Sometimes I get so caught up in something that it overtakes everything else. This happened yesterday with my anger at the rocks. I omitted a few important things from my update! The first one is that Dave, the writer of the T&G article about this blog and LEEP project, completed an Appalachian Trail hike of his own yesterday. He did much of Northern Virginia, including the Shenandoahs. Way to go Dave! Dave is one of many section hikers, people who want to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, but do it in sections, one at a time. I think it's awesome how the trail ties so many people into it in so many different ways. It's just cool to think that not even a month ago I was hiking the same trail Dave, yet we had completely different adventures.
OK, the other piece of news is a doozy.
Remember back when I started, and I did the approach trail with two other guys? Rowan and Alex. I hiked off and on with Rowan for about the first week and a half, but by the time I got to the Smokies I was ahead of him, and I haven't seen him since. Alex left Springer Mountain on March 15 before me, and I had no idea what became of him...until yesterday!!! Alex is now known as Superman, and he's made it as far as I have! It's crazy; we went two and a half months, 1200 miles, but found each other again. Insane! Remember what I said about the trail tying things together?
No complaining today. The rocks are still a beast, but I'm getting used to them. I went through the Lehigh Valley today, which is notable because of the terrific slopes going in and out of it. The trail in wasn't too too bad, but the trail out...wow! I was practically rock climbing! It was straight up this rock face. The blazes were painted right on the rock and when you look at it from a distance I swear you think "what do they expect me to fly?" But it was a lot of fun.
The other interesting tidbit about the Lehigh Valley is its industrial past, a past which the Appalachian Trail does not escape from. Shortly after ascending Breakneck Rock (I made that up), I encountered a warning sign. And for about three miles, I was walking across a Superfund site; an environmentally damaged site that has federal money allocated for it's remediation. In the case of this site, a zinc-smelting plant in Palmerton (which I think has something to do with galvanizing metal) dumped their waste sludge on the hillside for almost a hundred years. The result was a defoliated slope, which I understand was far worse twenty years ago. Now, there are sparse trees, shrubs, and mostly grass. It's spooky. I feel like I'm on a field trip with my Urban Ecology class!
Anyway, I did another 20 today and Delaware Water Gap is only a day and a half away! Assuming I don't get eaten by a zinc sludge monster tonight...
-Scribbles (aka Ted)
7:03 p.m. 6/4/2015
7:03 p.m. 6/4/2015
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