| 8/16/99 | With a foggy morning start, Pack-man and I climbed out of the little gap from the camp ground and on to the top of the ridge. The terrain was relatively easy and we made the 10 miles to Delaware Water Gap, PA by noon. I was a bit disappointed when I crossed the Delaware River. They didn't have a sign letting you know that you left NJ and entered PA. I hear its the first of many missing border signs. You hike all this way and you expect to see something. Anyway, we hit the post office and then dropped our packs and packages at the church hostel. Delaware Water Gap is a small town and we managed to re-supply from a Mobil grocery gas station. We are planning to go just 2 days before hitting a real town. We got back to the church and talked to 2 northbounders before they left for the trail. We also met 2 southbounders that have been a day ahead of us for some time. They are expecting to take a week off in a couple of days, so there was really no need to try to follow them out of town. Pack-man and I will stay the night and tackle the infamous rocks of PA tomorrow. |
| 8/17/99 | We stayed in town at the church hostel. We hit the post office as soon as it opened, 8:30. We bounced our packages forward to Duncannon. The letter from my parents was still not there. I left a forwarding address and we headed out of town. It was a cloudy, humid day. At least there was a breeze and the cloud cover kept the sun off of us. We hit the Wolf Rocks and the infamous PA rocks started. The trail is extremely rocky in parts from the glacier melts that helped form the Appalachian Mts. The word from the northbounders is that the trail is rocky for about 140 miles. We did 20.4 today. That's not bad at all, especially considering we got a later start out of town than we wanted. The woods here in PA looks like fall as well. The drought has turned a number of trees brown and they have lost their leaves. We still see a number of deer each day, mostly does. Total Trail mileage 911.7 |
| 8/18/99 | We got another late start, 9:00. It is becoming a bad precedence. The alarm goes off, I turn off the alarm and roll over and go back to sleep. Today was going to be a town day too. We were going to do 16 miles and hitch into Palmerton for a re-supply. The police station there puts up thru-hikers. I imagine it's so they will already know where the trouble makers are. One of the reasons we got such a late start is that the 16 miles into town was going to be dry, no water at all. I drank about 2 quarts of water before leaving and carried about 2.5 quarts. I was so full from water that I didn't even touch my water until about 10 miles down the trail. Right before the road to Palmerton we crossed Lehigh Gap. The mountain ridge is dead from a local zinc smelting plant. The plant handled the greatest tonnage of zinc ore in the world. The acid rain literally burned the vegetation off of the ridge. It looked like a forest fire swept through the ridge, but none of the trees were charred. They were just dead.. We got down to the road for our hitch into town. Stan, a commercial plumber, pulled over in his company van. He was going to drive us to town when he asked if we wanted to stay at his place. He and his wife were hosting a dinner party for some relatives and he invited us to it. With a last minute yes before the turn off to town, he took us to his house. They have 13 acres just 2 miles away from the AT. His wife, Cindy, has family that lives in the area and they get together every Wednesday night for diner. Pack-man and I did our laundry and showered. For dinner we had pork tenderloin. Ooh it was good! We even had some red wine with the meal. It was a great evening. Stan and Cindy have 2 children, Skyler 4.5 yrs and Ben 1.5. The children were very well behaved and made for an entertaining time. One of the things I miss is the warm comfort and security of home, of being able to come in to a secure place and not worry about where you will be sleeping tonight. Stan and Cindy, thank you for sharing your home with me. Today's mileage 16.0 Total trail mileage 927.7 |
| 8/19/99 | Well, I yellow blazed today. Yes, I missed 8.5 miles of the trail. Stan and Cindy live so close to the trail that we just picked up the trail above their house, which meant that we missed about 8.5 miles. All I have to say is, oh well, I wouldn't have changed it. We hiked 16.5 miles across the rocks of PA to Eckville shelter. It's a small shed behind a guys house. He has an old fridge out back, full of soft drinks that he sells on the honor system. He also has a solar shower. I am getting a little spoiled 2 consecutive showers. Today's trail mileage 16.4 hiked 8.5 yellow blazed. Total Trail mileage 952.6 |
| 8/20/99 | We were some blue-blazing fools today. We got a little sick of the trail maintainers running us across rocks for no reason at all. We followed a snowmobile road that literally paralleled the AT for a good distance. We saw a "devil horn" buck, a spike with really long tines to accentuate the single horns. I also saw a black bear crossing the trail about 40 yds in front of me. It was pretty neat to see. They're so shy in these parts that they aren't a problem. We did get caught in a little rain and it feels like it could be a cool evening, about time. Trail mileage today 23.8 Total trail mileage 976.4 |
| 8/21/99 | Last night it got cold and rained about an hour. It was great sleeping in the lean-to. My sleeping bag kept me warm and dry. We were slow to get out of our bags in the morning. Trying to savor every last bit of warmth from the bag. We finally got hiking in our shorts and t-shirts. It didn't take long to get warmed up and to break a sweat. We continued to follow the service road along the ridge that we followed yesterday. We met 2 hunters scoping out the area for deer season. I ended up walking and talking with them back to their car, 2 miles. Pack-man and I continued on back up another ridge. It was overcast and cool all day, which made for comfortable hiking. Whenever we stopped for breaks it cooled off quickly. We ended our day at the 501 shelter. It's another little cabin on private property. We used the owner's phone and had pizza delivered. It was so good to eat a half of a large pizza on a cool evening. We got talking with the owner and he said that the service road we had walked down was actually the old AT. Imagine that. They moved the AT off the road because it was a hot walk on a sunny day. It was so cool for us that it was pleasant to be on. Today's mileage 15.0 |
| 8/22/99 | Last night, 2 northbounders and a southbounder section hiker showed up. The 501 shelter could handle 12 easily and then things would get tight. So the 5 of us had plenty of room. One of the northbounders was actually section hiking and he was only 25 miles from hiking the whole trail. He did the north section last year and this year he did the southern half. He treated us to pizza and we sat up talking into the night. The morning came early with a cold awakening. The sky cleared in the night letting all the heat escape and the morning fog was preventing the early sun from warming things up. Pack-man and I finally got out a little after 8:00. We enjoyed the partly cloudy day and cool temps. It made for great hiking weather. We did 16.8 to a neat stone shelter. We can hear some faint artillery off in the distance from a nearby military base. We have gotten back into the hardwoods. The trees tower over us and provide a heavy canopy overhead. It is absolutely beautiful. We have been following ridges for so long that it's nice to get back in the heavy woods again. Today's trail mileage 16.8 Total trail mileage 1,008.3!!! |
| 8/23/99 | It was a cold night last night. The location of the lean-to probably dropped the normal temperature by a good 5-10 degrees. We were on a hillside with a cool creek next to it. We got our usual late morning start. We passed some old rock foundations that was all that was left of some coal mining town. The foundations weren't impressive enough for a picture. The idea of walking through them and along an old wagon trail was nostalgic though. The rocky terrain is lightening up. We are still ridge walking, but the rocks are more infrequent. I have worn a hole in the toe of my right boot. The boot still works great. I just have to watch out about kicking rocks. The next outfitter I come to I will measure my feet and see what size boots I need. Then I will call Asolo, the boot manufacturer and see what they will do for me. They are usually good to thru-hikers. We finished our day at another great shelter. Unfortunately, the water source isn't has close as the last one. In PA they run the AT on top of a ridge,which makes for a relatively flat trail run at higher elevation. The water however is at the bottom of the ridge. So you have to walk down to the bottom of the ridge each time you stop for water. You try not to stop too often if you can help it. Today's trail mileage 17.5 Total trail mileage 1025.8 |
| 8/24/99 | We once again were planning on an early start. It was about 5:30am when a rain shower rolled in. It lasted about 2 hours. We left about 8:30 for Duncannon. It was where we had bumped our bounce boxes forward to. The wind blew the remaining droplets off the trees and the clouds would occasionally blow over the wooded mountain ridge we were walking on. We covered the 11.5 miles in good time. We went to the post office first and bounced our boxes to Harpers Ferry WV. Then we went to the Laundromat to take care of clothes. While waiting for the clothes, I called Asolo, the boot manufacture about some problems I am having with my boots. They unfortunately are going through some restructuring and couldn't offer me much help. I will have to see what I can do when I get to Harpers Ferry, where they have an outfitters. We finished laundry and made our way to The Pub for lunch. They had a great hamburger called The Pub Burger. I also tried a local beer called Yuengling, which was a very good lager. We finished up the day with a short hike back up to the ridge on the other side of the river. A good day! Today's trail mileage 15.4 Total trail mileage 1,041.2 |
| 8/25/99 | We started off early and headed out for Boiling Springs, Pa. We climbed over the last hill and dropped into Cumberland Valley. It started with a drizzle and then it turned into a saturating rain. We were soaked when we covered the last distance into Boiling Springs. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Office is in Boiling Springs. We went to the office and found a sign from a trail angel known as Mother Hen. She takes in thru-hikers and feeds them. We gave her a call and she came and picked us up and took us back to her house. With a shower and a load of laundry we were warm and dry. She fed us a great chili meal with corn on the cob. She even made fresh pico de gallo. Unfortunately Pack-man's clean fetish actions and comments had made Mother Hen self conscious. She is a single mother with 3 children. The youngest is disabled. She has her hands full even without taking in hikers. It's been a long tiring day. Tomorrow we should be in Pine Grove Furnace, half-way! Today's mileage 21.6 Total trail mileage 1062.8 |
| 8/26/99 | Mother Hen was running late this morning. She made this HUGE breakfast though. We had homemade sticky buns, sausage, bacon, potatoes, and melon. We thanked her and left some money for her in her trail register. We got on the trail about 10:00 and made it 12 miles through some beautiful pine groves. Pack-man's leg was bothering him and he was feeling really burned out. So, we stopped for the day and left the official half-way point until tomorrow, which was alright since the park store would have been closed by the time we would have gotten there. There is a thru-hiker tradition called "The Half-Gallon Challenge". At the half-way point you attempt to eat a half-gallon of ice-cream in under an hour. Today's Trail mileage 12.2 |
| 8/27/99 | We left Tagg Run Shelter with the thought of the "Half-Gallon Challenge" running through our heads. What flavor would I try? Would I go full hearty and get a complex flavor with tons of extras in it, or a simple flavor and try to keep the calories down. There are pros and cons for each and its debated on the trail quite often on which is the better way to go. We stopped at the old official half way point. The mileage on the sign shows Katahdin 1,069 and Springer 1,069. The trail is now longer so the half-way point is really further north, but we posed for pictures next to the sign anyway. Then we stopped briefly at the huge furnace that was used to make arms in the revolutionary war. After that we went to the Pine Grove Furnace Park Store and picked up our ice-cream. I went with a complex flavor, Moose Tracks. A flavor that is known for doing in some hikers. I finished the half-gallon in about 30 minutes. Not too bad since I had an hour to do it in. Pack-man finished his chocolate chip cookie dough and we sat around for another 30 minutes before hitting the trail. We continued to walk through the flat gorgeous pine groves. The shelter we stayed at had 2 small lean-to's in a small meadow with a brook down by the wood line. What a way to celebrate the half-way point. Today's trail mileage 17.2 Total trail mileage 1,092.2 |
| 8/28/99 | We tried once again to get an early start. We were up early and packed, but there was a weekender out with his german shepard. We got playing with the dog for about an hour. We left and made our way across the poplar groves to Caledonia State Park. We stopped at the snack bar and grabbed a burger. I hit the pay phone to touch base with home. We left and Pack-man started complaining that we were climbing hills again. The hills were small and well graded, but we were climbing again. I heard that there is more flat terrain to come. I will take what I get. I am on the Appalachian Trail going through the Appalachian Mts. It is supposed to be hilly. We finished the day by rolling into a shelter to see a number of weekenders there. Fortunately there was room for us and we made ourselves at home. It's funny, thru-hikers are pretty snobby and protective about the shelters on the trail. I finally realize why. It is because these shelters are our homes for the next 6 months. Where as for others it's their home for the night and they stereotypically don't treat them as well. Today's Mileage 19.4 |