Welcome To The Jungle

(It should be noted that the following notes have been tempered by 5 zero days at a cabin in the Poconos, with a full kitchen and friends to cook for, air conditioning, and a case of Yuengling. Pennsylvania now seems like a distant memory, but unexpectedly it was our hardest state so far.)

So we left Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, with hopes of an easy traverse of the state, all 230 miles of it. From looking at the elevation profiles we knew there were a few climbs along the way, but for the most part it looked like a bunch of long, flat ridgelines. We knew Pennsylvania was famous for its rocks, but how bad could it be, right? Wrong. The beginnings of Summer's heat, high humidity, and the constant swarms of bugs flying in your face were bad enough. And then there were rocks. Big ones, little ones, most with sharp edges always pointing up, it seems. From gravel to boulder piles, you encounter it all. Daily 3000 foot climbs back in Virginia? No problem. Endless flat rocky ridgelines in Pennsylvania? Problem. How ironic. Now that physically we could climb any mountain, we would now be tested mentally with over a hundred miles of rocks seeking to drive us insane.

6/21 Friday 14.8 mi
A short mornings walk had us at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. We ate lunch at the general store which served hamburgers. This is also the home of the half gallon challenge, in which you eat a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting. We did not even try. After eating two hamburgers and fries, however, we checked out the AT Museum, located nearby. An easy day of walking followed, and we ate again at the Green Mountain Store that night. Passed 1100 miles today.

6/22 Saturday 8.1 mi
A short day and a couple of small climbs led us into Boiling Springs. This is the start of the Cumberland Valley, and 20 miles of absolutely flat trail across farmland. We ate lunch in town and then went to the Allenberry Resort to find a room for the night. We did laundry, had a good dinner, and went to bed.

6/23 Sunday 17.9 mi
We left the Allenberry about 11am, after breakfast and resupplying from their gift shop. A long, flat walk was in front of us to get out of the valley. There was a lot of shade, but in the sun it was hot. Most of the time we were walking through a narrow strip of trees in among the farmland.

6/24 Monday 12.3 mi
Made it to the next valley and Duncannon by 1pm. We went to the Doyle Motel for food and a beer. They also had a shuttle to the grocery store at 4pm, so we waited around for that. Wanting to keep going, we left town by 5pm and made it to the first shelter out of town. On the very top of the climb out of town there was a short, narrow rocky stretch, but it wasn't too bad. I wondered if this was the start of the PA rocks, since we had not really encountered anything unusually rocky up to this point.

6/25 Tuesday 17.4 mi
Since the climb out of Duncannon was done, we had mostly flat ridgeline for the day, with one little climb in the middle. Basically we spent all day crossing just Peters Mountain, with the PA rocks beginning to make an appearance. Just after dark the skies opened up and we braced for rain.

6/26 Wednesday 13.4 mi
More endless ridgeline, very similar to the previous day. More rocks, but they were still sort of a novelty at this point. It was hot and humid, and at a highway crossing we hitched into Lickdale for a motel room with air conditioning.

6/27 Thursday 11.4 mi
The climb out of Lickdale in the morning wasn't too bad, and then we were once again back to the flat ridgeline trail. Endless. With rocks. We made it to the 501 shelter, which is close to a highway. You can have pizza delivered there, which we did, and then regretted it. It wasn't very good. There was scattered rain all day, we were wet most of the day, and at night it poured. On top of that were the constant swarms of blackflies in our faces. We weren't in the best of moods.

6/28 Friday 15.2 mi
No real climbs today after 501, but long and boring trail on top of a mountain in the woods with no views. Overgrown and narrow. Hot and humid. With bugs in our faces all day. And snakes. After seeing a group of three Copperheads at a rare overlook, it felt as if they could be lurking in the underbrush at our ankles anywhere. Passed 1200 miles today. Found a campsite just after Eagles Nest Shelter, where we had to go to get water. Rain again at night.

6/29 Saturday 8.9 mi
We couldn't sleep well and got an early start into Port Clinton. Wander had a mouse in her hammock somehow, and it kept coming back. Mostly level walking with a sharp downhill into town. Lots of sharp rocks to walk in, on, and around along the way. Got a room at the Port Clinton Hotel and ate there as well.

6/30 Sunday 14.8 mi
The music in the bar downstairs lasted until 5am, so it was another restless night of sleep. Ate breakfast in town and left about 11am. The steep climb out of town kicked my butt in the humidity, but after that the trail was relatively easy. Blackflies were so bad we walked along with our headnets on for the first time. Passes Ekville shelter with no hammock spots and continued on to a campsite at a flooded streambed.

7/1 Monday 14.0 mi
Climbed back on top of the mountain and was glad to get away from the stream and bugs. Horribly rocky all day. At one point when we got to Allentown shelter I was going to write a scathing entry into the shelter register, only to find that everything I wanted to say had already been said by every thru-hiker in front of us. So we just signed in and waited out another thunderstorm. Water sources were scarce along this section of trail, so at least the rain kept the few springs flowing. Spent all day walking along Blue Mountain.

7/2 Tuesday 11.4 mi
It rained overnight and was partly cloudy/foggy all day. The first thing in the morning was something called the Knife Edge, a very narrow solid rock ridgeline. Today it was slippery from the rain and about halfway along I managed to fall off. Somehow I slipped, tried to go one way and my pack went the other, then gravity took over. My water bottle fell out and remained lost for several minutes. Wander caught up to me but did not see it. I had a good scrape on my leg and elbows, but was ok otherwise. Lucky. Shaken up. We got out of there and continued walking.
The trail brought us then to Bake Oven Knob, really just a horrible pile of boulders, and of course the trail walks along as much of it as possible. In places you literally have to slide from rock to rock on your backside. So it was a tedius few miles. After that, more overgrown trail. With rocks! We eventually made the descent into Palmerton, our goal for the day. Spent the night at the jailhouse hostel, in the basement of the bourough hall. It was free. And the only place to stay in town. Had a good time with the other thru hikers there, and probably got the best night's sleep in days.

7/3 Wednesday 9.5 mi
The dreaded steep climb out of Palmerton wasn't so bad after all, and the next three miles were probably the most pleasant in PA. It was a detour around a former toxic wasteland from zinc smelting, but hey, there were wild rasberries to eat along the way. We made it Little Gap, where we went off trail to Blue Mountain Restaurant, where we found cheeseburgers and ice cream. Made it to the Delps Trail intersection and a campsite.

7/4 Thursday 4th of July 10.6 mi
We were alerted to upcoming trail magic by thru hiker Olive Oil. It was at Smith Gap Road, just two miles away. We were there by 11am and stayed for about an hour. While there, the 'Town' finally caught up to us, a collection of 10-12 younger hikers. We made it to Wind Gap and stayed in the worst motel ever, just off the trail. No fireworks for us.

7/5 Friday 9.5 mi
Although tired of the rocks, we were ready to leave Wind Gap and get moving. Our target of Delaware Water Gap was finally in sight, where we would be taking some days off. Another climb and the last of the PA ridgelines would be behind us. We caught up to Bearfoot at Kirkridge Shelter at the end of the day. Our campsite that night had a view of the Delaware River valley and New Jersey in the distance.

7/6 Saturday 6.1 mi
Bearfoot woke us at 6:30am and we headed into town after quickly packing. We were just 6 miles away and were trying to arrive in town before our friends who were driving out from Indiana. We had enough time to stop at a local bakery for a slice of apple pie before our friends arrived. From there we were sped away to a cabin in the Poconos where we planned to spend the week.

7/7 Sunday Zero Day!
Our first since Front Royal, Virginia. We went to some local trail magic briefly, but did mostly nothing all day except eat.

7/8 Monday Zero
Stayed at the cabin and relished in the air conditioning.

7/9 Tuesday Zero
All 7 of us drove to New Jersey, got on a ferry to Liberty Island, and before Noon I was staring at the Statue of Liberty. We took the same ferry back and took a road trip south to Jersey Shore. About a mile of boardwalk was there, which we walked along. Had dinner and walked along the beach afterwards.

7/10 Wednesday Zero
Tried to find new shoes for Wander, but accomplished basically nothing all day. It felt great.

7/11 Thursday Zero
Went to Bushkill Falls and walked around looking at some great waterfalls.

Currently at mile 1289.3

Tomorrow we start New Jersey. How bad could it possibly be?