Wednesday, 18 May

Destination: Tentsite (1267.5)	Today’s Miles: 7.0
Start Location: Lehigh River South Bank (1260.5)	Trip Miles: 7.0

Last night I had dinner with Bob, his wife, Janice, and their daughter, Nicole, with some conversation about our hike. Janice and Nicole will be picking us up at the completion. Bob and I then watched the movie “Dawn Wall” about rock climbing. Then it was time for bed.

Bob and I were on the road at seven with a quick stop at Wawa for coffee and Italian subs for lunch and dinner. We met my nephew, Jerry at 9:30 and started hiking at 10:30.

What a wonderful day! The temperature was perfect, sunshine, blue birds and wild flowers on the trail.

After crossing the Lehigh River it was time for a 1,000 foot climb. This literally involved climbing. There were spots where you had to set your hiking poles on a rock in front of you and then climb up on your hands and knees. It was slow going. By noon we had only gone 1.5 miles but we had completed the big climb and stopped for lunch.

While having lunch a couple day hiking passed us. Later we saw an older gentleman going south. There was no water at our planned campsite but a small stream a mile or so before. The stream turned out to be barely flowing but we scooped and filtered water for tomorrow.

Shortly after we arrived at our campsite at 4:30 another solo hiker about our age arrived. Then another couple came in so we have some company tonight. Weather forecast is for some rain overnight stopping early tomorrow morning. Should be a nice cool night good for sleeping.

There were lots of rocks and ups and downs. The days climb was over 2,100 feet in seven miles.

Tomorrow, Dolora’s cousin, Tom, plans to meet us at our campsite and spend the day hiking with us. We are looking forward to some company for a day.