Mission Out of a Backpack: Days 81-84; 6/19/14-6/22/14

6/19: Day 81

Elkville Shelter (1,228.2)- Oven Bake Shelter (1,245.9)

Total: 17.7 Miles

Yet another midnight thunderstorm brewed over night. We woke with some condensation, but nothing we weren't able to manage. We slept in until 6:15 a.m., even though we had an easy day before this one. The goal today was only 17 miles, so we were in no hurry to be the first visitors through spider web kingdom. As Jeremy and I were sitting at the picnic table with Buzz, Tandem, and Mio; Jungle Jim and Mosey were endeavoring to battle the morning webs. We waved them goodbye, thankful we weren't the firsts, yet again. We broke camp around 8:45 a.m., and scurried up the steady, steep climb from the valley in which we slept. The Pennsylvania trail clubs don't seem to be fans of switchbacks (making the trail weave back and forth up the mountain rather than a steep straight up climb), because most of the climbs have been directly up the mountain. We hiked listening to our headphones as the rain started to drizzle upon us. At mile seven for the day around 11:30 a.m., we stopped at the Allenberry Trail Club Shelter for some lunch. We decided it was either there or on the side of the trail in the rain somewhere. About 45 minutes later, Mio, Buzz, and Tandem stopped in and had lunch with us. We watched as the rain fell, and each of us expressing our lack of want to hike further for the day. Eventually, we packed up and the five of us headed down the trail another six miles. About .2 off of the trail, there was a bar/restaurant and we decided to stop in to dry off a little bit. The man running the place sat us at a specific table with rubber covered seats, so we wouldn't destroy the wood chairs. We ordered some desserts and coffee while watching the World Cup. Buzz is really into Geo Cashing, so the conversation steered to all the epic finds of Geo Cashing. After a partial drying, we headed out to accomplish the last three miles to camp. Before getting completely out of the parking lot, the three guys discovered a Geo Cash within 100 feet. After 10-15 of searching they successfully located the 4 ounce box under a fallen sign while Tandem and I observed from the sideline taking pictures of they're childlike giddiness. As we continued up the trail, the rocks greeted us again. Thankfully, the rain had ceased but the rocks were still dampened. We carefully made it across what is called the "Knife Edge", and made it to the Oven Bake Shelter with all of our limbs still intact. Jeremy suggested we all set up camp above the shelter on the ridge line, so we could get the cool Canadian wind blowing in and hopefully dry out our tent. As we cooked dinner we reminisced on the day's journey, then headed to bed in the cool 53 degrees and heavenly wind blowing through our tent.

6.20: Day 82

Oven Bake (1,245.9)- Palmerton (1,253.6)

Total miles: 7.7

This morning we started off completely rejuvenated with one of the best nights rest in a while. With a cool breeze all through the night, we woke completely dry and even somewhat chilly. It was like being in a climate controlled environment void of humidity. As we packed up, we exchanged phone numbers with Buzz, Mio, and Tandem, since we planned on going into Palmerton and they were heading further north. We said our goodbyes and hiked on. A couple miles into the morning we stubbled upon our first Pennsylvania trail magic! Even though we weren't hungry, we used it as an excuse to take a break. We enjoyed some Cheese Danishes and apples. It was delicious! The rest of the crew caught up at that time and we chatted some more before heading on. We ended up hiking with them all the way to Palmerton. We said our final farewells at the intersection to continue north or head into town. They went north and we headed to town. We immediately we able to get a ride by these two Polish ladies. They were on there way back from a farmers market that had authentic polish foods, in which they kindly offered to us! They gave us Keishbach and multigrain bread. They were so kind! After, we checked in at the Jailhouse Hostel which was a free hostel the City of Palmerton hosted for hikers, and it's located in the basement of the city hall. We met a Ridge-runner named Blue Eyes and chatted with him for a bit. Conveniently, there was a laundromat across the street from the hostel, so we did laundry after showering. I went to a local market down the street to get change and they gave me two free pieces of fruit because Jeremy and I were hikers! It was such a blessing. The hospitality in this town has been unbelievable. There are some great people here! The remainder of the evening was full of simplicity and rest. We purchased some resupply items and ate bagels and butter for dinner. It has been awhile since we've only hiked 8 miles throughout the day, but we enjoyed the downsize in the pace.

6/21: Day 83

Palmerton (1,253.6)- Leroy Shelter (1,269.4)

Total miles: 15.8

Getting back to the trailhead was remarkably easy this morning. Blue Eyes had his truck at the hostel and was able to drop us off after a tasteful breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. Today's terrain started out with a 900 ft. climbed out of the valley of Palmerton. This climb consisted of scrambling, bouldering, and a slight amount of crawling. We were very appreciative to be doing this section over dry rocks because it would've been near impassable if it was raining. We had to ditch our poles for a bit because this climb needed the attention of all limbs. After the climb, there was a two mile section of tick infested tall grass that we were warned about before stumbling across it. Right before the section we sprayed a vigorous amount of deet on the exposed sections of our legs, sock, shoes, and shorts. As we walked the two mile section, we periodically examined our legs for ticks and successfully found not a one. Every gnat that landed on them instantly died, which was a bit gratifying since they're usually trying to leech to your eyeballs. We haven't used any bug spray thus far because the deet is terrible for your body since it cannot break down the chemical; however, we were pleased that it prevented any ticks from latching to us today.

Another eventful site this morning was walking through a Superfund site. This was an area of forest that had been destroyed by zinc smelting from the town of Palmerton. In 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency shut down the cause the pollution and declared it a superfund site, and efforts to revegetate it are currently being made. To us, it looked a tornado had came through and wipes out the trees in this section. It was a sad site indeed, but the vegetation is coming back.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful which we were thankful for. Today was the first day of summer, and in commemoration of the Summer Solecist, some thru-hikers have a tradition to hike naked. We did not participate in this tradition nor did we see any hikers participating. However, we did speak to some sectioners that were rather appalled to witness this uncensored tradition.

We made it the shelter by 5 p.m., and were surprised to see our Korean friends, Tent Maker and First A, we met back at Macfee's Knob in Virginia. When they got to Daleville, VA, they flew to NY and started hiking south, so that is how we ran into them. We were alerting them of some sections to beware of, and they did the same for us. We asked them how rocky the terrain would be tomorrow and Tent Maker said it wasn't that bad, but First A said in response to Tent Maker, "(in a Korean accent) Oh yes it bad. You scream! You say Eee AHH OOO EEE!" Jeremy and I laughed for a good five minutes. They're such a comical couple. After they left, we did our routine- Jeremy set up the tent and I got some water and filtered it. We were in our tent and ready for bed by 7:30 p.m. There were some sectioners we chatted with for a little while, but no other thru-hikers showed up while we were socializing. Jeremy noticed that I had miscalculated tomorrow's mileage. Instead of what I thought to be 15 miles, it will actually be 20, and tomorrow is suppose to be the most consistent rocky terrain yet. However, tomorrow evening Jeremy's grandparents plan to pick us up, so regardless of the terrain tomorrow will be a glorious day!

6/22: Day 84

Leroy Shelter (1,269.4)- Delaware Water Gap (1,289.6)

Total miles: 20.2

Our original plan for this morning was to break camp by 6:30 a.m., but we didn't end up waking up until then. Since it was the last night in the woods for a week, we thought we could prolong our time in the tent for a bit longer. We left camp by 7:40 a.m., and initiated our 20 mile day. The rocks accompanied us this morning, midday, and into the evening. By the end of the rocky streak our ankles should've been awarded an Olympic medal for the gymnastic excursion they put forth. The trail finally gave us a break the closer we got to the Delaware Water Gap. We arrived in town at 4:30 p.m., and stopped by a quaint little coffee and ice cream parlor. We enjoyed a couple French Press coffees, and initiated our relaxation period. In about three hours we were going to be heading back to Harper's Ferry, and our feet could taste the pleasure of soft cushiony carpet rather than a 20 mile long rock beating.

After our coffee, we walked a block to a church hostel to wait the remaining two hours for our pick up. We talked with some hikers and the pastor of the the church for a little bit, and we got to see Blue Eyes again! Also, Honey Bear showed up with one of his friends and we talked with him about his adventures since we had seen him last at the hiker feed. He was in the middle of telling us about cooking some squirrel roadkill when Jeremy's grandparents showed up at 7:30 p.m. We said goodbye to the fellow hikers and drove off ever so happy to be with family again. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel on the way home and reminisced with Jermey's grandparents about our time on the trail thus far. We made it back to the RV in Harper's Ferry by midnight and went straight to bed. A 20 mile day of walking and a 4 hour drive makes one long day. We are so grateful to be taking this break though, and so thankful for wonderful family that loves us so much to pick us up and take us in!