Day: 079
Date: Wednesday, 12 July 2023
Start: PA Route 309 (AT Mile 1246.6)
Finish: Blue Mountain Resort (AT Mile 1267.0)
Daily Kilometres: 33.2 (Ascent 2881', Descent 2874')
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 2130.0
Weather: Hot and mostly sunny.
Accommodation: Tent
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Pancakes
Lunch: Trail Mix
Dinner: Nachos/Chicken Quesadilla
Aches: Dave - the usual niggles plus some scratches and bruises from a fall and very tired; Julie - nothing reported.
Highlight: Making Blue Mountain Resort in time to have dinner at their pub and grill. It's a ski resort, but the pub was doing very good business when we arrived around 7:30pm with many people dining on its large deck overlooking the valley far below. The cold drinks were almost as welcome as the food after a long hot day.
Lowlight: The last hour or so of hiking was not pretty. Firstly, there was some newly relocated trail which seemed designed to take hikers off the obvious firetrail going to the same place and send them through the forest on gnarly rocky trail. This was followed by a very steep and sweaty boulder-scrambling ascent while being drained of blood by squadrons of voracious mosquitoes.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
We slept well, woke at 6:00am and Julie cooked us some pancakes for breakfast on the hostel kitchen while we chatted with other early risers including a father hiking the trail with his daughter who had just graduated from high school.
It was 7:20am by the time we left the hostel to walk the few hundred yards back to the trail, which was a little later than hoped, but not too bad. Initially the trail was easy walking but soon we were boulder-scrambling across the Knife's Edge and Bear Rocks, making very slow progress. On the plus side, the views were excellent.
We took our first break after about six miles at a shelter where several other thru-hikers were talking about getting to the pub at Blue Mountain Resort for dinner which wasn't something we knew about. After consulting our navigation app we confirmed that the pub was indeed close to the trail and about fourteen miles ahead which was roughly our target distance for the day anyway. Of course, we didn't know how difficult the trail would be, though we did know of one significant climb to come out of Lehigh Gap.
There was a new trail relocation in the next section which took us out into the open and high along the side of the ridge with great views to the north and west over the rural countryside and small towns while, overhead, eagles rode the air currents. Out from the forest it was hot and sweaty hiking but it was nice and unusual to have views for so long a period.
We took our lunch break around 2:00pm after a slow section during which Julie saw a bear on the trail ahead, but it ran off before any photos could be taken or Dave arrived. There were seven miles remaining to the Resort which seemed doable in the time remaining, but depended on how difficult the trail was. Firstly, we finished our descent to Lehigh Gap and crossed the river, chatting to people in one of the cars held up by traffic crossing the bridge. Down on the river, people were rafting, which seemed a lot more sensible than hiking on a day like this.
As we started our ascent from the Gap, we found a freezer with water and watermelon left out for thru-hikers, and were helping ourselves as the "trail angel" arrived to pack it all up for the day. This was the second time today we had found water left for hikers on the trail on this notoriously dry section. The "trail angel" apologised for how little was left, but we were happy.
The climb was very steep, the steepest yet in our hike, and required the use of hands to haul ourselves up the rock faces. Then we had to ascend through boulder fields before we reached the ridge top. Overhead, buzzards circled, waiting for one of us (probably Dave) to fall.
Once on the ridge we had a long walk on sometimes rocky trail which seemed to take forever with some maddening relocations (see above). By this time Dave was getting very tired and our journey became a plod, made worse by a very steep final ascent (see above).
Eventually, we reached the turn-off to the Resort and got to the pub at 7:30pm. It seemed surreal sitting there enjoying our meal and drinks amongst people having a night out (see above).
Of course, it was getting dark by the time we left the pub and began our walk up past the beginners ski slope and back towards the forest. On the way, Dave spotted a small inconspicuous grassy area where we decided to camp, hopefully out of sight and not breaking any laws.
As we were setting up our tent some other thru-hikers passed on their way back to the forest and said that there was a security patrol at the resort and "good luck!". We decided to stay put and quietly, with no lights, set up, washed, and got into bed, hoping we don't get any nocturnal visitors.
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