Day 104-Knife Edge and Other Badness

June 30-17.9 miles-Allentown Shelter to Dave and Squeak’s in Palmerton-AT mile 1260.3

Now for today...
As you might expect by now, the rocks continued. First we had to do a little thing called Knife Edge. Seriously, who planned this trail???

Dusty and Sure Foot up ahead

Andy doing a great job on the rocks. 

See the white blazes?

The going up, while scary, was not too bad. The going down was absolutely terrifying. Dusty grabbed my pack so I could slide down most of it on my butt (sorry, no photos of that horribleness). I did not enjoy that at all! 

Then we’d have a bit of actual trail before coming to the next pile of rock crap, then another, and another. I came to dread climbing up, because it seemed to always end with a pile of big rocks. 

Bake Oven Knob (definitely not an Easy Bake Oven)

The view from Bake Oven Knob. 

On one of the last piles, Sure Foot took a tumble when his pack hit a big branch and sent him backwards. He’s got some abrasions, and he’ll be sore tomorrow, but he’s okay. 

Another joy of today was scarce water. So, on top of having to carry packs over the rocks, we had to carry extra water. Except, we didn’t. Turns out a person named Mun put water caches along the trail. The first one even had my favorite oatmeal cream cookies!

A great treat in the morning 

Lots of water!

Finally, with about 5 miles to go, I dumped the extra water I was carrying. Funny thing, on a day where I wasn’t going to have access to water, I was probably the most hydrated I’ve been for awhile! 

We worked our way down down down to the Lehigh River. 



See that mountain? We will climb that. It’s all rocks. 

Four days ago, I had contacted Trail Angel, Squeak and her husband Dave (Dave’s Shuttle) about staying with them in Palmerton. We had planned to stay at Sunny Rest Resort, but it turned out to be wildly expensive ($67 for 2 people in tents, and another $67 for the third person...nope...however, we did pick up our packages we had sent there). Dave and Squeak allow hikers to camp in their backyard, shower, and do laundry all for free. Dave shuttled to and from the trail. I haven’t taken photos yet, but I will tomorrow, as we are taking a zero here. It’s pretty wild. The neighbors (and the landlord of Dave and Squeak) have music going, and periodically set off fireworks. I’m just glad I don’t have to get up early tomorrow. 

Sure Foot, Dusty, and I went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was one of the first times we have dined in. They only allow a few tables, but it was nice. 

So, as I said, Sure Foot and I are taking a zero here tomorrow. Dusty has decided to go home. She is missing her family (and they her). “The Grands” will be no more. Our little trio has been fun, but Sure Foot and I will be fine. We’ll continue plugging along, putting the miles behind us as we work our way to Katahdin. 

Dusty’s last AT mile (waiting in the rain for Dave to come get us).

And finally, I got my third pair of shoes. I hope my feet will feel better with the new shoes. 

Adios stinky shoes! Enjoy your new life as a planter box at Squeak and Dave’s!




Comments

  1. UnknownJune 30, 2020 at 7:45 PM

    Just bought some new Hokas today! Heike and I are 1/4of the way thru the Colorado trail

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 158-Safety First

Image
Aug 23-zero at Crawford Notch Campground It’s strange to write this post when the last three posts have not been uploaded yet, but here goes... Sure Foot and I had a long, tearful (on both our parts) discussion about whether it was safe for me to continue hiking, in light of the fact that Mt. Washington is very difficult and dangerous, especially with knees that are refusing to cooperate. Not only is Sure Foot concerned about me ruining my knees completely, but I am concerned about putting Sure Foot in danger trying to help me. I know he would do anything to help me down the mountain, but that might cause him harm too. I can’t do that. So, we decided the safest thing to do is for me to end my hike here. I know it seems like I’m so close to the end, and relatively speaking, that is true. But, the miles to come are much more dangerous and challenging than the previous 1800 miles.  Complicating matters with my knees, is also my depth perception issues. Before, when I could trust my knees,
Read more

Day 159-My Exit Plan is Set...Mostly

Image
Aug 24- no more AT miles-Crawford Notch Campground to the AMC Highland Center Sure Foot and I packed up this morning at Crawford Notch Campground, and made our way to the road. It took about 20 or 30 minutes of sticking out our thumbs before a nice young man named Noah stopped and gave us a ride the 7 miles to the AMC Highland Center. The Highland Center is like hiking central for the White Mountains. It is run by the Appalachian Mountain Club. It is kind of spendy, but it includes breakfast and dinner. Pre-COVID, they served buffet style. Now they seat everyone at individual tables, and they bring you a menu. You basically say what you don’t want, and they bring you everything else! They also gave us a “welcome” bag of disposable masks and a big bottle of hand sanitizer.  We were able to get a reservation here in a 4 bunk room. The  whole room is ours as they only put people together that have been together. We are in the Mt. Field room. We have a view to “The Elephant”.  The mountain
Read more

Day 160-The Last Post of My AT Three 20s Hike

Image
Aug 25th As I’m sitting here in Conway, NH, waiting for my bus to Boston, I thought I’d write this last post. Maybe make it a retrospective of sorts. I also wanted to take a moment and thank some of the people that made parts of this hike really enjoyable.  161 days ago I walked into the hostel at Dahlonega and saw a guy sitting in the chair. Of course, that was Doug, later to be named by me, Sure Foot. Little did I know I would spend the next 160 days with this guy! I firmly believe that if it weren’t for Sure Foot, my hike would have ended long ago. We made a good team, him and I. He had the hiking experience, and I...well...I had good ears! We made each other laugh, and we kept each other going, even when we both had decided to quit in North Carolina when the whole COVID mess made it hard to see how we could proceed. I will always be grateful for his knowledge, experience, and most of all, friendship. Sure Foot, I miss you already! At one point, I wrote about our “Curse of the Third
Read more