thru Hikers, we popped out of the forest by some powerlines, and there right down in the valley Far below was a guy with a blueshirt on , its Dave , we scramble down to the parking lot he was so pleased that both Don and I had made it over this rough part of the trail, he felt good that both Don and Myself were pleased were our performances.We loaded Into Dave's car and he gave us a tour of his old stomping grounds of Palmerton I forgot to tell you that David grew up not far from here.,We drove to Palmerton to look around and have a big dinner, We have to search around for a place to buy a beer and I picked up a six pack for us to have sat around our camp fire tonight.Dave then drove us back to Lehigh Bridg, ande we hiked up to just under Outerbridge Shelter,so on the way up we could look across at the Lehigh Gap where we will be hiking tomorrow, I went on ahead and there was a party going on at the Outerbridge Shelter ,so we found a great campsite off of the trail, this small campsite was perfect, and it has a small little fire pit so we set up camp, collected our firewood, this would be perfect for our last night on the AT trail we lit our fire and sat around having dinner and a couple of beers, we toasted each other and the AT it was a perfect end to a great shakedown hike lots of elevation ,rocks ,rocks,rocks even around the rocks I was pleased with myself now it was time for bed.We woke to a great day, packed up and hiked down to the car, packed in our bags and headed across the river to Palmerton for a big breakfast ¢Yum Yum¢ Bacon ,Eggs ,Hashbrowns, Toast and two big Pancakes lots of coffee I've got to get my¢ Hiker hunger ready¢.After breakfast we then drove down to the Lehigh bridge and parked in the car park ,we looked up at Lehigh gap and started up, nice and gentle then steeper and steeper and steeper ,once we got above the tree line it started to get hand over hand ,and to think I have no pack on good job I had my hiking poles ,we got to the top the view was spectacular you could see for miles and miles all up and then the Lehigh Valley. I'm going to remember this view for a long long time. Back to the car all packed up ready for our trip back to the flatlands of Florida.For me it was a great hike to see what I could do, and test all my gear I only need to make a few tweaks here and there I am so pleased. It was a great pleasure to spend time with really cool people, Don and Dave were great hiking companions. I feel really bad for Dave his dream of finishing the ATA has had a major setback, we can only hope it's for a short time. Don is going ahead with his plans he aims to start his thru hike along with myself on March 10th. Thanks for reading hope you didn't get too bored there's even more to come.Crazy Brit