Date: 2005-06-06
From: Eckville Shelter

To: Fine Lodging - Slatington, PA
Miles today: 20.2

Miles hiked today : 20.219.8 AT miles + 0.4 miles of side trailI woke up this morning at 6:00 a.m. and was packed and hiking at 6:40 a.m. Yesterday, I had planned for today to be a silent day, with no talking on my part, and almost forgot until Shades of Blue reminded me.My first stop was for 5 minutes at Dan's Pulpit at 8:00 a.m. I signed the register, noting the irony that the pulpit was named for me and I couldn't make use of it, as I was under a self imposed silence. Shortly after leaving Dan's Pulpit, I passed the side trail to Dan's Spring. So many things out here are named for me! Bailey Gap Shelter, Dan's Pulpit, Dan's Spring, and I'm even approaching a town called Danielsville.I reached the Allentown Hiking Club Shelter at 10:10 a.m. and stayed for a 30 minute rest break before pushing on. I covered 4.1 miles to PA309 in 1 hour, 20 minutes, which meant I was hiking faster than 3 m.p.h. The terrain was very level and relatiely rock free. I was surprised to see Turtle and Street Fighter on the patio, as they had been at the Allentown Hiking Club Shelter last night. It turns out that they began hiking at 10:00 a.m. this morning and that I'd missed them by a mere 10 minutes. Amusingly, as soon as I walked up to them, I began talking and didn't realize for nearly 10 minutes that I'd broken my vow of silence. Grr! I stayed for a 25 minute break and we left as a group.Last night, Lazee had told us that there were going to be thunderstorms this afternoon. As we walked across a large pile of rocks called The Cliffs, we could hear a hint of thunder in the background. At 2:25 p.m., we reached Bake Oven Knob Road with only 1.0 mile remaining to the shelter. The storm was definitely moving in and we watched the wind whip up the dust in the gravel parking lot as the sky quickly darkened.It probably wasn't the brightest idea, but we decided to push for the shelter, even though we knew that we'd have to cross Bake Oven Knob. Typically a knob is a high exposed area and this was the case today. The rain was torrential and I noted that the temperature dropped from 85 degrees to 65 degrees in less than 5 minutes. The rain felt very good after hiking in the heat all day, though I was soon drenched. My boots had finally dried out after the heavy rain on the stretch of trail from the 501 Shelter to Eagles Nest Shelter, though they were soaked once again, as the trail was flooded.Bake Oven Knob was a scramble over huge rocks, which was a bit tricky in the rain. There was also lightning flashing in the distance, which was exciting. At one point, I slipped and landed on my rear end. Cha-ching, fall #17. Fortunately, I was unhurt and continued on. Turtle and I were singing 80s songs to take our minds off of the lightning, and at 2:55 p.m., we arrived at Bake Oven Knob Shelter.Turtle and Streetfighter had plans to hike another 7.4 miles to PA873 and invited me along to stay at a place called "Fine Lodging." Having already hiked 17.8 miles, I was done for the day. Turtle called and determined that the proprietor, Ira, would pick us up at Lehigh Furnace Gap, which was only 2.4 miles further up the trail. The thought of a hot shower after being soaked was very persuasive, so we set out at 4:05 p.m. and arrived at Lehigh Furnace Gap at 5:05 p.m.We called to see whether Ira was on his way and were told that he'd been there 15 minutes earlier. We had told him that it would take us about an hour to cover 2.4 miles, so he must have been very early. He came out again and picked us up and, after shuttling us to the location of "Fine Lodging," told us that the shuttle fee was $1.50 per mile for the 15 mile trip, but that he wouldn't charge us for the first trip. What!? It wasn't our fault that he showed up early and didn't wait for us. I was slightly annoyed that he was charging us for the shuttle, but split 3 ways, it isn't so bad. The cost of the room for 3 occupants is around $32.50, so we'll each end up paying around $18.After we were shown to our tiny room, Ira told us that he'd bring up sheets and the rollaway bed in a little while. "Fine Lodging" is definitely not the case, though it will do for the evening. This place is more like a temporary living situation for those who aren't well off. Ira later described it as a "residence house." We showered, found that Dad's Grin was staying here as well, and all went out for pizza. Only 3 of us were eating pizza and our eyes must have been bigger than our stomachs, as we ordered 3 large pizzas and only finished about half of what we had ordered. The guy working at "Mama's Pizza" in Slatington seemed less than eager to serve us and when Street Fighter had a question about his bill after the dinner, the same guy was rather rude to him.After dinner, we returned to the lodging house and found that we still had no sheets, though it appeared that the rollaway bed was in the hallway on the ground floor. We moved the mattress upstairs and carefully wedged it into the floorspace. We also found spare sets of sheets and I put two sets on the mattress.I sat on the front porch and journaled before heading upstairs to watch "Animal House," which was showing on AMC. I had been planning a 7.7 mile day to Palmerton tomorrow, though after hiking the extra distance to Lehigh Furnace Gap, I've only 5.3 miles to cover. Tomorrow will be a short day with an overnight stay in the "jailhouse hostel."Bedtime at 12:00 a.m.