Bake Oven Knob to Little Gap

Day 20
Sunday, April 17
Bake Oven Knob to Little Gap
13.7 miles

John Stempa took us to Bake Oven Knob Road after staging our car at Little Gap and we started hiking (slackpacking) at 8:20.  It was a hard, hard day, including lots of rocks at Bake Oven Knob and Lehigh Gap.

 

While driving that morning, Wait-up asked me, “What is the scripture you are thinking of today.”  I answered, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  I Corinthians 15:57 and 2 Corinthians 2:14, “Thanks be to God who ALWAYS causes us to triump in Christ.” 

Speaking of Lehigh Gap – we had heard of it long before we got here and we were dreading it tremendously.  The climb up to the gap out of Palmerton was very steep.  Then we got to the top, making our way over the boulders, we were unsure of the trail so we followed some arrows (bad idea) that took us straight up to the base of the ridgeline.  Evidently whoever painted the arrows only wanted to go to the base of the ridgeline – they left us hanging there with no marked way to get to the top.  So we had to decide – do we go back down and find and follow the white blazes, or do we try to find our own way to the top.  Going down was not a very inviting option; it was too steep.  We kept trying until we finally made our new route to get around to the other side.  While doing that, we watched a group of three young people start at the bottom and climb to the top in no time.  They were obviously locals, these Pennsylvania folks grew up doing this.  They told us there was another way around the gap if we wanted to take it when we came back, I told them, “we’re not coming back!”  LeHigh Gap is reported to be among the most challenging on the AT south of the New Hampshire Whites Mountain Range. 

 

When we got through Lehigh Gap, standing on the rim of the mountain overlooking the valley below, I raised my arms and shouted, “Thanks be to God who ALWAYS gives us the victory.”  Timely scripture this morning again.

 

After Lehigh Gap there was about 4 miles of open, grassy trail going around the rim of the mountain due to a Superfund site reforestation project.  According to the AT Thru-Hikers Companion, this was the result of nearly a century of zinc smelting in Palmerton.  The path was very nice but being open made it hot with temps around 68.

 

At 5:00 we reached our vehicle parked at Little Gap and went to eat at the Blue Mountain Diner then drove back to Stempa’s house.