Palmerton, PA

Well, here I am in Palmerton, PA.  I hiked 25 miles yesterday and well into the evening to outrun a bad storm everyone said was coming, only to find that the main part of it went south of here.  I still feel justified in having ordered a hiker's breakfast at Bert's Steakhouse.  The french toast was great.

Saw a porcupine yesterday morning, and a snake swallowing a large toad whole.  Unfortunately (or luckily,
depending on how you look at it) I interrupted its breakfast, and the toad hopped away, wobbling a bit. Signs of rattlers.  Deer.  Turtles.  Large rocks overturned by bears looking for grubs.  Back near Boiling Springs I had a stand-off with a woodchuck in the middle of a field.  He was ready to take me on, and
would have, if I hadn't backed up a couple steps.  Then he darted to the side.


I love the ever-present song of the wood thrush in the evenings.  Whipporwills in the darkness as I hike, spider eyes glinting along with granite chrystals in my headlamp.  Wild geese flying north.  I don't like the masses of poison ivy, or the presence of ticks.  I've entered the high risk zone for lyme disease, so I have to check for the buggers regularly and wear long pants even when it's hot.

Most of the thru-hikers I meet heading north are passing me within a day or so.  They've been going for over 1,000 miles already and have their legs in machine mode.  But I've managed to keep up with some, if only for a couple days:  Fiddle Head, Northerner, Grandpa, Bailer, Crash, Mac, Z-Man, Two Speed, Baker, Shadow.  Met Cody Coyote this morning.  And there have been many cheerful section hikers.  I am grateful for all their company on the trail.  And, yes, 'Trail Magic' is real:  a bag of fig newtons left in the middle of a footbridge for hikers; jugs of spring water along a dry ridge; a cooler full of PB & J for making sandwiches; and Bob Fromme, with table and chairs and a menu set up every Wednesday at the Clarks Valley Gap Rd. Turkey pasta salad, deviled eggs, chocolate cupcakes... Thanks Bob!
















I have 'zeroed' twice since beginning at Harper's Ferry; once at the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon and once at Port Clinton.  In Port Clinton we waited out the rain in the Hikers' Pavilion.  Today will basically be another one in the Jailhouse Hostel; my feet have endured enough punishment for a while.  The hype surrounding PA and its gnarly rocks is true.  Can't wait for some actual dirt to walk on...

I could put down so much more about the last three weeks.  It is enough to say simply that I am happier than I have been for a long time, despite the physical discomforts.  It's freeing to remember this way of life, this slower rhythm, this path.  My pack is like a feather compared to all my other worries.


Still Sailin' --

'Wilderness Samurai'