#22 Hamburg to Wind Gap

7/16: Otter, Sunshine, and I had a shuttle scheduled for 7:45 in the morning. I said goodbye to Survivor, which was sad, and then I was on my way back to the trail. Annnnnd then it went up and it was steep and the three of us were slow. We all stopped at the water source about 3 miles into the hike, refilled our bottles, and took a break. Once I was hiking again for a bit, two day hikers let me know that there was a rattlesnake after the next stream. As I passed the stream, I kept my eyes peeled and walked slowly so I wouldn’t step on it. It was like going through a haunted house and you know something’s going to jump out. I took a step and heard a rattle pretty close to my foot and I sprinted in the worst running form I’ve had in my life away from the snake. I was fine but I got a big boost of adrenaline! We took another break at the next stream, and then hiked up to a viewpoint where we ate lunch.

It was slow moving because of all of the breaks, but it was a nice and relaxing day. There was another cool viewpoint called The Pinnacle a few miles away, and I watched the turkey vultures glide around at about eye level, and that was awesome! Then the the trail flattened out! It was a nice wide path and the rocks were pretty small. I cruised the last miles to the water source and then the shelter 3 miles after. The shelter is on a caretaker’s property, so there was a flushing toilet, shower, and a little bunkhouse where Otter and Sunshine joined me. I ate ramen, but instead of seasoning packets, I added a packet of Velveeta cheese for a ramen and cheese. It was actually delicious. Overall it was a good day even though I missed Survivor a lot , but I know she’s having fun in Boston and I’m looking forward to keep up the miles.

7/17: The day started off muggy and humid, and it didn’t change much as I hiked. The trail went back and fourth between being a trail and being a boulder field. So basically it was hot and rocky. I took lots of breaks and usually Sunshine would catch up and we’d sit and commiserate about the heat.

There was a cool viewpoint called Dan’s Pulpit, and then a stream right after, but the trail to the stream was very steep so it took a while to collect the water. At about noon, I made it to the shelter about 7 miles in and took a long lunch break with Sunshine. Then we got water, and the trail flattened out and was a lot less rocky! I did the last 6 miles pretty quick and came to the campsite just as thunder was rolling in the distance. Otter was there already so we chatted and I collected water for the night. Then I started to pitch my tent, but the ground was too rocky for me to get any stakes in. It started to rain a bit, and I still couldn’t get them to stay, so I moved my tent and tried a different spot. As I was still battling with the stakes, it started to downpour and I got soaked. My stuff stayed dry though, and once I finally pitched the tent, there were only a few puddles that I had to wipe up. Then I made a quick dinner and went to sleep with the rain on my tent, sometimes getting a drip in the face because of the condensation, which is exactly what I could’ve used while I was walking.

7/18: I woke up with everything kinda wet. I put off packing up because it was just so miserable and humid. Finally I did though, and once I put on my wet clothes and stepped out of the tent, I saw an orange salamander by the base of a tree close to my tent!

I was so excited and that little guy definitely made my morning. My excitement was dampened by the hill I had to climb to get back on the trail from the campsite, and then further when there was a boulder field not too far into the hike. At first I didn’t believe it, but the trail blazed were pointing me straight up the boulder ridge. So that’s where I went. That was one of the most difficult sections of the trail I’ve done. The boulders were wet, so each step had to be meticulously placed so I wouldn’t slip and break my leg (a very probable outcome, honestly). At one point I was scooting down a steeply slanted boulder because there was no other way down. It was a mess and it took forever. I definitely had to calm myself down a few times on the “Knife Ridge” as it’s called because it was maybe 10 feet across of boulders and drop offs on both sides. Also I couldn’t see the view because it was foggy. That wasn’t my biggest issue, but still! Anyway, I finally made it through, going about 1 mph. A few miles later, there were some more boulder obstacles that also required some scooting, and going down I had to take off my pack and lower it in front of me, but it was easier than the Knife Ridge. After that, the trail was of course rocky, but manageable rocks that I could step between. I got to the road into Palmerton at around 4 and waited for Otter and Sunshine. We couldn’t call a shuttle so we hitched instead, heading towards a hostel. The woman who picked us up though, said that she would be happy to host us for free because she does it for hikers a bunch and plans to do a thru hike of her own. So we got a free stay! We showered, ate dinner, and did laundry. I dried out all of my stuff, so I was a happy camper. Our host’s trail name was Squeak and she was so kind and generous to let us stay. From such a rocky (haha I’m hilarious) morning, the day certainly got better!

7/19: Heat wave time! We got a ride from Squeak’s husband to the trail and started hiking around 8:20. Unfortunately, the next section of the trail had a Super Fund site, so there were heavy metals in the only easily accessible stream from Palmerton to the shelter 16 miles away. I carried about 10 lbs of water or 5ish liters. My pack was heavy! And man did I feel it as I climbed out of town. It was steep and already hot and muggy. It was about an 800 foot climb and it destroyed me. Once I got to the top though, I was still warm, but it was decent hiking. There were a ton of berries which I didn’t eat too much of because of the metals, but listening to the Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Deamcoat soundtrack really made time fly by. I took lots of breaks and drank lots of water. I came across a gap, and someone left jugs of water as trail magic! So I filled up again. The hiking wasn’t too bad, it was just stiflingly hot and humid. I made it to the shelter at around 6:30 and the water was a pain to get to because it was about .4 away on a hill, but it was cold and tasted delicious. For dinner, I was too hot to cook, so I made a tuna wrap and a peanut butter wrap, and at a giant Rice Krispie treat with some other snacks. The cool part about the shelter was that there were a bunch of hummingbirds! I’d never seen them in the wild before and that was so cool! Hopefully I’ll stay cool enough tonight to get some much needed sleep after a long and hot day.

We heard that there was bear activity around the next shelter we were headed to, so instead of 13 miles, we walked 5 into Wind Gap and spent the day relaxing indoors. It’s hot out there! We’ll hike to Delaware Water Gap tomorrow and then we’ll be out of Pennsylvania and I can’t wait! Stay cool everyone, and happy trails!