Date: 2018-07-19
From: Palmerton, PA

To: Pine needle campsite
Miles today: 5.2

Last night the bunk room got hot. Rosie and I decided to move the mattresses in the living room where Lupine was sleeping and have a slumber party. We rearranged the chairs so we could fit both mattresses in the room. It was a tight fit but we managed to do it. The window AC made the room frigid and I have to grab my sleeping bag. It was better than sleeping in a hot room. We woke up well rested and ordered take out right next door from Bert's. I got the creamed chipped brisket with home fries. We hung out in the living room watching the movie Hide and Seek. We did laundry in Bert's basement while we watched the movie. Check out was 11 am and we hung out outside after check out. The woman who ran the hostel made us feel that we had to leave so we packed up and hit the town.Lupine and I needed to go to the post office so we headed down there while Rosie hit up the local coffee shop. I got a resupply box at the post office with my replacement foot inserts, dinners, and protein bars. Lupine got some Oreos from her friend and other fun stuff. We stopped at the local ice cream shop since the day was only heating up. We met Rosie at the coffee shop and hung out for a few hours. I ate my leftover lo mein from last night which didn't make me sick. I broke down the resupply and packed everything into my food bag. Rosie and Lupine went to the grocery while I headed over to the barber shop. Over the past few days my hair had been getting into my eyes and I needed a trim. The barber told me that she used to get more thru hikers in town but this year there wasn't as many.  I said most hikers were probably deterred from coming to Palmerton because there were not many places to stay and the police started cracking down on hikers sleeping in the park. With my hair shorter it felt like I had less wind drag. I walked down the road to meet Rosie and Lupine at the grocery store. Rosie picked up a few items for me. We stopped by Dunkin donuts for bagels and water then headed outside to hitch back to the trail. A guy on his lunch break saw us and offered us a ride. We noticed that he was wearing a workout outfit. Rosie asked him if he had just finished working out. It was a strange question and he said he just got on break from his job. We got a quick ride back to the trailhead. Back on the trail we found a note saying not to trust the mechanic man. He never showed up to pick up a few hikers. We had heard from Tom in Port Clinton about him. I don't think we'll run into him since we planned on carrying enough water to not rely on him. The initial climb out of Lehigh gap was steep. There were large boulders that we had to scramble up. The view from the climb was beautiful as we could see the valley below. I had to put my trekking poles away since I had to use my hands. Sometimes it felt like my pack would pull me backwards with all the water weight that I was carrying. We eventually got to the top and noticed a large fence. It was a revitalization area for plants and wildlife to combat the heavy metals that were dumped on the mountain from zinc smelting. It had taken several years to grow plants on the mountain.  We ran into a guy named Kent who Rosie and Lupine saw the other day. They had asked Kent how he was doing and he replied by saying that he was constitutional. Which Rosie and Lupine had to look up. Apparently it was a New England phrase. Kent said that he lived in the town when the zinc smelting was still operational. Back then you couldn't see more than 150 feet from all the smoke in the air. When they dumped the slag from the operation it poisoned the whole mountain. Some trees had started growing back but they tent to pull the heavy metals out of the ground. When the trees die they don't decompose since bacteria has a difficult time growing. We said our goodbyes to Kent then pressed on. The trail was flat and we had a continuous view of the valley. We ran into a berry bush but refrained from eating from it since it could contain heavy metals. The sun started setting and we watched as it disappeared over the mountain.  Night fell and we night hiking over rocks and boulders. Lupine hadn't been feeling well and we stopped after 6 miles in a pine forest.  The pine needles had made the ground soft to setup a tent. I got everything setup and made chicken with mashed potatoes. We talked about other shooting prospects with the bra. It started to get late and I hit the tent.Tonight I'm sleeping on a soft bed of pine needles while looking through the treetops at the stars.