May 26 / 27

Woke up at 5:30 after a good night's sleep.  This shelter is clean and earlier I sprayed some of my bug spray around the bunk that I used.  No mosquitoes or ticks to speak of.  Another hiker who goes by Maverick was here as well last night.  Staying here is free for all hikers. Chef decided to tent camp across the street because they do not allow any smoking in or around the shelter.  We are very close to the Pennsylvania / New Jersey border.  New Jersey is in the headlights.

5 / 27  The Appalachian Trail trail runs along Blue Mountain in this section of the hike.  Blue mountain marks the boundary between the Great Appalachian Valley and the main Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians. There was and still exists to some degree both coal and zinc mining in the area.  Unfortunately east of the city of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, the slopes of the mountain were completely de-forested due to the over exposure of zinc oxides and all of the trees died.  The area is now a superfund site with current ongoing remediation.  The trail guide book warns hikers about water sources that should be avoided and used only in an emergency due to leaching run off from the mines. This area could be used as the poster child for Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring. The AT follows the ridge here and is extremely rocky and hard to negotiate.