Pennsylvania
Home of millions of rocks.
Mile 1094.6 is the halfway point of the Appalachian Trail this year!
I made it halfway there!!
I made it halfway there!!
Pine Grove PA: I opted out of participating in the infamous 1/2 gallon challenge, thinking my bowels would hate me if I consumed a 1/2 gallon of milk after not eating dairy on a regular basis since being on the trail (after hearing some of the other hikers 1/2 gallon stories I'd say I made the right choice!). Received some trail magic & slack packing from two brothers at the ATC midpoint / museum.
Took at zero day at Allen Berry resort waiting for a thunderstorm to run its course. Allen Berry runs a $40 dollar hiker special, which is a decent deal, especially since the prices of everything are increasing the farther north we travel. The resort is obviously hurting for money and is pretty run down. The phone in our room didn't work, it was infested with ants, and the breakfast food tasted like old ladies perfume. However you cant beat a $40 hiker rate! Boiling Springs (1121.3) in general was not a very 'hiker friendly' town, we had to do our resupply at a gas station.
July 4th: Port Clinton, PA (1217.5)
Chill-A-While, Me & 9.
Boots & Wannabe
Tink, me & 9.
Passed through plenty of farm land and corn fields.
What the trail looked like after inches of rain the day before.
Hiker Feet.
June 30th: Duncannon PA (1146.9)
In Duncannon I did work for stay at trail angel Ms.Marys house, she was a sweet women who helped us resupply and re-purposed old hiking boots with planted succulents. I ate at the infamous Doyle, good prices on average food, the owners don't seem to care much about their establishment (it's falling apart & according to locals they've refused free help in giving it some TLC) & aren't to concerned with customer service. I also met the wonderful husband and wife duo known as "219" (Shout out to Goat, thanks again!) and slack packed over some rocks!
Tink, Wolfpine, Trial & Error, Chill a While, Detox & me!
Above is the only strip club ON the Appalachian Trial.
Detox.
Painting I did in Detox's journal.
So this was someone's front yard we passed on the way from town back to the trail head...
July 2nd: I hiked my longest day yet! I hiked 24.8 miles in under 9 hours!!
One thing I love about PA is that the scenery is always changing. The trail in VA was starting to all look the same, one big green tunnel. The PA section of the trail leads you through boulder fields, completely flat dirt trail, swamps, every kind of foot bridge, under major highways, over bridges, under bridges, through corn fields, through boulder fields, along major rivers, through towns, back into the green tunnel, into pine tree forest, along exposed ridges, always evolving, never to monotonous.
Port Clinton is essentially a two street town that the trail crosses. It has a spacious hiker Pavilion which I pitched my hammock in. The night was spent playing poker, talking with Bag of Tricks, my first wawa experience (a gas station with fresh hoagies) and listening to fireworks in the distance.
Coming into Port Clinton, lots of Coal.
Lehigh Valley Astronomical Club has a little side trail off of the AT. Informed by a few locals that they often let hikers look through their telescopes (if they asked nicely). I decided to check it out and got to look through the telescope pictured above! I looked really close at the sun and was able to see sun spots (places where the sun is cooler than the rest resulting in darker areas) & solar flares!! (Above & Below photo)
July 5th: Eckville Shelter (1232.3)
Bag of Tricks slacked me & my hiking group 15 miles to the Eckville shelter. The shelter is on Mics property, he is the care taker & was a really nice guy. Bag of Tricks (Billville) & Mic grilled us burgers and gave us enough soda to pop!
Chill, he literally has the most beautiful hair.
Selfie in one of PAs boulder fields.
Dans Pulpit Overlook.
Chill sitting on what's called the "Knifes Edge", aka a section of the trail where all the rocks are at insane slants and will put your feet to the test.
White Blaze.
The climb out of Lehigh Gap was a fun one. Very rocky, very technical, definitively a little dangerous, and required a lot of rock climbing.
Me at the top of the climb out of Lehigh Gap!
An accurate video of Pennsylvanias terrain. If you look, you can spot a whiteblaze!
No idea what this creature is, but he caught my eye.
July 9th: Delaware Water Gap, PA (1293.4)
Did a 20 mile day into Delaware Water Gap in order to make it to The Church of the Mountain Hostels huge hiker feed. They've been putting on a hiker feed every Thursday for the past 20+ years. The feed was amazing and included hot dogs, fried chicken, salad, homemade peach ice cream and so much more! Spent the night playing balance games, Uno & catching up with other hikers.
-Ciao-
Above is a video of me at the top of the hardest climb I've done yet. Lehigh Gap was more rock climbing then hiking. Hiking poles were completely useless & I don't know how I did it with 40 pounds on my back. As much as it scared me it was one of the most rewarding climbs yet!!
An accurate video of Pennsylvanias terrain. If you look, you can spot a whiteblaze!
Did a 20 mile day into Delaware Water Gap in order to make it to The Church of the Mountain Hostels huge hiker feed. They've been putting on a hiker feed every Thursday for the past 20+ years. The feed was amazing and included hot dogs, fried chicken, salad, homemade peach ice cream and so much more! Spent the night playing balance games, Uno & catching up with other hikers.
-Ciao-
