Sunday May 12, 16.8mi/27.3km
Allentown Shelter (1241.8) to Outerbridge shelter (1258.6) (PA)
It rained all night, and was still raining when I woke up. So, I checked the weather, hoping it would be stopping soon. Nope!
So, Bob and I packed up, (rain) suited up, and headed out into a steady rain. The trail was quite wet.
I didn’t take many photos today, since it was cold, only 45F/7C, so my hands didn’t have much dexterity.
When I got to a feature called the “knife edge”, it was worrisome. I had hiked here years ago on a dry day, and the shoes just grip the slanty slabs of rock. Well, wet slabs don’t have much grip, so… I took my time. And used my hands.
The trail stayed rocky for a couple of miles, which was really slow with the wet rocks.
Around noon, I got to a viewpoint called Bake Oven Knob. I had also hiked here years ago, and the view wasn’t as nice today. Both because of the fog, and all the new graffiti. Sad.
After Bake Oven knob, the trail smoothed out, and it was a nice couple hours of trail to the shelter.
I arrived at 3:45pm, to find Bob had just arrived before me. It was very early in the day, but it had rained all day, so we called it quits and crawled in our sleeping bags. It was so nice to finally be warm and dry!
On a sad note, there were a couple of AT hikers who were attacked on the trail, down in southern Virginia. I’m safe and sound 800mi/1300km away, and authorities have arrested the suspect. Links:
Ramblin' Recon 