Date: 2008-05-27
From: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter

To: Palmerton,PA/Jail House Hostel
Miles today: 17.7

No rocks. Rocks. No rocks. Rocks. A little bit of both. It seems that local trail maintainers were disputing over whether to send the trail through rocks or not, so the Appalachian Trail Conservancy(ATC) brokered a peace treaty requiring a little bit of both. There is no word yet on whether the ATC plans to build on their peace brokering success by working for peace in the Middle East. I meandered along this morning, not hitting trail until 6:45AM, a fairly late start these days.The trail leaving the shelter was fairly level and rockless. It was a nice change of peace for this state.The trail then became rocky. These were small rocks that twist your ankle in every possible direction. One must take time on this section or one's ankles will promptly go on strike and refuse to cooperate.Then, once again, the trail hopped on an old road bed and smoothly meandered through the moss covered forest of Pennsylvania.It was then time to traverse the ridgeline, which meant tiptoeing over car sized boulders and walking seemingly endless rock faces, which can be tricky to walk across when they are at an angle, which is most of the time.This is where the ATC stepped in. The ATC issued a beurocratic order requiring the trail to be rocky enough to slow hikers down, but not enough to make hikers cancel their ATC memberships or write letters of discontent.During my lunch break I called my Grandma and she informed me that Harrdbound left trail a few days back. I would like to congradulate(sp?) Hardbound on walking 1,115 miles. That's a vewry long way.At the George W. Outerbridge Shelter, Cookie and I determined it was too early to stop, so we decided to walk .9 further and hitch into Palmerton,PA.Atleast that was the plan. When we arrived in Lehigh Gap, we discovered it was going to be a nearly impossible hitch due to the way the road was created. The road had a very narrow shoulder lane, which meant cars would not have had a good spot to pull over. Cookie and I decided to cut our losses and walk one mile into town.Once we arrived, we chekced in at the Borough Hall for a bunk in the "Jail House Hostel". The town provides bunks in the basement at no charge for hikers. They also gave us care packages, which contained pian killer medicine, a snack bar, travel size toilet paper, travel size toothpaste, a tooth brush, a postcard, and information about the town. The Borough Hall also had showers that hikers are allowed to use at no charge.After settling in and taking a shower, I walked to the library to chek my email and add a couple entries to my journal.Afterwards I resupplied. The local food store gives a free apple to all thru-hikers who put a star on the map of the United States showing where they live.Today I once again consumed a half gallon of ice cream, this time it was cookies and cream. It was quite delicious.Tomorrow I shall climb out of Lehigh Gap, which looks like a larfe rock scramble. Luckly that will be first thing in the morning, so hopefully the heat won't be that bad.I am ready for the final push through PA, I'm sick of this state. The amount of time it will take me to have completed this state will be the same amount of time it takes me to complete NJ, NY, and Connecticut.There's something to sleep on.Good night, and good luck.Kirby