Date: 2010-06-07
From: Palmerton, PA

To: Delaware Water Gap, PA
Miles today: 154.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Palmerton, PA:I forgot to thank my family in my last entry. So... thanks Fam! You guys are the best! Thanks for sterlizing all of my gear, mom!Shortly after I got back on the trail, my Aunt came hiking with me for three days. It was her first backpacking trip, and she did VERY well. I was impressed. She just kept on surprising me with how well she did! In those three days we came across three trail magic coolers. That was pretty sweet as well! She hiked from route 225 to route 501 with me. In total, about 35 miles. I spent a night at her house to clean up, do laundry, and eat, and the next morning my uncle dropped me back off at 501. I was lucky, though, because I was able to slackpack for most of the day. For those of you unfamiliar with the term- Slackpacking is when you hike with a day pack because somebody is helping you out. For me, it meant that I was able to hike 24 miles with a day pack, and my uncle met me at another road crossing with my backpack. From there, I did another 6 to finish off my second 30 mile day! Beyond that, though, PA is... well... rocky. Some hikers get what we call the Virginia Blues (because you are in the state for about a month. 1/4 of the trail is in there...) But I think I've got the PA blues. I am sick and tired of tripping over rocks of all shapes and sizes. And worrying about the copperheads and rattlesnakes that are being spotted out the wazoo. I have only seen one rattlesnake in PA so far, and would really like to not see any more. And I probably won't see a copperhead if there is one... because they're pretty much impossible to see. Happy thoughts, eh? I've heard Pennsylvania called ROCKSylSNAKESia. Seems fitting to me. If that's not bad enough, I saw my FIFTH bear this morning. It was huge. And seemingly not afraid of me at all, which was a bit disconcerting. Especially since it was only about 50 feet away with a straight shot toward me down the trail. I swear to god it was the one part of the trail this morning without rocks. Oh and there are ticks too! Mostly dog ticks, but I pulled a deer tick off my leg yesterday morning. So.. here's my plan: Get out of PA as soon as humanly possible! (meaning tomorrow)But not everything is bad. There are some good things. Weather has been pretty good (despite the severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings last night... I wish I was kidding). But I really can't complain because I've gotten some amazing trail magic. I've been hiking with a father and son named EZ and Trail Trash pretty much since 501, so two days now. Bright Eyes (Meredith) and I met them one night back in Virginia, but I hadn't seem them since then until two days ago. I was hiking with them yesterday morning and told EZ about a dream I'd had the night before where he and his son started pulling all of these fresh fruits and veggies out of their packs for supper. And I was stuck there eating my ramen with instant mashed potatoes. Well, it turns out, there was a restaurant 100 yards off the trail last night and he treated Trail Trash and I to a meal. So instead of some questionable "food" I would have concocted for supper, I had a nice little salad and somes mussels and marinara over linguini. Plus, there was a blues band playing at the restaurant. Thank you so much EZ!!! Well, I should get moving, because I still have over ten miles to go today and who knows what the rocks will be like. I know they'll be bad, but have no idea HOW bad they will be. I'm in a beeline for NJ... where I supposedly get to look forward to many bear encounters.Homeward, these battered shoes.