Thanks to Lee’s assistance, we are back on the trail at 5:30, and it seems we are picking up right where we left off yesterday, dealing with jumbles of rocks at Bake Oven Knob. The temp is a little better and the rocks have dried overnight but we hear thunder again as more showers roll through the area. Thankfully this round of storms is short lived. Just enough to break out the pack covers and our hats.

We are greatly encouraged to see a sign at Lehigh Furnace Gap indicating for the next several miles, maintenance of the AT will be in the hands of the Philadelphia Hiking Club. If anybody ought to have a good idea about making a trail look like a city sidewalk, it should to be this bunch of flatlanders… And for the next few miles, the trail does seem a tad easier.

After we cross over the Lehigh Valley Tunnel, we begin our descent to the river bridge. We take a brief snack break at the George Outerbridge Shelter, where we see one of the day’s few good water sources. Based on our later experience, we should have loaded up there with a gallon of water a piece. (A shelter log entry from Craisin documents how he was caught on Bake Oven Knob by that nasty thunderstorm yesterday. He mentioned he hoped the Troverts didn’t suffer a similar fate on Knife Edge. That made three of us…)

As we cross the Lehigh Bridge, we are dwarfed by the size of the opposite ridge looming above us. While we’re staring, a helpful highway patrolman stops to tell us how to cross the road and get up the trail. Two other passing motorists stop to inquire are we OK. We cross at the traffic light, then walk back 100 yards on the other side to begin the climb.

Back in the day, this area suffered damage from the effects of zinc processing. Since the mid 90s, the AT here has been rerouted as part of a Superfund site restoration. As we climb higher on the cliff, we are hand over hand over rock ledges where others have seen rattlesnakes out to sun. Today our only snake encounter is an ambitious hog nosed snake trying to make a meal of a huge toad. The initial rustling in a little bunch of grass makes us jump. X declares all this much more fun than yesterday’s Knife Edge crossing…

Atop the ridge, we are way behind our projected schedule. Here the Trail parallels the ridge top on a detour road a little to the west (part of the Superfund restoration project). With easy, level walking, we complete the next three miles in under an hour, but we are in the sun the whole time, and quickly deplete our water supply. With eight miles still to go, we contemplate what to do as we approach the Little Gap Road. We are relieved to find several recycled plastic bottles filled with water waiting on some rocks. Not fancy trail magic, but exactly what we need at the time.

Re-supplied, we gingerly make our way over the rocks on the final miles to Smith Gap Road, where Lee meets us right at the appointed time. Even with our light loads, the day has beaten us down, and the hot showers and great local pizza are both very much appreciated. Joanne reports their electricity was restored just before we got off the trail, and the use of their washer/ dryer is another big plus for the evening. We talk AT thru hiking with our new friends until hiker midnight, at which time we predict sleep will come very quickly. A long, tough day has put us much closer to New Jersey…