Date: 2004-06-18
From: Bake Oven knob Shelter

To: Palmerton
Miles today: 7.7

Before the storms hit yesterday I was going to take some pictures of the oncoming foreboding skies, (this was before I saw the electrocuted tress!). But my trusty 25 plus year old Olympus OM-1 stopped working, (and now I¢m thinking in retrospect that maybe it wanted to get off the cliffs even if I didn¢t!). So no picture taking until I get into the next town. Everything on me is soaked, as I wanted to save my dry clothes for a change when hitchhiking into town. Nothing better to wake you up then putting on cold rain soaked shirt, pants and socks, ahhhh, it doesn¢t get much better than this?! It only took 3 hours to get from the shelter to town, (remember, coming into town is down, leaving town is up), but was so hot! How hot was it?! More than you wannan know, but by the time I got down to the bottom, all my clothes were completely dry, I was sweating up a puddle and had the faint to mildly strong, odor of SKUNK. Gross would be an appropriate adjective. So as I was getting close to civilization, I needed to ¢spruce up¢, n hopes of getting a hitch into town. Pull out the clean (?) clothes, pull out the ol¢ suntan lotion that acts as a deodorant in tough times, lather on the lotion, change clothes, put on my best smile, and finish heading down the mountain toward the main road, where I see cars whizzing by. I don¢t wanna walk the 2 miles into Palmerton, so I hope I look spiffy! Well, I still have no idea, why good fortune always smiles on me, but the story goes like this: As I¢m walking across a bridge to get to the road where I will start my hitching a couple in their early 30¢s is my guess, were walking towards me. Stopped and chatted for a moment, turns out they are from Philadelphia, (at this point I have no idea where that is in relation to where I am), and they were out for the day, doing some day hikes. Their goal was to day hike to the shelter I came from and then hike back. So I tell them about the hike up and the young woman ask me if I want a Cliff Bar. Well usually the answer would be hell yeah, but I¢m heading into town for what I¢m hoping is a cheeseburger and a cold beer, and they¢re heading up a mountain, so I demur. Seems she wasn¢t convinced by my answer, so I go into some detail, that I¢m really not hungry, trying to save my belly for real food, (sick of bars, didn¢t say that however), just want to get the hell of this mountain and get a shower, (didn¢t say that either)! Well, she wasn¢t giving up. She then offers me a ride into town. Again, I defer, saying I didn¢t want to inconvenience their hike, (I really didn¢t). The guy kicks in, saying no problem, I hesitate, she says, c¢mon, get in the car and starts walking towards the car! Guys says, we¢re done dude, let¢s go! So, without sticking out my thumb, this wonderful couple gives me a ride into town along with a wonderful talk on the way in! Have I said it before, (I¢m sure I have), that one of the major reasons I hike is to experience the generosity of strangers. The world is FILLED with wonderful people, we just keep hearing about the bad ones. So now, as I am writing this I am in the wonderful town of Palmerton all showered and shaved and loving life sitting in a small country diner. The waitress as I watch her, sees her regular customers outside before they come in, has their coffee set up at their ¢usual¢ spot. They walk in, say, ¢Hey Millie!¢, as shoe goes about her job checking on half empty coffee cups, and pulling away the dirty dishes. How I miss the soul of a small town¢¦.