Now Pennsylvania is a pretty dynamic state. It’s flora and fauna. It’s geology.  It’s history. And how and where they decided to route the Appalachian Trail through Pennsylvania,  we’ll never understand. Especially after seeing an original proposal that had it going through Harrisburg, the capital of PA, a wealth of history. But no, we have to walk over a bunch of rocks in the woods and only have a quick peak of the great Susquehanna River via Duncannon.

However, the Appalachian Trail and its tread isn’t about following the human history of the East Coast, or its magnificent waterways. It is about following the results of two ancient continents colliding and the moraine of the glaciers that helped form this storied mountain range. And, it wasn’t until Pennsylvania,  for all our complaining about the rocks that I truly have begun to appreciate the significance of this difficult Trail. Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t complain about the rocks, I just understand more about the why and how of them.

Day 94: (Oct 2) 16.8 mi (900 – 916.8)

When we got into Pennsylvania the day before, we marched up to the Church of the Mountain Center, one of the oldest hiker hostels on trail. It’s free, but it thrives on donations. While there, we met another SOBO hiker, “Pappy” who had hiked with “Let it Be”. He was having problems with his back from a fall descending the Stairway to Heaven. The Physical Therapist he called was a seasoned thru-hiker, True Grit. And this is when the world shrank just a little more. Something looked familiar about True Grit, and then it clicked as we all stared at each other with that, where do I know you from. He had hiked the PCT in 2022 and had ridden our shuttle. When he recited his start date, Paul quickly pulled up his shuttle ride picture.

Smiles and stories flowed from there. Of course Pappy got his treatment, and we got a ride to Walmart for our resupply. Funny how we keep intersecting with people we’ve met in this diverse world of thru-hiking.

But wait, there’s more! Just after we left the hostel and began our foray into Pennsylvania,  we met a former 2017 AT thru-hiker, “Theory.” It is while hiking the AT that he met his wife, “G.I. Jane.” We walked and talked for a while about his hike and thru-hiking in general. He offered to meet us at the next road crossing (route 191) and slack pack us the 8.6 miles to Wind Gap. How could we turn this down?

Walk over and through rocks without a pack full of a four day resupply. This was a no-brainer. At noon, Theory met us at the 191, provided us water and collected our packs from us. This was a big test of trust, to leave our packs with a “stranger”, but we also trusted our “Spidey Senses”. It was a good thing that we were packless, as the terrain got ridiculously rocky.

Not boulder hopping rocky, but a dense and jagged spectrum of rocks in various heights protruding vigorously and incessantly under the soles of your feet as you make your way through an endless minefield of looming foot and knee catastrophes. It was as if we had been blindfolded and directed to walk down a narrow hallway strewn with Lego bits while only wearing socks. (Those with children will understand this reference). So, yes. Walking without a pack for our first bit into Pennsylvania was truly a blessing.

True to form, Theory met us at Wind Gap, a little perplexed as to where we emerged from.

As we believe in hiking smarter, not harder, we found the old AT route, whose telephone poles still bore the AT white blazes and finished the last 2 miles into Wind Gap.

From Wind Gap, we climbed up (of course) another 2-ish miles as the sun began to lower into the horizon and stopped at the first flat campsite we found, just as it started to drizzle.

Day 95: (Oct 3) 14.7 mi (916.8 – 931.5)

It rained ALL night long. I had hoped it would continue into the morning, giving us (me) an excuse to sleep in, but exactly an hour before the morning alarm went off, it stopped. No rest for the weary. Uggghh. As it was still pretty dark, I reasoned that due to the rain, the rocks would be extra challenging and dangerous to walk over in the dark. Paul agreed. However, by the time we were mostly packed up, the skies had cleared, and there was enough light to walk safely. Shit. Another early morning of walking.

The topography reads as flat, but because of the rock strewn terrain, it is anything but that, and our mileage and camping spots are relegated to the campsites listed on our FarOut app. Otherwise, Wilderness camping in a tent here is difficult unless you have a hammock.

This makes for tedious walking and odd wanderings of the mind, even though you are mostly staring at your feet. For example. Today, I petted a tree. Let me explain. I stopped to look around and discovered a tree with splotches of the most intriguing moss. It was a soft fleshy pink color that had the appearance of cat fur. Being a tactile person, I was compelled to touch it. When I did, its texture was indeed like that of  a cat’s fur and soft like the hair of a baby. For whatever reason, I failed to take a picture of this discovery and then spent the rest of the day looking for another tree with the same “moss” to no avail. I did, however, discover another tree that appeared to have the mane of a giraffe. Its texture was that of wirey hair.

I truly think I may be losing it. Trail delirium has begun much sooner than expected.

In Pennsylvania, water is somewhat scarce, so the generosity of trail angels makes for easier water carries. While at an AT trailhead parking area, we were treated to a water cache and trail magic from Luciano, who was out for a short hike on the AT. He gifted us with fresh fruit and electrolytes,  something we sorely needed. His generosity made our day and definitely lifted our morale.

After our yard sale drying event at the trailhead, we continued on, seeing our first deer and Paul, a porcupine. And just as we were beginning to get the “rhythm” of the tread, the trail took an absurd route. It went from “flat” (think Legos on the floor) to a hard left,routing you over and through a massive boulder field of VW sized rocks (think making your way through crowded storage locker filled nearly to the top to find that one thing you need, in the very back) and then straight down similar rocks all the way to a road, where we played Frogger to get to the other side and continue our trek.

Once across the road, we looked at our map. There were confusing comments about the reroute of the AT in this area. The blazes were just as confusing. The reroute went zigzagging up the hill, crossing a perfectly good forest dirt road, which was the old AT route. As it was old, and we are too, we decided to follow the “old” route. As we walked up the road, the rerouted “new” route crossed the road at least 4 times. We camped just below the top of where the road and trail crested on the softest surface thus far on our trek. And, I finally found the “cat fur” moss I had been looking for all day.

Pennsylvania, you are an odd duck.

Day 96: (Oct 4) 13.1 mi (931.5 -944.6)

Up with the sunrise, we continued along the “old AT” route. Along the way we discovered a long abandoned privy with a view.

The “old” route walked us past some fencing  and a plethora of jagged rocks at least twice where the “new” route of the AT traversed. We just can’t wrap our minds around the purpose of rerouting to make the path longer and frankly more difficult. Who wants that? AT one point, it looked like the old trail ended, and we could see the new route behind the fencing, but we found an alternate that circumvented both and led to the “snow trail route” that would take us into Palmerton for a much needed resupply. 

As we descended into the valley, and walked through an industrial lot, Paul called to me and pointed at his feet. There sat a dime in the middle of nowhere.  “KENNY”. We both smiled and laughed.

I picked up “Kenny” and added him to our “collection”.

Once in Palmerton, we made a stop at Bert’s for breakfast, and we’re not disappointed.  From there, we headed to the grocery store and did a quick resupply. Fully supplied, we broke out our sign and put out our thumbs on the other side of Dunkin Donuts. Within 10 minutes, we had a ride, and we’re back on trail.

Remarkably, the trail was fairly benign, and filled with curious growths. We made it to Bake Oven Knob where we had it all to ourselves. 

Ironically, we both slept horribly. Go figure.

Day 97: (Oct 5) 17.4 mi (944.6 – 962)

So the rocks just wouldn’t stop for the most part. It was totally ridiculous. Along with the blown downs, it started as a 1 mph day and got a bit better until I rolled my left ankle to the outside and then to the inside. A solitary rock, the size of a “Cutie Orange” on the side of the trail, dropped me to ground in utter searing pain. It was literally the only rock in this section of the trail. How does this happen? Paul looked at me writhing on the ground,  swearing at the trail, and asked, “How do you find these rocks?”. Pain turned to anger, which got me back on my feet and walking (with a limp) once again. Not that I wasn’t hurting,  but that I was so pissed that I was able to push past the pain and probable injury all the way to the Eckville Shelter, even though we passed a perfectly good campsite next to a stream. By the time we got to the shelter, I was concerned that I would not be able to walk by morning. It felt like something was definitely torn from the inside bottom of my heel. This could be the end. Stupid rocks.

Day 98: (Oct 6) 18.2 mi (Eckville Shelter – 980.2)

Morning came, and my ankle felt better, with the exception of being a bit discolored on the medial side. My head, however, had a big knot from slamming into the overhead bunk after coming back from peeing late in the evening.

Today, we are once again going to check out the “old AT” route and see if the tread will be better on our feet and currently deteriorating shoes. Eventually, we found our way to a game lands parking lot and onto the “old AT.”  We passed several unsuccessful hunters heading back to their cars. We also didn’t see a single deer the whole day.

Eventually, we rejoined the current AT route and descended into Port Clinton. We rested briefly at the St. John Pavillion and then walked into “town.”

Port Clinton is a unique hamlet with an active and historic train depot. It’s church, St. John is a centerpiece of the community. As we walked by, services had just let out. We were greeted by the Pastor Rob, who invited us in for lunch with their church community and after we told him we were trying to get to the nearby Cabela’s for new shoes and a resupply of food, he offered to give us a ride there AND back to trail, if we needed it. Once again, timing is everything. We are truly blessed.

We walked into Cabela’s with our packs to a few strange looks. Here, we replaced our failing shoes, as well as Paul’s blood-stained shirt. While outside packing our bags, a young man, Carlos, approached us and asked if we were thru-hiking the AT. We told him we were, and he asked if he could “ask us a few questions” about hiking the AT, as he and his girlfriend want to hike the AT. We told him to ‘fire away’. We packed as we talked, and when we were done, he asked if we needed a ride back to trail. We thanked him for his offer and told him we needed to first go to Walmart to complete our resupply.  Carlos smiled broadly. “I can give you a ride there and then back to trail, if you’d like.” Well, there you have it.  Magic again! Carlos dropped us at Walmart and returned half an hour later with his girlfriend and son to take us back to trail. What a glorious day filled with kindness. What a change from yesterday’s misery on trail.

Once dropped at the Port Clinton train depot, we marched uphill, of course (1000 ft over .5 miles), and a few miles further to camp.

As the sun set vehicles passed by our camp tucked into the woods, just off the AT. It was day 2 of archery season for deer. Not sure how that works with a vehicle.

Day 99: (Oct 7) 17.5 mi (980.2 – 977.7)

Man, what a difference a new pair of shoes makes. Today, we walked through State game lands that included corridors of green belts, stone “fences,” and periodic round cistern like rock structures.

Based on the “fencing” and vegetation, you could tell the area once had homes and/or farms dating back to the 1700-1800s. We are happy the miles are coming along, as we are doing our best to get to Duncannon PA, where our friend Maureen, who we met on our 2015 walk of the Camino de Santiago, will get us to an airport, so we make our Nephew’s wedding in Illinois. It’s gonna be close, but we are highly motivated. Milosch weddings are NOT to be missed!

Of note, we collected water from a long-standing spring that I can’t help but think also provided water for Fort Dietrich-Snyder during the French-Indian War.

Our day ended with tired feet and an awesome sunset that was worth braving the bitter chill that was building.