Author Archives: atsioneva

37.1 miles in 3 days. 13.6, 8.1, 15.5. My feet are definitely feeling it, but it was definitely worth it. Tomorrow I will take a zero day in Delaware Water Gap, and go into nearby Stroudsburg – resupply, and catch the Captain America film.

The bridge into New Jersey is a mere .2 miles away. It was a brutal hike today, but well worth it. Even though Pennsylvania tried to kill me again – it rained enough to make the moss covered rocks slippery, just before the trail led me onto, you guessed it, a dangerously sloped, moss-covered formation of rocks called the Wolf Rocks. My boots had zero traction, I’m very lucky I only fell twice, and no damage done. It could have easily been a lot worse.

It took forever to get off the final mountain, the path would just not go down! My hiking partner was already in DWG – HE only had to hike 6.4 today, I had to do the full 15.5! A group of us walked (hobbled, in my case) over to a restaurant. I was craving protein, as usual. First rate hamburger and honest to God Sam Adams summer ale, which is not easy to find in Yuengling territory.

I also weighed myself on the scale. I’m down at least 11 pounds, probably more. That, I like. Tonight is quiet time hanging out in the lounge-type room at the hostel, while those who are leaving tomorrow have already turned in. I can’t blame them, and will join them soon – I was up at 5:15 am, breakfasted by 6:15, and on the trail at 7 on the dot. It was an 11 hour day of hiking. Now I will resy, because I think I earned it. Adios Pennsylvania hiking, I cannot say I will miss you!

I pause.

Well, it looks like desire for a real bed and an understandable desire to both stay out of the rain and not cart around a wet tent.. may have overcome better instincts. This Travel Inn in Wind Gap – let’s just say that my room definitely registers on the funky smell scale, the walls are quite thin, and I will sleep in my sleeping bag on top of the bed instead of in it. Just to be safe. At least the door locks look sturdy. I was really craving a real bed, not a cot, shelter bunk, tent, or garage floor. Be careful what you wish for!

Today’s hike was 8.1 miles; tomorrow will be 9.1, to the next shelter, and then a short 6.4 mile hop into Delaware Water Gap on Monday; planning a very early start on Monday to get there ASAP! I’m told I have a special surprise there! I may or may not take a zero there, since I took one so recently at Palmerton. We’ll see. Or maybe I will start at the crack of dawn tomorrow, and do a 15 miler, in my eagerness. Ve shall see. Morning Song and Survivor will reach DWG tomorrow, and I’d kinda like to catch up. Besides, I’m running low on food.

Today’s trail was typical Pennsylvania rocky trail. Mercifully, no boulderfields or difficult sections. A trail angel left a box with various boxed foods in it at the point where the trail crosses PA 33, but by the time I got there, all the fudge brownie boxes were empty *sniffle*. Speaking of that road crossing, it was a busy one, and scary. Curves at both sides hid oncoming traffic, it was “wait, listen, run for it, and PRAY!” I almost got hit anyway! Fortunately, I will not have to face that tomorrow.

My ever so healthy McDonald’s meal has assuaged my hunger. Not even close to half as good as the turkey Reuben and mozzarella salad I devoured last night, but about 1/3 the cost. So. I’m just glad there is a taxi service for this area, about half the price shuttles charge. I could have walked here. I really didn’t want to!

I suppose I need to figure out where the next maildrop will be after DWG. I can’t do that until I get there though… I only am carrying maps for up to that point. Also, I need to renew my driver’s license, so I can get it sent to me before the current one expires.

Still loving the new insoles! I spent about thirty minutes lying on my back on a long rock though, resting my feet and just musing in an upward direction. That kind of break is very helpful when hiking.

Okay, here is some advice if you are ever out on the trail, and feeling lonely; careful experimentation has produced the following results:

• Lying on a rock, resting – total elapsed time for other hikers to come by: 20 minutes
• Having some #1 business to do in the woods – total elapsed time for other hikers to come by: 5 minutes
• Having some #2 business to do in the woods – total elapsed time for other hikers to come by: 2 minutes. Never fails. Better hurry… or crouch lower still and pray.

Ziptie is starting to Zoneout.

I hike on.

I hiked for 10 hours today and covered 13.6 miles. I am feeling it, but happy to report the new insoles were well worth the money. Feet are tired and sore, but not feeling bruised.

The day started early, by design. By 7:30 am, I was already walking out of Palmerton. My knee was wrapped, but still a bit twingy, so for the first time, I took a blue-blaze alternate route to get out of Lehigh Gap; the “Winter Trail”, for when the extra-steep white-blazed trail is too icy. It’s a less difficult way up the mountain, but less-difficult does not mean easy. Still, I enjoyed the climb, even though I don’t like getting off trail. In this case, it was necessary.

The saddest part of the hike so far came next – traversing hillsides destroyed by zinc mining. Piles of splintered rock. Dead trees, still standing. Dead trees, lying all over the ground. Low, scrubby blueberry bushes, but not much else in the way of vegetation. It was a relief when I left that behind, and the trail dipped once again, to descend at Little Gap.

And then go back up again. Two hundred feet of rock scrambling upwards. Kinda enjoyed this section. Sometimes just hands, sometimes using poles, depending. But when I hit Little Gap, I had gone roughly six miles, and seven still lay ahead. I took a half hour break to rest my feet, then moved on.

Rocks, rocks, rocks. The path was never free of rocks. Sometimes small, sometimes big, but no big boulderfields, at least. Still, they took their toll. My hike was over when I hit Smith Gap Road… I’ll be staying tonight in another garage hostel. I know, I know, but I was too dead tired to make it to the next shelter, plus I’d run out of time. Plus, it’s cheap, and at least I don’t have to worry about where to hang the blasted bear bag!

Oh! I almost forgot to mention! I had my first dose of trail magic in PA! A walker going the other way with her dog stopped to ask if I was a thru-hiker, we got to chatting, and she offered me half an apple, which I gratefully accepted. It was a hot day and an unexpected kindness to buoy my spirits late in the day. The apple did not last long.

Tomorrow it is supposed to rain. That should make the rock hikes extra thrilling… again. Ah, Pennsylvania. Only a few days more!

I hike on.

It was a good zero day, and a very nice break from the trail, but I am ready now to move on bright and early tomorrow. It is supposed to be a hot day, so I want to tackle the extra steep, extra rocky climb out of the Lehigh Gap before the heat builds. I am actually looking forward to it; this is the last real obstacle left in Pennsylvania that I know of.

My knee is wrapped; my pack is lightened, because I shipped what I didn’t need for the next four days forward to Delaware Water Gap. There are very few sources of water along the trail tomorrow, and you wouldn’t want to drink from them anyway, so I will be carrying extra water. And water is heavy. It will be a long day of hiking! I even put off resupply until tomorrow night, so I will only be carrying a day’s worth of food and snacks. It’s the lightest my food bag has ever been!

If calculations are correct, I will hit Delaware Water Gap either Sunday or Monday. This is worth looking forward to, and I looks forward to it very much!!!

There is a key lime martini I must sample before I leave Palmerton. The walk to get there will also test how well I wrapped my knee. Dual purpose! Tomorrow I will have to walk two miles just to get back to the trailhead, but it is better than shelling out $20 for a shuttle to take me there. Shuttles are expensive when there’s no one to split the cost with! And then a 10 or 11 mile hike to tomorrow night’s destination.

Well… I ate my Subway sandwich and so-called clam chowder, and yes, I am still hungry. I may have to appetizerite along with the martini. Still haven’t seen  the new Captain America movie yet – no theater here either. But I’ll get there sometime. It is easy to avoid spoilers out in the woods.

I hike on.

Tonight’s accommodations is an Army cot in a garage for $5. Tomorrow the same. It is Spartan, but at this point better than a tent or a shelter. I am taking a zero in Palmerton, PA, to rest myself mentally and physically, especially my left knee. It aches a lot, and tends to feel very weak and unwilling to support weight toward the end of each day. The hike out of Lehigh Gap is very steep and rocky. I need a respite first. Palmerton actually has a lot of little shops It will be fun to look around. Plus a library. I’m looking forward to sitting down at a library, opening a book, and losing myself for a few hours. It has been a month or more since I’ve done that.

Delaware Water Gap is 37 trail miles away. I will cross over into New Jersey there and leave Pennsylvania behind. You all know how eager I am to do that. Pennsylvania is known as the “Dreamkiller” among Appalachian Trail hikers for a reason – more people have to quit due to injuries here than in any other state because of the rocks. Fortunately, the worst I have had so far has been some scrapes, a slightly bent pole, and a slightly wrenched left knee. *crossing my fingers*

The others staying here tonight have gone to buy groceries; I will do that tomorrow, so I stayed behind. I am enjoying the quiet when I am not in motion, too. It is great to meet a lot of new, interesting people on trail, but sometimes it saps my mental energy when it comes to socializing at night.

If I time things properly, and I think I have, I should be able to attend Mass in or near Wind Gap in Saturday or Sunday… I sincerely hope so. I /need/ to get to Mass. It is hard to time things to be near a town on the weekend, but it was what I had planned originally. Man plans; God laughs.

37 miles out of Delaware Water Gap means I have completed approximately 193 miles in PA, 41 in MD, and .5 in WV. 234.5 all told, not including blue blaze trails, or the extra miles walked to get into Palmerton from the trail today (and btw, I hated crossing over the Lehigh River). That’s more than 1/10 of the trail. Getting there, slowly, but surely… I have decided to stop worrying, and not even try to increase my mileage past 10-12 miles a day until I hit New Jersey. Then we will see.

One month, three days out and counting. Living the dream!

I pause.

Things that brighten a hiker’s day:

• Paying $5 to stay on a cot in a garage.
• Paying $5 more for a HOT SHOWER. Let’s face it, hikers stink. I stink. Showers are pure gold.
• Having the garage and shower be right next to a laundromat (trail clothes need washing, too. see above.)
• Pizza, hamburger, donut shops close by. Hikers EAT. We eat a LOT. When we can. I am always hungry.
• Grocery stores for resupply. (see above)
• A dry tent instead of what I feared, a rain spattered one
• A short 8 mile day. Hopefully not too rocky
• Ibuprofen!!!

Better start packing up that tent.

I hike on.

Ah, but sometimes, unexpected fun comes your way. The formation in PA known as the Knife’s Edge was one of those unexpected funs! It was rocky, it was dangerous, it was challenging every second, and I loved every single second. At the start, I collapsed my poles and lashed them to the pack. They would have only hindered me. This section required hand climbing and hand holds, plus knowing exactly where your feet were every step. I wanted to go back and do it again!

The climb over the Knife’s Edge was preceded by a few boulder fields, which followed six miles of easy hiking. I did ten miles total today… Another fall, and I bent my hiking pole slightly  in the process – actually, the pole slipping into a deep hole caused the fall and the bending. The pole still functions well; I just can’t collapse the bottom section anymore. My left knee is stiff, as if I twisted it, so I took some Advil and am resting; if it doesn’t feel better soon, I may have to take a zero day even though I don’t want to. Only 6.7 miles tomorrow. I’m hoping the terrain is reasonable. Tomorrow will find me by the town of Palmerton, PA.

I was prepared for the Knife Edge, but not for the freehand bouldering behind Bake Oven Knob. That was brutal because I could not collapse one pole, I wasn’t mentally prepared for it, and it was late in the day, being in the last mile. I was tired and uncoordinated, but made it unscathed.

This shelter I am at now has no privy, which is blasted inconvenient! I gathered enough wood for a nice little campfire, we all enjoyed that. This is a very old, very small shelter, dating from the 1930’s, so most of us are tenting.

The past three days have been brutally rocky and have drawn blood twice. If I find a low cost place to take a zero, I will probably do it – or hold out for Delaware Water Gap in 4-5 days. My knee and feet may decide. Survivor and Morning Song are still behind me. 😦 Hiking with Towtruck, and husband and wife Lois and Clark at the moment.

I hike on. (I think.)

Pennsylvania has drawn first blood! But I will win in the end!

Today’s hike started out like a hiker’s dream. Sun to warm you, a cool breeze to dry you and keep the bugs away, the best possible stretch of trail imaginable… It was dirt trail steadily angling up a mountain side, but not at too steep an angle, stone free! Followed by a mile or so of smooth, rockfree trail so perfect I stowed my hiking poles. They were not needed! One boulder field before the overlook at Dan’s Pulpit, but not a very large one.

And then. And then. It got warmer, the breeze died, the bugs appeared, and so did the rocks. Five and a half miles of rocks. Either huge boulder fields (in one case, a MEGA boulder field), or large sized stones in the path that moved when you stepped on them. My goal today was 11 miles.  I managed 7.5, because:

1. It just ate up too much time, getting through the rocks. It was akin to a snail crawl!
2. I fell out there, and it left me pretty shaken up. My left leg got scraped up but good – I applied antiseptic wipes a couple times, including when I arrived at the shelter, and covered the whole area with two huge bandaids from the kit. Stings a lot… Not feeling like going further.

There were a bunch of people here at the shelter when I got here, but they cleared out quickly to set up tents. Maybe I scared them. This shelter has a saw for some reason, and one of them just came back to borrow it…  Maybe I am the one who should be scared!

Tomorrow, I don’t foresee me making much mileage. These rock fields are serious mileage killers.

But I hike on.

I miss my hiking partners. I hope Morning Song and Survivor catch up quickly. I don’t know anyone at the shelter tonight… Made it to the Ecksville Shelter, which oddly enough is a shed in someone’s backyard. With bunks. And the magic words “flush toilet”.  Plus it is fully enclosed – more on that later.

It was a 9.1 mile day today. It was also supposed to be cool and sunny. Well, it was cool and sunny sometimes; it was often cool and rainy, of course; and for variety, I guess, it was cool and hailing, about five times. Or maybe snowing. Little ice balls bouncing everywhere. Of course, I was up in the rocks during that time.

Tonight the weather is supposed to be rainy and drop into the thirties. I am glad that this shed is not open to the elements, but it is concrete, so I will be layering up anyway.

I had a major chocolate craving when I got here. Fortunately, I was majorly chocolated… Two Andes mints, a mini-Snickers, and other bits and pieces satisfied the craving. For now.

Ziptie is very discombulated right now. Somehow I left or lost the maps for the sections of trail between the next three shelters, showing water sources, distances, and notable landmarks. I like knowing  where I am at any given time. I can work out shelter distances easily enough from other pages, but… I’ll scour the pack, maybe I just mispacked this morning.

I hike on.

There is a group of what must be a ROTC troop here, at a campfire in the woods in the rain. Every now and then, they all answer to a command in unison. “Yes, sir!”

Also, the next maildrop will be in Delaware Water Gap, will post exact address later, but same format.