Vacation at Jim Thorpe – Staying in a hotel under the current conditions – Hiking on the Appalachian Trail – Evening statistics
So I am back from my excursion into Central Pennsylvania, and whether I can conflate everything into a single entry, goodness only knows. I will do my best, but, as the French say, even the most beautiful woman cannot give you more than she has.
This interval falls into five categories: the nature of the location where I was staying, the experience of staying at a hotel under the current conditions, the hikes I took during my stay, the headlines that caught my attention, and the daily statistics.
I stayed at the town of Jim Thorpe, PA. Its original name was Mauch Chunk (actually pronounced “mack chunk”). It was founded in 1818 and acquired its new name in 1954. The story of how it got the name is curious. The man after whom the town was named was one of the great athletes of all times; some claim that he is the greatest on record. It would be impossible to list all of his achievements here: suffice it to say that he won both the pentathlon and the decathlon in the 1912 Olympics, played professional baseball, professional football, and professional basketball with equal facility, and excelled at horseback riding, dancing, and bowling as well. He was of Native American descent (both of his parents came from mixed marriages, but they identified as Native Americans and brought him up in their traditions) and he had to undergo many challenges to achieve what he did: an orphan at the age of 16, poverty, and of course racial prejudice. It would be gratifying to add, in light of how he managed to become such a brilliant success, that he had a perfect character, but – alas! He was succumbed to alcoholism early in life, and he was thriftless and improvident in money matters, so that when he died he had little to leave to his wife and children. He was to be buried at Shawnee, OK, where the townspeople had spoken of raising a memorial fund on his family’s behalf. But they were so dilatory about it that his widow lost patience and, learning that Mauch Chunk was seeking to attract business, surreptitiously arranged with the city officials to have him buried there. Not only did she receive some much-needed financial support from this transaction, but the city renamed itself in his honor. One could wish, however, that they decided to call the town “Thorpeville” or “Thorpeton” or some such variant so that there would be less confusion as to whether “Jim Thorpe” refers to the man or the town.
Mauch Chunk, to use its original name, was originally a mining community, but it also became a resort town; at one point it was second only to Niagara Falls in the number of visitors it received. It is easy to see why. It was somewhat like Harpers Ferry in many ways: a small town with one main street tucked amid mountain ranges and filled with florid architectural styles from eras that preceded the blight of Bauhaus. It even contains an old opera house that is now (or was, until the virus altered matters) used for musical performances. Before the town acquired Jim Thorpe’s remains, it underwent a severe depression – which actually worked in its favor, for the town was too poor to afford the demolishment of the buildings, even though they were falling into disrepair and plans had been made to pull them down.
The hotel at which I stayed is another historic building. The original building was erected in 1833, but it was burned in a fire in 1849. The owner, not at all daunted, rebuilt the hotel, and the 1849 structure remains in place today. It is a hotel, therefore, in the style of the 19th century. It is so pleasant, when one desires to use the stairs instead of an elevator, to ascend and descend along a carpeted staircase that runs up and down the main part of building, instead of being shoved into a gloomy metallic stairwell concealed at the building’s back corner, giving the impression that going up and down stairs on foot is a vaguely shameful affair. The walls have varnished wooden panels, porticos run along the building’s exterior; awnings decorate the windows. In short, the style of the building has an exuberance that is distinctly lacking from the greater part of the American urban landscape.
Although I had booked a room for myself only, the room I received was large enough for four. It had two double beds, an abundance of cabinet space and drawers, a sizable bathroom, and amenities such as a refrigerator, a coffee-maker, etc. The only impacts from the virus were, first, the absence of maid service (one had to make one’s own bed, but there was a sufficient supply of soap, shampoo, and so on for the entire stay), and second, the strict enforcement of wearing face masks. When I dined out I used outdoor seating, but for breakfast, which was served at the hotel, I ate inside. I was a bit apprehensive about this at first; but every second table was marked as not in use, which meant that I was well over six feet from anyone else eating in the restaurant, and all of the waitresses wore face masks every minute – so it appeared reasonably safe.
Jim Thorpe has the advantage of being close to various parking areas for the Appalachian Trail, which is the chief reason I selected this location; the drives from Wind Gap and Port Clinton were less than an hour apiece, and the drives to Lehigh Gap and Little Gap were 30 minutes at the most. Here are the hikes I did (note that they are all there-and-back hikes):
Monday (8/17): Wind Gap to Wolf Rocks/Wind Gap to Leroy A. Smith shelter (22 miles, 3000 feet). This hike fall into two parts. I drove from my place to the Wind Gap parking area and I first went north to Wolf Rocks, which is the point I had reached coming from Delaware Water Gap earlier. This part was frankly a nuisance. After the climb out of Wind Gap the path consisted almost entirely of broken rock. I enjoy a rock scramble to reach a summit, but going over a path that is level but that requires continual maintenance of one’s balance every minute is another matter. In the end one spends more time paying attention to the rocky path than to the surroundings. This went on for seven miles on end, with only occasional intervals of the path becoming smoother. There were no views to speak of either. I was glad when it was over. The part that went south to the shelter was better – quite rocky in many places, but several intervals of more comfortable walking and a good number of overlooks. Since the drive to the parking area was over 3 hours, plus another hour of driving to Jim Thorpe itself, and since I had spent about 7 hours on the trail, I did not do very much after checking in at the hotel and dining.
Tuesday (8/18): Lehigh Gap to Little Gap (11 miles, 1700 feet). This hike was the best of the hikes on the trip in many ways. It does not sound like much going merely by the figures, but ascending from Lehigh Gap involves a challenging rock climb. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I have no doubt that a thru-hiker carrying 40-50 pounds on his back must quail at the sight. In fact, I know that this is the case, because I was sufficiently curious to look through some of the accounts of thru-hikers online. Here is an impression from one of them:
“As promised, the trail was steep, and then it stopped being a trail and started being a rock scramble, and then, honestly, a far too difficult rock climb. It took me awhile, and I had to take my pack off and lift it up once, and it was hard, but I was able to navigate the rocks, their limited handholds and footholds, all the while trying not to notice how tiny and far down the bridge I just crossed looked in the background.
“The rocks, however, became unreasonably difficult. When I neared what I hoped was the ‘top’ of the rock climb, I reached a point where I was simply unable to navigate the rocks in whatever way must have been intended. I could see what I needed to do, but with a pack on, there was just no way for me to do it.”
Well, there actually was a way to do it, but of course the pack that I carried was considerably lighter and less bulky. There are certain advantages to day-hiking.
An alternate path, the Winter Trail, leaves the AT to bypass the rock climb and go up to the ridge somewhat less steeply, and is as a result somewhat longer. It rejoins the AT at the top of the ridge. I took this trail upon returning. The ascent up the rock climb was a delight, but descending it would have been a torment.
After the rock climb the path became fairly level and very pleasant. Part of it follows an old road along the mountain ridge, with many extensive views. The views are impressive rather than inspiring, for they overlook an area where extensive zinc mining has taken place and there is a good deal of industrial activity in the valley below. It was only after passing a transmission tower and descending to Little Gap that the trail became rockier – but there it made up for any deficiencies in that respect that it had lacked earlier. It was in truth a weary slog, and I was glad to make use of a gravel road on the return journey that led to the tower again and from there to the less rocky portion of the trail.
Since I ended relatively early and since the drive back to town was about 30 minutes, I was able to relax and sight-see a bit during the afternoon.
Wednesday (8/19): Little Gap to Leroy A. Smith shelter (21½ miles,, 1900 feet). The best parts of this hike were the beginning and the end, i.e., ascending out of Little Gap and descending. The ascent goes up a talus that is less challenging than the ascent out of Lehigh Gap but is not without interest. The descent is a good deal less troublesome than I expected; the trail markings are much easier to spot going down in this location. Other than that the trail was a mixture of rocky stretches and easier stretches, fairly level, but with very little variety and no overlooks to speak of. Despite the length, I was less tired at the end of this hike than I was with the hike on the preceding day.
When I came back to Jim Thorpe at about 6:00, lines were forming outside many of the local restaurants of people waiting for tables to become available. This is a slower process now on account of the virus; all restaurants are limited to half of the number of tables they used before the virus restrictions came into place. I did not wish to stand outside for minutes on end after hiking 7 hours or so, and in any case I was not in the mood for a dinner prolonged by the business of ordering the food and waiting for the check to arrive after eating, so I used a place that provided takeout instead. The amount they gave me was enormous – far too much to be eaten at a sitting. I reserved about half of it to use for dinner on the following day after my return home.
Thursday (8/20): Port Clinton to Game Lands Road (10½ miles, 2000 feet). The parking area for the hike involved a detour of about only 2 miles from the route back home. It began with a steep climb from Port Clinton but was fairly level afterwards. It may be noted that this is something of a pattern. The greater part of the Appalachian Trail that runs through Pennsylvania is concurrent with the Blue Mountain Ridge, so it remains reasonably level until it approaches a gap in the ridgeline. Much of this particular section was pleasant walking, but some parts were very rocky indeed, and I took a tumble that luckily resulted in nothing worse than a bruise or two.
I am not overly impressed by the clubs that maintain the AT in northern Pennsylvania. I realize that the COVID virus is interfering with trail maintenance to some extent, so it is not surprising that many parts of the trail are overgrown (sometimes to the point that it is difficult to discern a path at all). But blazes are a different matter. They frequently occur at distant intervals and, worse still, are sometimes absent at junctions. Several unmarked paths and old roads intersect the AT; and on occasion, when there is no marking, one simply has to guess which way to go. (This is one reason why blazes should occur at frequent intervals – anyone who makes a wrong choice will soon be able to determine from the absence of blazes that he needs to turn back.)
At this point about 40 miles of the AT remain for me to complete the entire amount for the state. I am going to try to make different arrangements for this segment. The portion of the AT that runs between Port Clinton and Lehigh Gap is said to be the most scenic part of the AT in Pennsylvania, and for that reason alone I would wish to go through it more leisurely. Also, some parts are supposed to be especially challenging and should be taken at a somewhat slower and more cautious pace than what I generally use. I am going to investigate hiking with someone with an interest in the area, so that we can set up a shuttle between the beginning and end points of the hike or, failing that, looking at the possibility of obtaining a shuttle service once I complete a section to drive me back to my starting point.
This entry is already beginning to be of inordinate length, so I will defer the discussion of the headlines for another day. They form a rather interesting contrast to what has been happening to me on a personal level (but then again, they usually do). Chief among them, of course, is the Democratic convention. But, rest assured, Donald Trump will not remain in the background if he can possibly help it. He has successfully drawn attention to himself by his remarks on the “surge” of the virus in New Zealand. Just today, for instance, New Zealand has had 5 new cases (in contrast to 44,970 in the U.S.) and its death toll has risen to 22 (in contrast to our 177,394). Even taking into account that New Zealand’s population is only about 1.5% the size of our own, I’d say that they’re doing rather better than we are.
Statistics, including that of today as of 8:00 PM:
8/17 – I was too tired to collect these, for obvious reasons (see above for a description of this day)
8/18 – # of cases worldwide: 21,277,559; # of deaths worldwide: 782,990; # of cases U.S.: 5,657,079; # of deaths U.S.: 174,941.
8/19 – # of cases worldwide: 22,555,667; # of deaths worldwide: 789,948; # of cases U.S.: 5,698,774; # of deaths U.S.: 176,283.
8/20 – # of cases worldwide: 22,848,030; # of deaths worldwide: 796,330; # of cases U.S.: 5,745,721; # of deaths U.S.: 177,394.