Date: 2004-04-25
From: Jailhouse Hostel (Palmerton,PA)

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

Log entry: 85Starting time: 0745Ending time: 1515Morning weather: Clear, cool, and bright sunAfternoon weather: Rain and cold, 38Evening weather: Cloudy for a bit but hard rain and coldBreakfast: Some kind of Italian bread with honeyLunch: 4 ham buns and some candy barsDinner: Chicken noodle soup and 2 bricks of Ramen with Ritz crackers and peach ice tea.Trail description: The climb out of Lehigh was extreme. A relatively short but steep and technical ascent. Very fun. Harder than it could have been because I had so much water but lots of rocks and boulders to scale. After the climb the walking is easy up on the ridge, flat and smooth gravel surfaced, more or less. The next big climb was up Little Gap was steep and rocky but short. The rocks became more pointy and smaller and the rocky stretches became longer and more dense. Still there were long stretches where the walking was open and easy. Once I passed Leroy Smith shelter the "real rocks" began. The rocks were wet but dense, sharp, and unforgiving. I imagine that the last 18 miles of PA will be much the same.People: 5 dayhikersWildlife: Black snake, deer, grouse, and a chipmunkMoney spent: $51 for hotel roomBiggestcomplaints: Feet ached and was very cold during lunch. Rain wasn't very cool. Also it was hard to decide if I should press on or stay in Wind Gap.Thoughts: I tried hard to get up at 0610 but couldn't get up until 0700. The night before I had all my stuff ready to pack so after a few quick goodbyes I was on the main street of Palmertown heading out of town. The third vehicle that past pulled over and I climbed in. I had barely stepped out the front door and I already had a ride. The Lord always provides.At first I thought the guy that picked me up was Matzen from the Holland Policedepartment. He even sounded like him. The guy was from California and had hiked the PCT in 99. He was cool. By 0745 I was heading out of Lehigh. I expected a much more difficult timegetting out of town. I am glad that I climbed in the coolness of the morningeven though the temperature dropped throughout the day. Up on the ridge the wind bit and I actually stopped to put on a longsleeve shirt. The morning went quickly by and the rocks as previously stated were only bad inshort spans.Just off the trail as I was approaching Little Gap there was a black snakecoiled just off the trail. It seemed fake as it didn't move because the sun had not yet warmed its blood. Actually the sun never would today. After about 1000 the clouds got thicker and by 1130 the rain started. It was steady all the rest of the day with short, heavy downpours. I wanted to do 29.6 miles today to Kirkridge shelter but knew as soon as I donned rain gear that it would not be possible to make it before dark. The raingear I have just doesn't breath well enough to allow for a fast pace. It may have been God's way of slowing me down.I took out my cell phone and turned it on around 1130 as I expected Andy to call since he was starting at noon today. I never got his call though I did get his voicemail at 1330. My battery died sometime in the meantime.I ate a 30 minute lunch at Leroy Smith shelter and the inactivity made meshiver. I didn't actually get warm again until the downhill into Wind Gap.But as I shivered I decided to do 5 more miles to the gap and spend the eveningresting my feet and watching hoops.The rocks really intensified during thr "run to the gap". While I approached the gap I began to feel better and thought that maybe I should press on another 9 miles. But when I reached the gap I decided to head left 0.2 mile to the Gateway motel. I knew that my feeling good was about to run out and I shouldn't press my luck.I spread my gear out to dry, showered and settled in for an evening of NBAplayoff action. I was disappointed that I missed the Pistons.At 2100 I switched over from basketball to the Discovery channel where they hada 2 hour special on the battle for Bahgdad (sp?). The special was done reallywell. What blew my mind was the things that boys my age were going through. Once again I felt selfish sitting in a motel room complaining about my aches when a year ago almost to the date my brothers and sisters were locked in firefights with rebels. They are now as I type, I imagine. Thanks guys, not much else I can say, thanks.