Date: 2006-06-23
From: Blue Mtn. Summit

To: Palmerton, PA
Miles today: 13.6

Short day on the trail. Nothing exciting about it. More trees, more rocks. I've found how to make the rocks more tolerable, at least for a while. Instead of cursing them and thinking of them as just torture to withstand on the way to Maine, I can make them into a game. I challenge myself to step on just the right ones and move as quickly and surely as I can before tripping. I also turn up my speed. By lifting my feet as high as I can over the biggest and most jagged. I'll go as far and as fast as I can until rocks are too many and too big that speed is hazardous. But the fun doesn't last. I get worn out and my feet too sore and the hike is just a chore again.I passed Lunchbox and Park Bench who had cowboy camped near the road, both feeling the effect of a drinking night at the Blue Mtn. Summit. I told them I planned to hike to Palmerton and stay at the hostel. That way I could do the climb out of Lehigh Gap tomorrow morning before the midday heat.They caught and passed me later in the afternoon while I was playing Hopscotch on the rocks. It was hot and humid and I was just counting the miles to town. I stopped at the Bake Oven Knob Shelter for lunch and after debating over walking the half mile to the spring. I did and I passed Little Engine coming back up. She and Gotta Go had also stopped for lunch. Gotta Go was beat from hiking on the miles of rocks. They're exhausting.Six miles later I hit George W. Outerbridge Shelter. Park Bench and Lunchbox were there talking to a trail angel who had a pickup truck down in the parking lot. He shuttled us the two miles into Palmerton. We looked up at the bare ridge and tomorrow's climb. I was glad to see what we've all been hearing about. It's steep and treeless. The face is orange and looked like a thousand foot rockslide. I knew it wasn't impossible because it's done by hiker's every day, but there's relatively few people who consider that there's even a trail up there let alone it's hikeable.I was looking forward to it. IT reminded me of how I felt as a kid on family vacations in New Hampshire. I know there were people walked into the woods and up mountains with packs on their backs. I never met any of them but was sure they were cool as hell. Many years later I'm looking at tomorrow's hike and feeling cool as hell myself. It's just another day in the life and no big deal, but my little kid inside is pretty excited.The Jailhouse Hostel in Palmerton is in the basement of the old Police Station. It's free to all thru hikers. To stay you have to register at the police station. Guests have a 10:00 curfew.Free Fall was already there and let us all in. I showered and went searching for a cop to register. Didn't find one. Did find Texas though. He'd just hiked in and needed to register too. When we didn't find a cop we headed to the diner for food. Lunchbox and Park Bench were already there. Small town.We wandered through the carnival after eating. It was just a small one, but plenty of noise and flashing lights. Texas, only 19 himself, thought it was funny to watch the junior high and high school kids strutting and marking territory. We sat and watched a classic rock cover band for half an hour and headed back to jail. Stopped at the polica station, but still no cops. The police station is across the street from the bank. Charlie Foxtrot had just arrived in town and was looking for pizza. By 10:00 we were all back in the basement talking the usual hiker trash. Lunchbox was picking the banjo. I glanced out at the weather. Looked like rain and thunderstorms. Rain came, but we didn't hear much of it sleeping in the basement.