Date: 2007-07-02
From: GEORGE W OUTBRIDGE SHELTER

To: DELP'S SPRING
Miles today: 10.6

From: George W. Outerbridge ShelterTo: Delp's SpringToday Miles:10.6Total Mileage: 1252.9Today was an event filled day! We started out early as the two guys in the shelter, Chef and Steven, were up and packing at 5:30. They left and we were out and walking by 7:00 AM. We hiked down to Lehigh Gap and then road walked into Palmerton as Calamity had a mail drop. The walk on the road was not good as we were on the side of a four lane, very busy highway. But we did it and got into Palmerton at 8:00 AM. The first thing we did was go to a convenience store and Calamity got a soda and I got chocolate milk and asked about a breakfast place. They told us Bert's dinner and off we went as the post office didn't open until 8:30.Bert's was great! We ordered eggs and bacon and pancakes. There were two women in there and when they left, they paid for our breakfast!! Then this very nice older couple Annie and Willard Strohl offered to take us back to the trail. We still had to go to the post office so we said we would meet them there. Then in the post office the guy behind the desk gave us a box and tape to send CJ's package home. Then Willard and Annie picked us up and drove us to the trail two miles out of town. The people of Palmerton were some of the nicest people I have ever met and I need to go back there when I am done and go to Bert's for breakfast. We have heard about the climb out of Lehigh Gap for a long time and have been dreading it and for good reason. It turned out to be the scariest and hardest climb I have ever done in my life. At one point you had to cling to the rocks and just climb up with no real hand or foot holds. I am sure for people with long arms and legs it was not so bad but for Calamity and I, it was terrifying. On one part I made it up (I don't know how) but Calamity just could not do it so she took her pack off and we tied two ropes to it and got that up and then she could climb up easily. I think a lot of it is mind over matter and once you get that scared you just can't do it. I would recommend the bad weather trail to anyone who thinks they might not make it or has very short legs. If I had to do it over, I would take it and not feel bad at all. We are out here to hike and not to rock climb. The rest of the climb was also hard and I was so glad to get to the top. It was only a mile but it took us almost 2 hours!At the top you walk along a ridge of exposed rocks and dead trees with not one living thing - due to the fumes from the Palmerton Zinc Company. It is a government EPA superfund and they are trying to bring it back but they have a long way to go. We walked along that for 2.5 miles before we saw trees with leaves on them. And then we turned up into the woods and met two thru hikers which turned out to be good as somehow we were going south! So we turned and started north again. We stopped for a break and saw a mother turkey with four or five chicks. I had never seen that before and it was just so cute to see them all walking along in a line. It looked like kindergarten students with their teachers. Then we went up Little Gap, which was a breeze after Lehigh. We walked on to Delp's Spring and found a good campsite and stopped for the day around 6:00 PM. It seemed to take forever to walk 10 miles and I am glad to be in my tent and in a prone position for the night!