Wrangling the Sponge
Okay. Today is July 5, and I woke up this morning at the Eckville shelter – slash – bunkroom – slash – garden shed. After the big storms and subsequent rain, the air was incredibly humid and thick. I was up and had had breakfast by about 7:15.
While all of us were packing up, I remarked that my backpack was still completely wet, even though it had been inside all night and hadn’t been in the line of fire of any rain of any sort. Some of that was the result of my perspiration — which is kind of gross, I regularly sweat through my backpack — but it was also, I’ve concluded, the result of the company that made my backpack using some kind of fabric that seems to attract any moisture that is available anywhere in the surrounding atmosphere. So I was grousing about my backpack, and No Rush the Elder asked me what kind of pack I had. I told him it was an Osprey, and he goes, “Oh yeah, you got the sponge.”
Apparently, Chopstix used to have an Osprey, and he got tired of it always weighing so much. It's a pretty heavy pack to begin with, but it also tends to hold on to any moisture that it sucks up. It just never seems to dry out.
He got rid of it in favor of a ZPacks backpack that he's been much happier with. I definitely need to look for a different pack. I mean, I've been carrying this one for about a thousand miles now, and I haven’t been particularly happy with it for any of those miles. On the plus side, its suspension system is pretty good, but anything else is kind of a trade-off for that.
Very early on in my hike, I met a guy who had a Hyperlite backpack. When I asked him how he liked it, he said he was really happy with it. He’d actually started out with an Osprey like mine, but he’d just traded it in. He’d gone to an outfitter, and the guy there had told him to empty his backpack so they could weigh it. Osprey advertises that this pack weighs about 4.5 pounds — that’s when it’s empty — which is actually considered a very heavy backpack. But it had been raining, so this hiker’s pack was wet. And when the guy at the outfitter weighed it, it came in at 8 pounds, which is just absurd, because you can get a backpack that weighs less than 2 pounds that doesn't absorb water. So if you have a pack like mine, and especially if it gets wet, which I think is pretty much inevitable, you're carrying around a lot of extra weight for no reason. So that was his cue, and he got himself a new pack on the spot.
Apparently, I'm a slow learner, because he switched out back in North Carolina, and here I am at mile 1,250, still hauling around the sponge. I'm hoping to remedy that fairly soon, but it pains me to think about purchasing another backpack on the heels of buying a second tent. My track record with hiking gear apparently isn't very good.
Anyway, I was hiking by about 7:30, and early on, I had a fairly significant climb that was a little more difficult than it might normally be, because it was so humid. It felt like I was swimming up the side of the mountain. At the top of the climb, there’s a rock structure called Dan's Pulpit, and yesterday, the trail passed by Pulpit Rock. I'm not really sure what the meaning behind “pulpit” is or what it might be in reference to. [Wife note: According to the Piscataquog Land Conservancy, “The Pulpit was formed some 14,000 years ago by glacial runoff, according to geologist Richard Moore. Melt water containing swirling boulders and other sediment wore through the bedrock and produced a plunge basin and significant ledge resembling a church pulpit – now called Pulpit Rock.”] Normally, Dan’s Pulpit has a pretty nice view, I guess, but today, there was no view, because it was so overcast and foggy.
The challenge of the day wasn’t the steepness of the climb, though, it was that it had rained so much the night before that the rocks were very, very slick. So the hiking was incredibly slow. The rocks happened to be quite large and flat and required some very careful navigation.
Apparently, I wasn't careful enough, because shortly after I passed Dan’s Pulpit, I fell headfirst into a hole between two large boulders that happened to have a nice, robust pricker bush growing in it. I would say the hole was about four feet deep, and I broke my fall a bit by grabbing the pricker bush, which did a pretty good number on my hand. I gave myself a very nice charley horse on my thigh, too. As I’m recording this, it’s very sore, and I have a feeling it's going to be even more sore tomorrow. So that wasn’t good.
[Wife note: Rob/Patch explained to me that the reason the video ends abruptly is that he was dripping sweat onto his phone, and one of the drops hit the “stop” button.]
Not long after that, I got to a place called Balanced Rock and decided to stop for a bit there. I wanted to talk to S. about a few things, so I gave her a quick call. And very soon after I started hiking again, I fell a second time and actually hit my head pretty hard on the left-hand side. It's a bit tender now, and I’ve got a bit of a bump there. I didn't see stars or feel like there was any risk of concussion, but I'm definitely feeling it still.
While I was stopped at Balanced Rock — just before displaying my very poor balance — I saw a rather large brown slug and thought immediately of my good friend Whit, who tends to like organisms of that nature. I took a picture of it and texted it to Whit later. He replied and said he thought it was a leopard slug and that I should have given it a kiss. But once you see the picture of it, I think you'll understand why I didn't do that.
As the day progressed, the humidity lifted a little bit, but the sun came out, which made the temperature really start to rise. There was a heat warning for today with an index of over 100 degrees, and I have no doubt we hit that and then some. I’d already been dripping sweat the entire day, but somehow, it got even worse. It was like someone had dumped a bucket of water on my head. I don’t think there was an inch of dry material on me at that point. Wet rocks, wet body, sweaty hands, two big falls — definitely not a great hiking day.
I talked with S. again and ultimately decided that I would take a little break from the trail for a few days. I need to get out of this insane heat. The tree cover actually goes away tomorrow, which means I'd be hiking over rocks all day with no shade. That seems unwise. I also want to get somewhere for a new backpack, and I’d like to take some time to nurse these bruises and cuts and such. I seem to have developed some sort of rash on my leg, on top of everything else.
S. and I both did some research online, and it turns out that it’s less expensive to rent a car one way and drive home than it would be to stay at a hotel in Allentown for a couple days. And I‘d much rather be at home while I’m recouping and, hopefully, making some improvements to my gear. I’m going to have to figure out what that means for the coming section of the trail. I've got a few options, and I'll of course report back on that later.
Eventually, I made my way to the Overlook Hostel. And it’s clear as soon as you walk onto the property why it’s named that way. It has this beautiful view over the Lehigh Valley. The house is very simple, but it's a really nice hostel. The property is great, and there’s a nice sitting room and a bunkroom and a couple of private rooms. S. encouraged me to take the mini single, which actually isn't that mini. I have a feeling that after a hard hike in extremely hot weather and a couple of tumbles, I’ll probably sleep like a baby tonight.
While I was eating dinner outside at the picnic table, taking in the view, You Did came over and gave me some fresh fruit that one of her friends had brought from a farm she lives on in western Pennsylvania. So, for dessert, I ate a bunch of raspberries and blueberries and blackberries, and they were delicious. Fresh fruit just tastes so freaking good when you've been on the trail eating salt and processed sugar and freeze-dried stuff. So thank you, You Did, that was wonderful.
After I went back to my room, I took some time to work out the logistics for heading back to Virginia tomorrow. I rented a car. I’ve arranged a shuttle to the rental place in the morning. And now, I think I'm going to get ready for bed. Stay tuned for how this little hiatus plays out, I guess. I fully plan to return to the trail and make my way to Maine, but I need a little bit of a break first.
