Date: 2008-05-30
From: Lehigh Gap, PA

To: Wind Gap, PA
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Well it was up and out of the house by 7:00 a.m. Scribe's mom actually took methe 45 minutes back to Lehigh Gap, because Gadget is at the doc's with kneeproblems (that were either caused or aggravated by hiking the AT lastyear...poor guy is limping all the time).Forecasted for high's in the low 80's, clouding up and possible storms. I wasjust hoping I'd be finished before the storms came along. I told Gadget andScribe to meet me at Wind Gap around 6:00 p.m., but soon realized I'd forgottento add in my extra hour for breaks/lunch/getting water so I figured I'd see howmy pace was going and call them later.I stepped off at 8:18 a.m. There was a tiny chill in the windy air, but thatdidn't last for long. I hiked across the bridge, up the road a bit, and thenyou see a sign that tells you where the trail is....going straight up themountain. I started climbing and it is always amazing to me how far you canget in such a short amount of time. It was mostly dirt/loose rock trail untilabout half way up, where it was more like rock climbing. Man was this FUN!!It was 1000 verticle feet in less than 1 mile up and you end up on these HUGErocks where I was climbing up on all fours at times. I had to stow my hikingpoles again. There was one point where my short legs couldn't make the reach,so I had to turn around and hop up--land on my butt on the next ledge and thenscoot up the rock backwards. I even got a little unnerved at one point becauseI wasn't sure where to put my feet/hands to climb up anymore. Wow, it wasamazing and so awesome. My guidebook states this is among the most challengingrock scrambles south of the New Hampshire. I guess that's good news for mehuh...if I enjoyed it so much (of course, I didn't have a full pack either).So you get "to the top" just to be traversing the side of the mountain on thesame rocks sort of diagonally towards the actual top ridge. Someone hadpainted an American flag on the side of the mountain on one huge rock. Thistype of hiking is fantastic for balance training. Your hiking poles arepointless so you rely on your balance and sure footing to go from rock to rock. I really love it.I did reach the official top and was shocked at how differently the terrainlooked from any other part of the trail thus far. It looked like a wastelandof sorts. Almost no green trees/bushes, tons of dead tree trunks all lined up,rocks, sand, it actually looked like a desert. Later on I remembered this isthe Palmerton EPA Superfund Site, where almost 100 years of zinc smelting tookplace here and it totally devastated the natural environment. The trail wasabout 8 feet wide and flat flat flat and just like a dirt road. It did go intoa section of rocks and I ended up getting lost for about 10 minutes, because Ijust couldn't see any blazes. I walked back to the last blaze I'd seen andrealized now the trail was being marked by cairns. I wasn't looking for those.It was still beautiful in it's own way, but also sad. I will say there aresigns posted and even a 1 mile trail relocation because they are revegetatingthe site and helping it rejuvinate. It will be a while though, because thisreminded me of what the earth would look like trying to recover from a nuclearholocaust of sorts.Parts of this area were totally exposed to the sun, so I was glad it was morning and cooler. I listened to my iPod for the first time today. I knew any 20-miler would require some distraction for me, because they are really hard for me, even if I'm slackpacking.I got to Little Gap around 11:00 and decided to eat lunch. Scribe threwtogether a PBJ on REAL bread and I had m&m's too. After Little Gap, the trailturns back into what I'd been used to, pretty much ever since Damascus.There's not much change in forest scenery from Damascus to here you know. I'mlooking forward to the change I hear is coming starting in Vermont.I knew I'd need to stop for water at least once, so I decided to stop at aspring that was .37 miles DOWN called Delps Spring. It seemed this was theshortest distance to water other than the shelter, but the shelter was only 5miles from Wind Gap.I headed down to the spring and yes, it was a ways, but there have been worseblue blazes. I got down there and filled my water with that great cold springwater, wet my buff and wiped the salt off my face (I think this is what thegnats like by the way) and took a break. By the time I got back up to the ATit had been like 45 minutes! I didn't even realize that much time had gone by.Onward I went, and the sky was getting overcast now, so I decided to stoplistening to music to be aware of any thunder. I didn't hear any thankfully.There were some very rocky sections today, but as always, they are followed bylovely trail, so I still can't complain.I only saw 3 deer and 1 little snake today, and not 1 other human being at all.Understandably so though, I wouldn't imagine this section being a popularday-hiking section. It was overall very flat, which made it easy to keep mynormal (or a bit faster) pace. I will say I must have stubbed the front of myshoe on rocks at least 50 times today, but I caught myself everytime. That'sjust because I felt so light on my feet and was moving a little less cautiouslythan normal.By 4:30 I was at the Leroy Smith Shelter with 5 miles to go. I called Scribeand Gadget and told them to meet me at 7, not 6, at Wind Gap. The next 4 mileswere rocky and has been the longest section of rocky trail yet. I was alsoreally getting tired. See, 20 miles is 20 miles. Doesn't matter if I'mslackpacking or not...it's very exhausting, but hurts a little less with lessweight for sure.I got to this Lookout Rock place about 1 mile before Wind Gap and looked overand saw this huge heavy-duty yellow extendable ladder leaning against a tree.My only thought was who was crazy enough to carry that thing up here and why?As promised by Scribe, the last mile going down into Wind Gap was awesomenon-rocky switchbacks which my knees and feet were happy about. My knees havebeen a bit achy the past few days. I got down to the road and walked under thebridge and could see Gadgets car in the parking area. Man, what a feeling whenyou know you just pulled off a 20-miler. Hopefully it will be the only one ofthis year though.It was 6:52 p.m. and I asked if they could help a hiker out. Scribe said, "Wedon't help YOUR kind!" We all started laughing and then she had the bestsuggestion yet. She said, "Do you want to go to Rita's?" I had no idea whatRita's was, but we went and it's this crazy place that mixes custard/italianice/gelato in one yummy treat. I got vanilla ice/custard with oreo. Irandomly asked this woman sitting there to take our picture in front of Rita'sand she asked if I was hiking. Then she goes, "Oh, my husband thru-hiked theAT several years ago." HOW WEIRD IS THAT?? He was sitting over on a bench, sowe went to talk to him. They were actually from MA, and he thru-hiked in 1988!He said he didn't have an "official" trail name but some people called himMidnight Owl after he hiked into a shelter after 10 p.m. after a 34 miler thatday in the Shenendoah's.   It was so cool talking to him and seriously, whatare the chances we'd randomly be there at the same time? Him and his wife weregoing back to MA soon to spend their vacation hiking the AT in MA. It neverleaves your blood you know.So we left and went home and Scribe's mom had made dinner..homemademac-n-cheese, stewed tomatos, salad, garlic bread, peas...MMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!! Itwas SO good. I told her they were all hired to just move theslackpacking/dinner operation up the trail with me as I moved north. Theirfriend came over for dinner too and we all talked and laughed. After dinner weplayed this hilarious game with dominoes called Mexican Train (have NO ideawhere the name came from). I won the 1st round and it all went downhill afterthat.I was planning on the last 15 miles tomorrow for slackpacking and zeroing onSunday, but after looking at the weather, strong storms are forecasted fortomorrow starting at 11:00 a.m. and it will be beautiful Sunday, so I'mswapping days. I think my body could use the rest in between after today's 20miler. I'm pretty exhausted as usual.I had to excuse myself from the game because I was falling asleep and I went tobed around 10:30 p.m. Gonna pass out now.~Certain