August 26, 2001
23.5 miles today. I feel pretty good, too!
I went over the Blue Mountain ridge where Palmerton's zinc smeltering had devestated everything.
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| Devastation due to zinc smeltering industry (an EPA Superfund site) |
I felt like I was walking through a desert with all the dead trees and rocks.
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| Felt like hiking through the Middle East |
It was very hot and after a 16-mile stretch without water.
There were a few springs marked on the map, but they were dry. Then, as you enter the EPA Superfund site shown above, there is a sign that says: "We highly recommend you do not drink the water unless you like growing appendages." (well, something like that...). So, I was getting low on water and a bit parched.
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| Getting thirsty! |
There was a surprising rock climb down into Lehigh Gap, after about a hundred miles of nothing but flat.
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| Photo from here |
I finally found a spring just as I drank my last water, but I found it swarmed by yellow jackets!!
I was mad.
As I approached the spring I was excited about a possible Trail Angel situation going on, because it looked like someone had left cans of soda (and we are talking about Coke and Sprite, not a Sam's Club knockoff brand here) in the spring to get ice cold. My parched lips smacked invitingly!
And then as I approached I noticed all of the cans were empty, and thrown as clumps of litter into the usually pristine spring, and attracting 53 yellow jackets to swarm and prevent me from getting water.
I was mad.
After throwing rocks at them [to try to kill all 53 yellow jackets one at a time...], throwing a bottle tied to a string [to try to fill it with water from a distance], and other failed ideas, I finally put on all my clothes: rain pants, jacket, bug net, all tucked in [and it being about 90 degrees out] and got my water.
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