July 2-3 in PA

July 2, 2005 | Day 97 | Miles: 7.7 | Total Miles: 1243.8
End: Jailhouse Hostel, Palmerton, PA
Danielle:
Sunny and a bit cooler. Not humid!
A thunder/lightening/rain storm last night really turned the weather around. It actually felt cool this morning, and the humidity broke. It did warm up, but hey, it's dry! The storm was neat, but boy was it close to us in the tent up on the ridge! Yikes...
Today's hiking was some of the best in PA so far. One stretch up along the open ridge was all grass, mountain laurel, ferns and blueberry bushes. And there were ripe blueberries too! YUM :-) Made for a very happy Snowman and Sparkplug, as we walked along, stopping to eat blueberries every few feet.
We're staying in the old jail in Palmerton, PA. They put bunks in the basement, and allow hikers to stay for free, take a shower, etc. A bit odd, but very nice of the town to offer this space up to us! We're off to climb Lehigh Gap and hike across an EPA Superfund site tomorrow, the result of centuries of zinc smelting along the ridge. Should make for some interesting hiking....

Ryan:
warm, sunny, breezy
rock factor - 4
i have nothing bad to say about pennsylvania today. well, not off the top of my head anyway. i guess a short day with lots of food at the end of the line will do that. plus, this hostel is in an old municipal building that used to be a jail. not as exciting as it sounds, but at least it's free. i did get heckled by some townies..."hey, nice skirt!" i was stunned by their creativity. tomorrow, we get to hike through an e.p.a. super fund site, a.k.a. a once horribly polluted area. hooray. i'm guessing i'll have something bad to say about pennsylvania tomorrow.

July 3, 2005 | Day 98 | Miles: 20.4 | Total Miles: 1264.2
End: Gateway Motel, Wind Gap, PA
Danielle:
Sunny and warm
We're tired. But happy to be in a motel with a shower and tv. Yeah. Always nice. It just sort of worked out that we got here today...
Fatigue got us all a ride out of town this morning with a nice local who left his number at the hostel. However the ride was at 6:30am. Meaning we started hiking at 6:50am, a Team Snowplug record. Ryan was not too happy about it but it did get us up the rock scramble out of Lehigh Gap in the cool morning. The climb was kind of fun, and then we went into the Superfund site. Crazy. Kind of looked like a Western landscape but so unnatural. The government took over the area after too much zinc smelting and it is slowly coming back to life, but this 3-mile stretch along the ridge has just been wiped out. All rock and skeleton trees with some grasses, ferns and "junk" trees and brush coming in. Very interesting to walk through.
However, after that first stretch, the hiking was not that much fun. Lots of jagged little rocks all through the trail, with no breaks. Really tough on the feet, and knees and ankles. Oh yes, and there was no water on the hike all day, so we were carrying extra and the packs felt like it! It was a long day of hiking, but it seemed to make sense to come here. Now only 15.6m to Delaware Water Gap tomorrow for the 4th. And then only 0.2m left of PA. Yeah :-)

Ryan:
sunny, almost hot
rock factor - 8
i hate pennsylvania. the rocks are crushing my feet, toes, ankles...my knees indirectly...and my spirit. really, the hiking just isn't fun. basically every step you have to look out for a number of pointy, potentially loose, rocks. not pleasant. i also hate fatigue...the guy. after our less than pleasant walk into town, he arranged a shuttle for us back to the trail. great...but, the shuttle picked us up at 6:30. i was hiking by 6:50. ugh. our initial climb out of lehigh gap today was kind of cool...open and rocky, with some hand work needed to pull yourself up. but, there's no soil left because of the years of pollution from zinc smelting in the valley. the top was covered with dead trees. scary. some greenery is definitely coming back, but it is so unnatural and gross. there's a sign that warns that children should not spend consecutive days on the ridge. hopefully, we won't start glowing. the rest of the day was rocky, and we struggled to reach this motel. but, it was either 20 today or 20 tomorrow. now, we only have 15 miles into delaware water gap tomorrow...and another church hostel. yeah, we don't actually camp anymore.
today's song - moonshiner, uncle tupelo