After our hard day, both physically and emotionally, the majority of the peeps at Bake Oven Knob Shelter decided to give ourselves a holiday. We were going to hike only 10 miles into Palmerton and stay in the jailhouse hostel for the night. The jailhouse hostel is in the basement of town hall, what was originally supposed to be the jail. However, the jail never opened and the space was instead offered to thru hikers as a place to stay for free. I had visions of barred cells, where we would stay in bunks and take lots of "I'm in jail" photos. In fact, it was just an open space with a number of bunks lined up against the wall. No so good for photo ops. But pretty good for a free place to stay. Since it was in the basement, and since there were 2 gigantic fans running, it stayed relatively cool despite having about 20 people in there. It still smelled like hikers, though.
The hike into Palmerton was pretty easy. Which we all kind of needed today. We planned to get settled, shower, eat, do laundry, and just sit around in the afternoon. Palmerton had other plans for us.
The Professor, who had gotten to the road about 20 minutes ahead of us, got a ride into town from a girl named Lisa. He thanked her for the ride and wished her a happy 4th. She asked what he was doing for the 4th. He pretty much described the scenario above. She then said that she was going to a picnic with fridnes and family and invited the Professor and his hiking buddies. She even showed up with a big van to drive us all there!
So I spent the 4th of July at a picnic with a bunch of wonderful people whom I had just met. The were happy to have a bunch of hungry hikers to eat the food. (We always have way too much they said) And the morose, dragged down, depressed feeling that was surrounding our hiking bubble was gone. People can be so nice and trail magic abounds!
The hike into Palmerton was pretty easy. Which we all kind of needed today. We planned to get settled, shower, eat, do laundry, and just sit around in the afternoon. Palmerton had other plans for us.
The Professor, who had gotten to the road about 20 minutes ahead of us, got a ride into town from a girl named Lisa. He thanked her for the ride and wished her a happy 4th. She asked what he was doing for the 4th. He pretty much described the scenario above. She then said that she was going to a picnic with fridnes and family and invited the Professor and his hiking buddies. She even showed up with a big van to drive us all there!
So I spent the 4th of July at a picnic with a bunch of wonderful people whom I had just met. The were happy to have a bunch of hungry hikers to eat the food. (We always have way too much they said) And the morose, dragged down, depressed feeling that was surrounding our hiking bubble was gone. People can be so nice and trail magic abounds!
Our trail angels, Lisa and Jay
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