End of PA

I would like to encourage all of you reading my blogs at some point to either comment, send me an email or a real letter. I have very little idea of whether my bogs are being red. When I talk to people I have gotten a very positive response, but it would be nice to get some encouragement while on trail. My next definite mail stop will be in Hanover, NH. So if any of you feel like writing you can send something to
Jeffrey Berliss
General Delivery
Hold for AT Thru Hiker
Hanover, NH 03755
I am aiming to be there around July 28. From there it is about a month more to Katahdin and I have not figured out mail drops for anything beyond Hanover.
I think my Pa tale needs to restart in Duncannon. I stayed at the historic Doyle Hotel which around 1905 was a five star hotel. It does not look like any money has been spent to improve the hotel since then. I was able to get a single with no AC and shared bath for 25 a night. I am pretty sure the sheets were clean. However this is where all the hikers coming through stayed, the food was good and the beer cheap. I happily spent the night hanging out with other hikers and enjoying cold local refreshment. Peacock and I enjoyed a late start and breakfast at Goodie's the next morning and hit the trail at around noon. PA continued its trend of long flat ridges with lots of rocks and no views. At this point I am not remembering too much of interest before Port Clinton.
The shelters in PA have a tendency to be very close to roads. 501 Shelter which was right off of PA 501 was not an exception. However it did have bunkbeds and a solar shower. The general idea with a solar shower is that the holding tanks have an opportunity to warm up during the day. This concept was lost on whomever built this one. It did have soap, but I described the temperature as "I have bathed in colder streams." The water also came from the same holding tanks, so the drinking water was warm and the shower water was cold. This was also a shelter where you could order pizza. I was starting to have NYC on my mind and I had too much food so I just cooked but I was offered a slice of someone else's pizza. I did not miss anything by not ordering my own. It may have been the worst pizza I have had on trail.
We decided to hike the 24 miles into Port Clinton the next day. Peacock and Daddy-O set up a slack pack while Shadow and I felt cheap and decided to hike our packs down. Shadow and I set out early and we were in the local outfitter by 3 enjoying Ben and Jerry's. The last 1/2 mile into town was straight down a 45 degree loose rock slope. I have never been happier to have trekking poles than that descent. If I had a piece of cardboard to slide down on, it would have been much better. Since it was Monday nothing else in town was open. For some reason the entire town shuts down on Mondays. We stayed at the town pavilion and hung out with local trail angel Bag O Tricks. We had a rain storm and then it got cold. I had to borrow a fleece sleeping bag from Tricks.
The next morning we paid the shuttle to the next town to get our resupply. When we came back we decided to visit Cabelas. Cabelas is a huge monument to killing animals. Whatever you might need for hunting or fishing you can get there. They have stuffed wildlife displays and they sell postcards of their wildlife displays. Within the huge confines they even had a cafeteria, with no vegetarian options other than french fries. I did need more sunscreen and I bought my own 25 dollar fleece sleeping bag in order to stay warm at night. It turned out to be a very useful investment. For the next couple of days I slept in my fleece bag and lent my fleece throw to Shadow whose sleep system was not up to the task of keeping him warm.
The trail after Port Clinton was back to PA normal until we hit Lehigh Gap and the Palmerton Superfund site. Lehigh Gap starts a stretch of about 20 miles with no water closer to the trail than a 1/4 mile. Also the first 9 miles are almost devoid of tree cover. Palmerton used to have a zinc smelting factory and the next ridge was downwind of the factory. In 1980 the EPA closed down the factory and in 1982 started rehabilitation for the area. It still has a long way to go. Shadow and I started early to make the first climb before the sun crested the ridge. It made for a very steep interesting climb. At one point I need both hands to pull myself up. Around the next two gaps on the ridge different trail angels left water so we were able to stay hydrated. We continued on for about 24 miles that day to put us in position for getting to the Delaware Water Gap on Saturday before the Post Office closed and in time to find a bed at the Church hostel in town. Shadow was very interested in getting his mail because he was expecting new shoes. His shoes were dead by Duncannon but he had put off getting his new ones sent until too late, again. His new shoes were supposed to have been in Port Clinton, but his mom sent his Chaco sandals instead. So he had been hiking the last four days in sandals, not real shoes. Turns out that the shoes were not there on Saturday and we had to wait until the post opened on Monday anyway, but we did get the last two bunks in the hostel.
Delaware Water Gap is only 90 minutes from NYC and luckily my brother was in town that weekend. So my parents and my brother were able to come out and have brunch with me. The other highlights of town were a free Jazz concert Sunday night at the church and a bakery that had a $1.50 hot dog and a slice of pie special. I only had two, one with chili. It was the hot dog, not the pie that had the chili. Shadow ended up with 6 over the course of the weekend. There was also a Greek diner in town and after Geoff and Emma's comments I had to get the moussaka. It was good. That Monday we were back out on the trail and into the promised land of NJ. Or maybe just out of the hated PA.
That should bring us up to date even if the narrative ended up out of order.