Date: 2009-06-26
From: Stealth Tenting near Lehigh Furnace Gap, PA

To: Little Gap, PA 
Miles today: 11.3

Cell goodOG notesI can not talk about today without first thanking Chris (Trail Boss PA) and his wife Theresa for being fantastic people. They have taken us into their home, treated us like family, and supported our us with trail support. In fact Chris would answer his phone "AT Support" when we called him; caller ID tipped him off it was us calling. C6 has described all the wonderful things they did for us so I will not repeat it. Thank you Chris and Thresa you have shown us how God's love comes to us when we don't expect it. I hope someday we can repay you in some way.We remote camped last night along the trail. I didn't say Stealth camp because we were 10 feet from the trail in an established campsite. We're supposed to use a preestablished site or go 100 feet from the trail to site that would be used one time. This is what is know as "Leave No Trace" camping. The one time use site would rejuvinate itself and is supposed go back to the way we found it. The problem is the AT is being loved to death. There are so many hikers using and camping along the trail that their impact is changing it dramatically. We see campsites all the time and most seem to have fire rings (A circle of rocks that had once contained a fire). By using these sites we are actually using a "Concentrated Impact" philosophy. As long as these sites exist and we use them we are not making any new sites that scar the trail environment.While we were packing up we had other hikers pass our campsite. We spoke to most of them as we usually do with other hikers. One fellow told us he camped near a parking lot that services a popular vista. What he didn't realize when he set up his tent and settled in was the local kids come up there to party. He said it was noisy and he didn't get much sleep. After he went by another hiker, 357 Magnum, came by. He just started a flip flop hike of the AT, he's hikng from Harpers Ferry to Katahdin then riding back to Harpers Ferry and he'll hike south to Springer. He said he wasn't able start hiking until now so he wasn't able to do a south to north thru hike. By going north now and summiting Katahdin in the fall he should miss to cold up there and then by October he should miss the heat down south. Incidentally he hiked a thru hike in 2007. C6 and I met him with a bunch of hikers at the Deli in West Hartford, Vermont back then. In our conversation with him he told us! he had just seen a bear about 1/4 mile up the trail. He described it as the biggest bear he had ever seen. With that news we finished what we were doing and saddled up for our hike, we were just about to do that anyway.C6 described the wonderful support Trail Boss PA gave us so I'll skip that. The most interesting part of today's hike was climbing out of Lehigh Gap. This climb is actually done on exposed rock. We could see the whole valley below us as we assended it. It was steep at times which added to the excitement. I personally never felt it we were in any danger. Even as we went up there were many large rocks we could depend on to hold us if we slipped. On one hand I was glad the sun was out and the rocks were dry. Our boots had great grip on the rocks as we climbed, if the rocks had been wet we might have had less traction. Now on the other hand the sun was hot and dry, we were very hot as we climbed. Incidentally the climb doesn't last too long and soon you are on top of the mountain. On my 2006 hike I hiked straight across the mountain top to Little Gap. Since then they have rerouted the trail to skirt the top by going arount the rim. The area was damaged by a zink foundry many years ago and nothing can grow up there. The government has declared this an area that will get money from the Environmental Superfund they set up to clean it up and repair it. I understand they will be doing work toward that goal and for the safety of hikers moved us away from there. Both the original AT and the reroute have very few trees to provide shade so the hiking is HOT.We are very greatful to have a couple of angels looking over us today. Again I say thank you Chris and Thresa. C6 notesWhat a day!! Another day when God's hand in our lives is evident! Chris Dimenichi is a guy OG met in 2006 when Dean, Brenda, Wanda, Jeff, and Tim surprised OG with wonderful trail magic. They drove down to where OG was, without him knowing, and cooked a wonderful dinner for OG and other hikers who were there. Then they cooked a fabulous pancake breakfast the next morning for OG and any other hiker who came along. Chris was one of those hikers, and he remembers the kindness so well that he offered to help us if there was anything he could help us with during this hike.We stayed in touch over the past couple weeks and realized Chris' help would be wonderful. When we talked with him last evening to finalize our coordination for today, Chris said he could help us get our box at the Palmerton Post Office. He said he would meet us at Lehigh Gap, and offered to take most of our stuff so we could slack pack up the North side of Lehigh Gap to Little Gap. We decided to take him up on that wonderful offer, and as we hiked the section in the blazing sun, we realized God's hand was in this. We could have done the rock scramble and hike with our full packs, but it was so much better without our full packs. The sun was so hot (with no breeze or shade for more than two hours) that we found ourselves drained and hiking extremely slow. Thank you so much, Chris, for the water, helping us slack pack, and taking us to the Post Office to get our box!Then Chris met us at Little Gap later and took us to his home. Chris and Theresa fed us a fabulous dinner and we thoroughly enjoyed wonderful conversations with them and Chris' parents. Now we're bedded down in their home for a good night's sleep.In addition to the incredible support and hospitality, we were blessed to be in their home when a severe thunderstorm blew through. Wow...we sure were taken care of today!Old Goat & Check Six