I was very anxious about hiking in the rain, and the forecast was calling for lots of it. I am fairly amazed at how many people go on long distance hikes, or any backpacking trip for that matter, and do not check the forecast. I will also somewhat shamelessly admit that having an iPhone doesn't help my obsession of checking the radar. I must have checked it 20x between the hours of 4.30am (when I awoke) and 6.30am (when I left the shelter). Yes, a bit much, I agree.
Much to my relief, the weather didn't actually stir up until about 10am. By then I had hiked over half of my day's journey. As the rain fell, I could feel my own internal longing for a place to rest (and get dry). There were lots of rocks along the route (go figure), and I took it especially slow when i met them considering the previous day's cranial interaction with rocks. There were two major climbs down the rocky faces where I was climbing as much as I was hiking. In reality, the forecast was not as brutal as what I had imagined.
The upside to the damp weather was the appearance of red newts. If I was answering a multiple choice question prior to my hike about the presence of red newts in PA, I would have certainly answered false. Nothing could be further from the truth. I must have seen 100, and it was delightful. Red newts had always been like the Yeti in my childhood; mysterious and elusive, and the pictures that I saw of them were met with deep skepticism. Yet now, I have seen them on three different occasions in three different states. They really do thrive in the foggiest of days, when the humidity is well over 100%. Honestly, there were stretches where I had to consciously watch my step that I did not trample them.
Through out the day, the weather turned progressively better as did the terrain, apart from the final descent into Lehigh Gap. I hiked the SuperFund mountaintop that was aparently damaged from some zinc mining accident. Lehigh Gap was as precarious as anything I have hiked on the AT, and I was very thankful that I missed the PM rain while on the rocky precipice. A quick mile uphill into the shelter left me with an entire afternoon to dry out at Outerbridge shelter. A very interesting spring into a cut out aluminum pony keg was also a relief. I spent the night with Sargent Sawyer who was also a short section hiker (4 nights) with thoughts of hiking the entire trail. Someone had left a heap of snacks- power bars, pb crackers, and other goodies. It is really fun to eat other people's food, and I really needed the extra calories. I was certainly back into trail mode, regarding my calorie burning. A day of steady rain was aided by the red newts, and my spirits did not dampen.
