Date: 2006-10-22
From: Leroy Smith Shelter

To: Palmerton "Jailhouse Hostel"
Miles today: 15.8

Oh. My. God! Today was the longest day of my life. So long, I don't think I can even remember all that I did today to report it here in this journal. Let's see. I got up early because I knew I had lots of miles to cover and I wanted to get them in before dark. I left the shelter and headed down the trail and in about two miles I encounter a blow down. I circumnavigate it and the now exposed tree roots have uplifted rocks which cause my left foot to turn and so I try to brace myself with my right trekking pole, but it telescopes from the force I am inflicting on it and causes me to lose my footing and down on my knees I go. Darn, PA Rocks wins today's battle. At least there is no blood.I reach Smith Gap and the blue blaze trail to the new spring. This section appears to be pretty easy. I take a break before Delp's spring and clean up candy wrappers left by a previous hiker. For some reason, my pack is really tugging on my left shoulder. I would love to see a chiropractor again for an adjustment. I breifly speak to three dayhikers all sporting "don't shoot me orange" as it is hunting season. I don't know how they can hike so fast! I am getting better at dodging the rocks, but my pace is still slowed by them.   There are lots of little stealth campsites along this section of trail and I imagine all the social activities that probably occurred here this summer as the nobos came through. I stop at one for yet another break, well, lunch and decide its time for some tunes. "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder (I think) is on and I get up and dance around. Hope no one is watching, but if they are, I hope they are enjoying the show.Over the next few miles the trail changes to larger rocks and a few views. Nothing spectacular, but I am beginning to see the effects of the zinc smelt and the town of Palmerton. Weathering Knob is a big clump of boulders to go up and over. I had heard PA had large piles of rocks, and I guess now is when I get to start experiencing them.Cross the road at Little Gap and its just a mile back up to the ridge and I am on an old woods road that takes me through the dead zone. The zinc smelt factory/plant was shut down in 1982 and this area was determined a Superfund clean-up site, but the devestation has been done. It looks like a war zone. Or actually, I feel as if I have been transported into a sci-fi movie set, only its not a set, its real. I turn off my radio, and it sounds surreal. I can't wait to show you pictures. Its really creepy. And what's weird too is even though most of the trees have died, there are some that seem to still be thriving. Then there are areas where all the vegetation has died, so without vegetation to hold the soil to the earth, it washed away exposing all of this rock. There are tons of broken rock everywhere. Its a very creepy few miles and very different from the other 900+ miles I have already traversed. I'm not too poltically educated or interested for that matter, but seeing this first hand does make me want to become more involved in political matters. Actually, it makes me angry at big business for always putting the dollar before everything else. We have only this one earth with its limited resources and big business puts profit first with little consideration for the effects on earth. Where have the morals and ethics of stewardship for each other and the land gone?Okay, no soap boxes here. So now it is time to get off this mountain and head into the gap. Its getting late, the temperature has dropped and there is a rain cloud looming over that huge pile of rocks that I must descend. Well, I've done rocks. I did them in ME and in NH. I know that I can do them. But given my current situation and the fact that my anxiety level is heightened right now (and is not improved by the fact that someone near the AT is either firing a gun or shooting firecrackers), I make the decision to be a blue blazer. Yep, I took the Winter Route and I am satisfied with my decision. It was still hard as crap, although I don't doubt the new route is a challenge. And I say new route, because the Winter Route is really (I believe, based on the signage) the AT until 1995, when it was rerouted (why, I don't know). So, I am going to consider this a Retro Blaze instead of a Blue Blaze. Maybe some day I'll come back and hike up that pile of rocks, but...probably not.Now, here is where the day really gets exciting. I use Wingfoot's (or Wingnut as most thruhikers regard him) Thruhikers Manual as my guide to the AT. Its very informative but it is written for nobos. So as a sobo, I have to reverse the directions like when he says a town is to the left, for me it is to the right. Well, the winter route came to an old railroad bed with a white blaze on a tree so I figured this is where the winter route joins the current AT. Its dark now and I get out my headlamp. I take a right and continue along the railroad bed to a gravel lot, a bridge and a gate. Its a dead end. There were no white blazes that I could tell either. So I go back the other direction, still not see any blazes at all. I have to bushwhack through reeds of grass and try not to get my feet soaked in a marsh from a stream (all in the dark mind you.) Finally, i come across a sign that tells me I have still been on the blue blaze and no I have joined back with the regular! AT. I still can't tell where the AT goes in order to meet the road, but I follow the road from the parking lot to the road. I don't want to hitch at night, so I am thinking just let me find a phone and I will call a cab to take me into Palmerton. There is no payphone anywhere nearby and the cars at this intersection are not interested in picking up a lost hiker. I walk up to this trailer home with its lights on and knock on the door to see if I can use the phone. No answer. I decide to walk across the bridge over the Lehigh River to see if there is phone at this possible gas station (I see lights.) I get across the bridge and its not a gas station and there is no phone. So I decide to hoof it into Palmerton. This is a scary decision because the road to town is an interstate. I'm sure it was extremely illegal and dangerous for me to walk on the highway, but what choice did I have? I cross the bridge over the creek and realize I am where I was the first time I took that first right from the winter route trail. There are several semis lined up on the road that I could not access before due to the gate. I can see the driver in his truck cab so I climb up over the grassy hill and ask him if the access road will...Happy Hiking,Superstarwww.trailjournals.com/happyhiker------------------------------Sent via PocketMailEmail Anywherewww.pocketmail.com