7/14/12 – 1267 miles
It was a tough 15 miles today. With all the rocks on the trail, my feet felt like I had walked 20 miles by the end of the day. We were flush with water at the start. Most everyone was carrying at least 3 liters of water across a barren stretch of contaminated hillside. Palmerton, you see, once contained the worlds largest zinc factory, employing a large percentage of the surrounding population. Destructive smelting practices left the nearby hills and river contaminated with arsenic and lead. In 1980, the newly formed EPA realized what a disaster the plant had inflicted upon the environment and promptly shut it down. Even today a lot of the hillside is barren of vegetation.
The climb up from Palmerton was steep and somewhat of a rock scramble, reminding a couple of previous thruhikers in our group of what we will face in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The morning was cool, however, so we reached the summit and traversed the long open ridge without loosing too much water to perspiration. Above the town we had clear views of the abandoned zinc plant and leftover piles of slag.There were many ripe berries along the trail but no one wanted to eat them – we were all afraid they may be contaminated.
Eventually the trail led back into forested terrain and across the famous PA rocks. My feet were sore by the time I reached Leroy Smith Shelter, walked half a mile down to get water, and set up my tent. Tomorrow I will do an easy day to the next shelter.