7/4/21 Left a little bit later as I was trying to dry things out. Climbed nearly 1000 feet to get back to the ridge and had a nice view at Dan’s Pulpit. Right after the view a hand written note on paper was sitting on a rock warning that Rattlesnakes were all about sunning themselves. I never saw any.Trail became quite rocky and went to Dan’s Spring were I met 2 hikers going SOBO from the Vermont/Mass border. Trail continue to be extremely rocky for a few miles It was relatively flat but rocks were slippery and going was quite slow. I now know why they say Pennsylvania’s rocky. This was the first incidence of it being Rocky for such a long stretch. Went to the spring to collect water after the Allentown shelter but the water was very low and hard to collect. The trail became more or less a class six road it was easy to hike fortunately. There was some trail magic with water and snacks but I didn’t need them. Started hiking upwards and it was late nearly 530 and I still had 4 miles to go to reach the bake oven Shelter. I read that it became rocky and could be dangerous. Of note right before this had a brief rain shower. Decided it was best to not try and reach the shelter and camped off the trail just before some powerlines. There was a site there already. I was able to take my time dry things had a great view cook dinner and laid down. Really didn’t fall asleep as I heard fireworks going off being that it was the Fourth of July. Got out of the tent did see a nice sunset and fireworks from multiple sites were seen on both sides of the mountain as it was open because of the powerlines. Then went back to the tent and slept fairly well.

7/5/21 Hiked easily to the knife edge which was easily crossed. No snakes seen. Passed by Bear Rocks and then to Bake Oven Knob which was fairly crowded with day hikers and kids. Hazy views and very rocky. Passed by Bake Oven Shelter which was small and had lots of trash thrown around it. Met a section hiker named 5 dogs. Trail then became easy essentially a dirt road. Crossed a road with trail magic of Mountain Dew and Coke which was much appreciated. Went over the Pennsylvania Turnpike which actually goes under a tunnel beneath us, Got to George W. Outer Ridge Shelter which had a nice spring which was the last reliable water on the trail for the next twenty or so miles. Filled up 4 liters. It was only 3:30 PM so decided to press on going down Lehigh Gap and crossed over the Lehigh River where people were tubing and kayaking. Then had to climb back up Blue Mountain Ridge of 1,000 feet. Had to decide wether to take the reported steep AT or take the blue winter trail which was longer but not as steep. Decided to take the AT which had parts that were scary. Put poles in backpack and used hands to pull myself up. It was hot and I was sweating a lot because of this and because I was nervous. I saw day hikers descending and most said it was no big deal and I would be done shortly with the difficult section. Another couple descending said it was hard and I still had a long way to go and it took them 3 hours to summit. That made me more nervous. As it turns out I had already done the hard part and it was basically a Boulder field going up similar to the White Mountains above tree line. I was the only one ascending and got to the top and felt relieved I didn’t die or fall and took the hard way up staying on the AT. Great views and asI hiked thru scrub vegetation could see the town of Palmerton and its zinc smelting plant. It is a superfund site due to zinc smelting which occurred from 1898 thu 1980. Exhausted got to a site where you can camp. Only one tent was up so I set mine up but a short time later other hikers came by and set there tents up. Didn’t cook need to conserve my 2 liters of water. Next site reportedly is like 7 miles away with a 0.6 mile road walk. Hoping for water trail magic at road crossing coming up shortly. Hiked nearly 11 hours covering 16.3 miles.