7/9/1999 ~ Palmerton, PA (13.3 miles hiked)

Today was a really tough 13 miles for me. PA really pushes the term 'trail' to it's limit. When I saw the knife edge, I laughed out loud at the absurdity of what I was about to do. I did it though (though I had to climb down a tree to get off the knife edge), so I guess it's not so bad. In short, many rocks, many boulders, very little dirt for 13 miles.

Bake Oven Knob was pretty hard too, and the shelter there is not nice. The spring is .5 miles down the mountain, and there's no privy. Outerbridge Shelter is also beat up, but the spring is convenient and running.

It got up to 98' here today. I'm glad I started early. My room at the Palmerton Hotel is laughable. One twin bed, no TV, shared bathroom and worst of all, no A/C. I couldn't get a room anywhere else in Palmerton or Slatington, and I couldn't get a shuttle to Wind Gap where there were better rooms. Overall, I'm really disgusted with PA and, get this, I can't wait to get to NJ.