We woke up at 5:30 and had breakfast with Paul. We had heavy rain during the evening and there was fog/mist in the morning. We took a photograph of Paul with the log cabin in the background as a reminder of how thoroughly we had enjoyed our stay.
We drove both cars to Rt. 309, left our car and went with Jerry to Lehigh Gap. There was a posted detour right before the bridge over the Lehigh River but fortunately the AT parking we needed was just a little past that and we were able to pull across the on-coming traffic and into the lot on the south end of the bridge. We started walking north to south up a narrow trail which had a lot more rocks than yesterday but also some steps. The uphill continued for about 700’ before we came to a more moderate uphill for another 400’. This trail was also rocky with ferns covering the forest floor on either side of the trail. We passed no hikers until we were on the ridge and then encountered 5 thru hikers we had not met before.
The trail leveled out but continued to be rocky with several large rock jumbles that were challenging to traverse. This portion of the trail is not maintained. We stopped for lunch at Bake Oven Knob shelter where there was a picnic table but no privy available. The shelter was probably the smallest we have seen to date. There was a sunny area for tents nearby with blackberry bushes providing some privacy. We enjoyed a leisurely 30 minute lunch.
Continuing on to Bake Oven Knob summit we met two local women who hiked in from a nearby parking area. This overlook provided great views into the valley. Continuing on the trail we met the tattooed hiker from yesterday who told us more rocks awaited us ahead. He was right! At Bear Rocks there was a wall of boulders ranging in size from “refrigerators to tractor trailers” while the trail itself had large boulders we needed to get over or around. We thought Bear Rocks were tough until we got to the Knife Edge which at first we couldn’t believe the trail went up. We had to use handholds to scramble up the huge rocks more often than our trekking poles. The only helpful feature of these rocks was the fact they were large slabs of canted rocks. We noted hawks floating on the thermals overhead. We continued up to the Knife Edge which did at least in parts have a narrow ledge we could walk along while holding on to jagged rock. We traversed the Knife Edge for about 200 yards.
Coming off the Knife Edge we got a break with some downhill that was not all rocks. There we met Rock Hound sitting on a log taking a break. He was easy to identify from a distance by his hiking poles which are two long pieces of bamboo with duct tape on the bottom. He told us we had about 1.8 mi. to go which was less than we expected and turned out to be correct. The AT sign at Lehigh Gap incorrectly listed the distance as 15.3 mi. Rock Hound got his trail name because he works a lot on trail maintenance moving rocks to build paths, bridges, and fireplaces. He said he learned this as on-the-job AT training. He also reported seeing a 3’ rattlesnake today.
Leaving Rock Hound we had a wider trail which appeared to be an abandoned back road. With less rocks and a gentle downhill we soon arrived at our car on Rt. 309. As we drove off we commented that this section had been the rockiest we have encountered so far on the AT with approximately 70% a rough jagged rocky trail.
Our campsite at Evergreen Lake left a lot to be desired. First the camping area was very small and the sites not numbered. They had rules that you could not put up a clothesline on the weekend. Then Jerry decided he wanted to be in the trees but those were pine trees and the area underfoot had lots of roots. By the time we decided to go back to the first more open site another two cars had taken the one we picked. Fortunately they were together and moved to the area closest to the road giving us the second one. We moved the picnic table closer to our tents and then Jerry decided to sit on the same side of the table we were on while looking at the trail for tomorrow. When he sat down the picnic table almost flipped over for a second heart check of the trip. After a good laugh we got settled down and finalized the plans for tomorrow. Surprisingly there were no mosquitoes or gnats in our area.
Unfortunately, as nice as the neighboring campers were, they brought lots of beer along with their two huge tents and partied until midnight. Obviously no one from the camp office enforces the Quiet Rules. We need to add ear plugs to our camping list. Klaus also had a message from Paul that 70 mph winds with heavy rain were predicted for the area we were in but we were lucky because the storm hit the mountain range just south of us. Gale could see the lightning show when she went out to the showers later in the evening.
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