Happy birthday to America! Today was independence day, and we spent it hiking, which is what we choose to do with our freedom in this country. Not since we were kids have we felt the liberation that we’ve felt out here on the trail.
Today was no exception. The began beautiful, warm, and sunny. And of course as we started out, the trail was rocks. Lots of rocks. No surprise there. We had to fill up on water at the George Outerbridge shelter as the next 16 miles or so were dry. When we arrived down in Lehigh Gap, we were immediately surprised with some trail magic in the form of pop tarts and gatorade left by the trail sign. After we crossed the river and the road, we came across another trail magic cooler with soda and chips. Not more than 100 feet up the trail from that, we ran into more trail magic. The only name I got from this guy was The Eggman, so that’s what I’ll call him. He was doing a section hike, and had just gotten back from Stratton, VT. He cooked us up some potatoes and eggs, which were really good, and provided great fuel for the climb out of the gap. The other thing Eggman gave us was a bit of motivation. He reminded us to keep enjoying the journey, not just focus on getting in miles. The past few days we’ve been a little down, and hiking has felt like it’s turned into a job. So that little talk was good, and we were reminded to keep having fun, because if it stops being enjoyable, then what’s the point?
Well, right after our trail magic breakfast, we began a steep, rocky climb out of Lehigh gap, and we found it to be fun because it was different and challenging. There were a few points where we had to toss the hiking poles up and pull ourselves up with both hands. This section would not be for the novice hiker, or the faint of heart. It’s a very steep rock scramble, made even more difficult with the heavy packs due to the extra water we had to carry. But the views of the river and valley below were spectacular, some of the best in days. After the climb up the rocks, we had a nice long ridge walk over a pretty nice trail generously lined with black raspberries.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this ridge above Palmerton, PA is a Superfund site. At one point the entire ridge was completely bare due to the zinc smelting that occurred in the area. The reason it’s a Superfund site is because of the piles of slag left behind from the smelting and mining operations. The rainwater runs over the piles, and contaminates the groundwater and the river below. The area has been under revegetation as part of the restoration. In talking to a few locals yesterday, it sounds like the area looks much better than it did even just a few years ago. It was a pretty crazy reminder of what humans are capable of.
We stopped for a long lunch, which was really nice. We’ve rarely taken a good amount of time to just relax in the woods over the last few days. I think I even dozed off for a little bit.
The last 10 miles of the day were annoying. Just more rocks to deal with, stubbing toes and rolling ankles (not in a destructive way). We did encounter a little wildlife. A humongous eastern rat snake slowly slithered across the trail, and we spotted a deer in the woods. We were so relieved when we reached the trail to the Leroy A. Smith shelter. We had done just over 22 miles. Luckily the rain held out for us to set up the tent, cook and eat dinner, and clean up. It’s looking like there may be some more rain overnight, but that’s okay. We’ve got a short 4.5 miles to Wind Gap, where we’re getting picked up and taking two days off. We get to be clean again!
