The End of PA

On the 31st, we did 5.7 miles to Windsor Furnace Shelter. On the 1st, we did 9.6 miles to a campsite half a mile past Eckville Shelter. On the 2nd, we zeroed at the campsite. On the 3rd, we did 12.9 miles to a campsite at the power line two miles after PA 309. On the 4th, we did 11.9 miles into Palmerton. On the 5th, we did 15.6 miles to Leroy A. Smith Shelter. On the 6th, we zeroed there. On the 7th, we did 13.8 miles to Kirkridge Shelter. On the 8th, we did 6.5 miles to Delaware Water Gap.

The trail leaving Port Clinton was quite monotonous and relatively easy. Our mileage was at least partially controlled by where there were water sources. I have heard many people complain about the rocks of Pennsylvania but it was the water sources that I found most annoying about the state. Rocks aren't even my second least favorite thing about PA, that belongs to the trail itself. I don't really remember a single interesting part of the trail for the 220 miles in this state. The rocks probably do make it in at number three, though. But back to water, it is typical for PA to have 12 to 15 miles stretches without a water source. This limits the miles I am willing to do since I find it much more enjoyable to camp at a water source. If I hit a water source 12 miles into my day, and there isn't any more water for 10 or more miles, I guess I just go 12 miles. I find that better than having to carry a ton of water or being sparing with what I do carry. I sweat a rather impressive amount and on a typical day of hiking I can easily drink 4 liters of water. Hopefully water troubles are less as I move north.

The next relatively interesting thing to happen after Port Clinton was going into Palmerton. We hadn't planned on going to this town but it turns out there isn't a laundromat at Delaware Water Gap and it needed to be done. The whole town experience didn't start well; we couldn't get a hitch. After trying for a bit, we just decided to walk into town--roughly 2 miles. The place we were going to stay was a free hostel in the basement of one of the town's municipal buildings. After checking in at the police station, we went to check it out. It was a damp basement with a large pile of paint cans in one corner and some wooden bunks along the back wall. It was far from the nicest place, but the price was right. It also succeeded in the task of providing a shower and laundry.

Leaving Palmerton was a nice rock scramble up the side of a mountain and then a four-mile trail redirection to go around the Palmerton Zinc Pile Superfund site. I guess PA wasn't happy with being a boring, rocky, dry wasteland, it had to go further. There also wasn't water for 16 miles and that water source was .6 miles off the trail. It is frustrating to know that after you hike most of the day you still have over a mile to go just to get water. Hopefully these sort of days are behind me as I hike over the river and leave PA behind.

By far, the most interesting thing to happen in PA came the evening before Delaware Water Gap. As I was hiking, I heard a scream up ahead of me. I came around the corner to find a woman laying face down in the jagged rocks of the trail. I went up to her and noticed blood on the rocks. She had smashed her temple into the rocks (causing a gash to the bone), hit her knee pretty good and basically scraped and cut most of her body. As I helped her sit up, she said she had some rib pain and it hurt to take deep breaths. After a 911 call, it was deemed that they would send a crew into the woods for her and I should stay with her until they showed up. In my mind this wasn't a huge operation--just follow the white blazes from the road. I was wrong. UV caught up and she went ahead to meet the rescue crew. When she met them, they were confused and apparently didn't understand the blazing system and thought they were going to get an ATV all the way to us. A rather large rock formation was between us and the road so that wasn't happening. The attempt to use a helicopter to locate us was an utter failure; no surprise, since we were under dense canopy cover. After 2.5 hours, they got to us and I could move on. I was warned before going that it was dangerous and the rocks were "really bad"; after all, the rocks helped cause this "clusterfuck" as the member of the rescue team pointed out. I assured them I would be fine and moved on. After the rock formation, I met UV at the ATV and other rescuers and they insisted on escorting us to the road "for our safety." We got to the road at about 10 o'clock at night and happily waved to the 3 fire trucks, 2 ambulances, and 2 search and rescue vehicles while we went back into the woods to the shelter half a mile further on. Quite an eventful evening.

Well, that's PA done. Tomorrow it is on to New Jersey. UV is getting off the trail here to go back to DC for wedding things and I won't see her again until we meet up in Maine for the New England part of our hike. Over the next 9 days I'm going to really push miles and see what I can do. 18 miles a day gets me to Connecticut and 22 miles a day gets me to Mass. I'm very confident in the 18 and we will see about the 22.