Date: 2004-06-05
From: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter

To: Slatington, PA
Miles today: 17.4

Last night, Sundance lent me her cell phone so that I could call my parents on my birthday. (Her's Mom been complaining that she doesn't use all the minutes on her plan, anyway). So while I was talking to my Mom, I said, "My boots will hold out fine as long as it doesn't rain. When it rains, the dampness rots the seams away, but as long as it doesn't rain too much, it should be okay."So naturally, when I woke up this morning the rain was pouring. We all stayed in our sleeping bags until after 8, eating breakfast there and reading books and generally not wanting to move. It was a cold rain, too, which made it worse.Finally, the rain seemed to die off, and we packed up and began walking a little before 9:30. The walking wasn't too bad for a little while, but then the PA rocks made their worst appearance yet-- a few miles of walking over boulders, culminating in about a 300 yard long climb over a huge rocky outcrop. The rocks were slick from the rain, which made it even worse, and I was frequently crawling on my hands and knees, or sliding along on my butt so I didn't have to risk my footing on the rocks.So between the rocks and the rain, I was pretty miserable. Then I passed a dayhiker on his way to some rocks that I had passed a few minutes ago. "Me and my buddies have a barbeque set up at the parking area," he said. "Help yourself to a hamburger or something."Sweet! Trail magic! I practically ran the mile to the parking lot, where I saw a tarp set up and a barbeque. Skyline and Sundance were already there, talking to a couple other people. It turned out that they thru-hiked last year, and that they're now doing some trail magic of their own. I was very happy to find a place just to sit out of the rain, and the cheeseburgers and chips were just an added bonus. Being ex-thru-hikers, they knew what we were looking for, and they had fruit, Snickers bars, even denatured alcohol in case we were running low on stove fuel. It was just awesome.We ended up hanging out for an hour and a half, sheltering from the rain and eating. Finally I felt like I was starting to really get cold just sitting here, so the three of us packed up and kept walking. It was almost 3, and we still had 8 miles to walk.My original plan was to stay at George Outerbridge Shelter, which is about 0.6 miles before Lehigh Gap. At Lehigh Gap, there are two major roads, one of which goes into a town called Slatington. Skyline and Sundance had a maildrop at a motel there, so that's where they were heading.In the end, the rain is too much, and I decide to accompany Skyline and Sundance into Slatington. Hopefully that will give me a chance to dry out a bit-- I'm pretty well soaked at the moment, and my socks are squishing water in my boots.So we descend into Lehigh Gap, and get to an auto dealership right near the trail. From there, we called the motel (they provide shuttle service to and from the trail for free), and the owner came and got us.It turns out that this isn't actually a motel, it's a rooming house, and hikers are the only overnight guests he accepts. He's really nice, actually, but the place is a dump. The only room he has for us is an apartment in the basement that's in the process of being renovated. The bathroom has been completely torn up, and tools are scattered everywhere, but at least it's not raining in here.We have some mediocre Italian food for dinner, then stay up late watching a TV special on Ronald Reagan.