Date: 2007-07-18
From: George W. Outerbridge Shelter

To: Leroy A. Smith Shelter
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: light rain

This morning I could hear Gypsy Spirit packing up. I glanced at my watch and saw it was 5am. I was planning a shorter day, so I said goodbye to her, wished her well, and rolled over to go back to sleep. I later found out that Gypsy hiked 31 miles today to try and catch up to her boyfriend Speaks Little. The morning was foggy and a slight drizzle was falling so I was in no hurry. I made a cup of coffee and watched the rain come down.The rain soon stopped, and I finally got on the trail at 9am. It was a short 1 mile hike down to Lehigh Gap. The trail went over the bridge that crosses the Lehigh River. Once over the river, the big climb out of Lehigh Gap begins. This is a steep hand over hand climb over large boulders and cliffs. It was certainly challenging but also fun. When I finally reached the top I looked back and realized how far and high I had climbed. The view was spectacular and would have been even better on a clear day.From here the trail followed a landscape, which I find quite difficult to describe. A number of years back there was a zinc smelting operation in this area. Over the years the by products of this operation were released into the air, and killed most of the trees at this elevation for miles. At the time it was declared a Superfund site slated for environmental clean up. I hiked for about 3 miles on what use to be an old woods road, which is now surrounded by a martian landscape of jagged rocks and bleached white dead tree trunks. It almost resembled the landscape near Mt. St. Helens after the the volcano erupted. I took quite a few pictures because I knew my decription could never adequately describe the devastation here. Fortunately the day was hazy. If it had been clear I would have been out in the sun for quite a while.Eventually the trail found it's way back into the woods and crossed the road to Danielsville, PA at Little Gap. My guide book indicated that a small drive-in style restaraunt was 1.5 miles down the road. I figured since it was lunch time I'd try and hitch a ride there. I was going to give it 10 minutes, and if I could not get a ride, I would start hiking. Not having much luck hitching so far, I was not too confident. I was surprised however, when the second vehicle stopped. It was a pickup truck with a dad and his 3 kids. They were planning to take a short hike on the AT and he said he could drive me the short distance and then return and start their hike.I excitedly dumped my pack into the rear of the pickup and jumped in. At the restaraunt I thanked them for the ride and proceeded to have a fine lunch, packing on the calories with a cheeseburger, fries, and ice cream. I ordered a coffee to go and sat at a picnic table outside where I worked on my journal for a few minutes. I was about ready to try and hitch back to the trail when the same guy that drove me there pulled into the parking lot. The kids recognized me and waved and then ran into the restaraunt for ice cream. They had finished their hike and were celebrating. The dad, seing me asked if I needed a ride back to the trail. Talk about lucky trail magic! I was soon back on the trail hiking north very happy with the way this little excursion all came together so nicely.The lunch definitely provided the fuel to power me through the rest of the afternoon. The remainder of the hike passed through some very beautiful wooded terrain, unlike the morning section. It was one of the best sections in PA so far. I got to the shelter at around 7pm, took a long 1 mile round trip to get water (not fun at all), had dinner, and called it a day, It's just myself and another thru hiker call "The Breeze", here tonight.