Date: 2009-07-29
From: Palmerton, PA

To: Leroy Smith Shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: moderate rain

7/29A trail angel picked me, Rufio, and Son up at 7:30 am. It was tough to leave Palmerton, as it has been one of the best trail towns to date. Everyone was just so incredibly helpful. I had purchased a ton of fruit last night and sat at the trailhead for a good half hour munching down on some peaches, blueberries, and bananas. I knew that today was going to be a tough climb, initially, as I would climb high above Lehigh Gap. The AT Thru-Hikers Companion lists the climb as the toughest climb in grade until the White Mountains up in New Hampshire. It turned out to be challenging, but a lot of fun. It was a cloudy morning, but as I was ascending, I could see the Lehigh River stretched out far below and I could hear the noise of the busy highway, but it was somewhat blanketed by the clouds and the mountainside. I had a relatively full pack and a ton of water, as I didn¢t want to get any water that would be close to the Superfund site, out of fear of getting zinc poisoning. Halfway up the climb and on its steepest part, I came across Dreamcatcher who had practically made holes into the rocks with her hands, as she was gripped with fear. The drop below was definitely a bit intimidating, especially if you looked. I absolutely love Dreamcatcher and she¢s one of my favorite people out on the trail, so I really wanted to help her out. For the next 20 minutes, I worked with her to get her up the rocky cliff. As she was climbing up, I snapped a few photos of her in action, overcoming her fear of heights. Being a believer in faith, she said that God had sent me along to help and encourage her up the mountain. Just after the huge climb up the denuded rocks, I made my way into the Superfund area. I was absolutely astonished as to the sheer destruction of vegetation. It was grey and dark and all of the trees had fallen down, coughing and eventually dying from all of the zinc pollution. I ran into Blue Eyes and Gnarley, good buds from the trail, and walked with them for the next few hours. At one point, I stopped to change my sweaty clothing (from the climb), while they kept hiking ahead. I was told by a section hiker that a huge storm was coming soon and that I should seek shelter as fast as I could. Lightening flashes were coming down very close by and I could hear the rumbles almost instantly. The rain was absolutely DUMPING on me at this point. As I was up on the ridge, I was in danger of being struck, so as soon as I came to a campsite, I tossed my poles to the side, pulled out my tarp tent and placed it over my head with all of my belongings. The key was to not get struck by lightening and to ensure that my belongings would stay dry from the constant downpour. While I was huddled underneath the tent, I texted my cousin Alan to find out just exactly how bad the storm was and when he thought it would be letting up. Sure enough, I just had to wait for 20 minutes or so. Fletch, another thru-hiker, told me later that he saw me all curled up as if monsters were after me. I thought that this was an interesting analogy. At the Leroy A. Smith shelter, I stopped to hang out for a bit. While there, I met Lone Wolf, who is a Vietnam veteran and former paratrooper in the US Army. He was an interesting character and had very strong views on how the world was on the verge of destruction. He had quite a few conspiracy theories that were a bit outlandish and I had to hold myself a few times from explaining that these theories were far from the truth. Blue Eyes, Gnarley, and Dreamcatcher were all there in the late afternoon. Blue Eyes and I tried to start a fire and we were on the verge of being successful when another MONSTER storm came through and just rained everything out. It continued raining until the early morning.