It's all over folks. The streak of perfection has officially met its end today, and my hopes of making it the entire length of the trail without a single fall have come to a screeching halt. It took about 1250 trail miles for me to take my first crash landing and it was a good one. After mile upon mile of Pennsylvania rocks, it finally caught me on the very last day of trail in this state, not to mention on my 3-month trail anniversary.
Wind Gap
A day of a few more firsts: I ate my first low-bush blueberries of the season along the barren wasteland north of the very steep climb out of Lehigh Gap, and it was the first day so far where I walked start to finish without a single break. Of course, it did rain all afternoon so it wasn't hard to force myself to keep chugging--in fact, the rain seems to make me most comfortable while hiking.
Palmerton
A very hot and steamy day for walking with water few and far between. Fortunately, with a lighter pack and a lot of miles behind me, the heat bothererd me much less than normal and my need to drink tons of water is pretty well diminished. Lots more PA rocks today, but no rattlesnakes or copperheads yet again.
Allentown Hiking Club
The heat lamp is officially back on for one hot day as the PA rocks finally started coming on full blast after a nice long stop at Eckville Shelter for drinks and ice cream from the caretaker's porch refrigerator. More rocks to look forward to until Delaware Water Gap, though the good news is that my feet have improved pretty dramatically, despite the rocks, since cutting my pack weight down to around 22lbs with 3 days of food plus water.
Windsor Furnace
I wanted to get farther today to catch up with Footloose, but I'm meeting Gretch, Ali, and Jamie at the Delaware Water Gap on Saturday so there's no rush. Had a great breakfast at the Three C's restaurant, and had lots of fun showing Dead Man Walking and Country how to make a Pepsi-can stove. I hope to see them up the trail after they take the day off in town today. Nice miles again with sunshine and much warmer weather for a change. In with Tortoise, Jethro and Chief, Hillbilly, and Dead Lungs.
Port Clinton
After yesterday's continuous downpour, a 3-mile stretch of today's trail had turned into a river with several long stretches over about 1.5 miles having standing water about a foot or more deep. Good thing sandals dry fast! Nothing to see, but fast miles into town for a shower and feasting at the Port Clinton Hotel. Great food, but not hiker friendly by any means.
501 Zero Day
My first zero day in about a month, and I decided to take it at the very last minute this morning when the caretaker said the rain would clear by tomorrow. And since it's been pouring all day, this 4-walled shelter has been the perfect place to wait it out indoors away from the distractions of town, although it's begun to get quite cold.