Date: 2016-07-15
From: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter

To: Palmerton
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: light rain

I woke up this morning at 7:30 this morning struggling to get up. The last two days I have been so exhausted and having a hard time getting up and out of bed. Finally after some efforts I got up and packed and headed out on trail at about 8:30. There were only 4 of us at the shelter last night. C-sharp was at the shelter last night but moved on right before I crashed for another 4 miles and was shooting for Blue Mt Bed and Breakfast as they let hikers camp in back. Bonnie and Clyde were also there and are south bounders who started in Vermont. There was another person in the shelter who must of arrived after I went to bed and was still asleep in the morning. The morning terrain of the trail was relatively flat following and old road. After 4 miles I reached PA 309 and the Blue Mt. B+B where I was able to fill up on water out back. They are nice enough to let hikers fill up on water when passing thru. I rested for a bit and got back on trail. The black gnats were especially bad this morning and normally I just ignore them, but after having several fly into my eyes and get stuck under the eye lids and then swallowing a few abs coughing to death I put my bug neat on over my head. After leaving 309 the rocks were back in force and I climbed up to the knife edge. The knife edge was a bunch of large boulders smushed together to create a thin line you could rock hope across. It was really neat and interesting but hard to maneuver with a heavy pack hoping from rock to rock it did however provide fantastic views of the valley belo. After making it through the knife edge you walk to Bear Rocks which was more or less a cliff with great views. I took lots of pictures and continued on. The rocks continued as well with smaller boulders. After another few miles of small boulders I reached snd climbed up over Bake Oven Knob, or as my brain called it easy bake oven. After the kids toy. On my way down from the climb with more rock hoping I came across "Thru hikers girlfriend" as she called herself. Her boyfriend was hiking the PCT and she was out trying to bring some trail magic but waited to late in the day and everyone had already left the shelter. She told me she left ice cold waters in a mini cooler at the shelter. Yay was I excited as it was hot and luke warm water doesn't do it quite like ice cold. I stopped at the shelter and drank two bottles of water and moved on. The plan for me was to get to Palmerton for the night. There were 3 towns close to one another yet none had any motels or hotels. Bert's steakhouse said in the guidebook to inquire about stay so that was were I was headed. After 10 miles of rocks straight I came toSalvation. The rocks went away and I was in a field and meadow which had a forest fire several years ago and was growing back. The trail was flat and had great views into the valley. I began the climb down to PA 873. It was steep in sections but overall not to bad. It was getting hotter and more humid as I further descended into the valley. I reached 873, crossed the road and crossed Lehigh River via the 873 bridge. The trail them reached and interesection where you walk down one side of the road cross at the traffic light and then walk back the way you came. The road was 4 lanes of traffic and too busy just to cross. The trail followed the road for about 300 feet and then darted up into the woods. I came across a cooler right before a parking area and was like "is it empty?". No it was full of ice cold soda. Wohooo perfect after cooking on the bridge when I crossed the bridge in the hot sun. While I drank my soda I called Bert's to see if they had space before I trucked the 1.5 miles to town. They told me it was 10 bucks for a cot in back of the building and it included a shower. I said perfect. I took the side trail from the AT and got to Bert's at about 5:30. I checked in and got my towel. They had converted an old garage into a makeshift hostel. They also had built a shower in the alleyway. It was all sort of makeshift and the average person would have been this is sketchy but for a thru hiker 8 days without a real shower this was Salvation. I showered first thing and the had dinner at Bert's which was more of a diner then steakhouse. They do have two sides of the restaurant and the steakhouse side was fairly empty. The diner side was packed so that is where I ended up. After dinner I walked the town and got an iced coffee and ice cream. I made phone calls to the family and then headed back to crash. Tomorrow morning I have the climb up and out of Palmerton which the trail goes through the Palmerton Superfund Site which was from zinc smelting from 1898-1980. The 9 miles of ridge is deforested. Should be an interesting climb as it looks like a cliff from the valley. For now sleep.