Date: 2017-06-03
From: Eckville Shelter, PA

To: Bake Oven Knob Shelter, PA
Miles today: 17.4

6/3/17, Bake Oven Knob Shelter, PAMiles hiked: 932.7 Miles to go: 1257.1We've been hearing since Harper's Ferry, it seems, that the rocks are going to get really bad. First, it was supposed to be right after the Mason-Dixon Line, then Pine Grove Furnace, then Duncannon, then Port Clinton, and so on. Don't get me wrong, the rocks have been quite a nuisance and our feet are really feeling them; however, we keep expecting a rockpocalypse but they continue to be like the day before. Well, I can now tell you where the bad rocks start - just north of the Eckville Shelter. I awoke to rain hitting the shelter roof. It's amazing how hard it is to drag yourself out of bed when you know that you have to go hike in the rain. Eventually, 1st Sgt drug himself out of bed, so I did the same. The Weather Channel app was saying that the rain would clear out by 10:00 AM, so least we weren't looking at an all-day rain. We were packed and on the trail by 7:30 AM. Shortly after leaving the shelter, we began a rocky 1000 ft climb. We have been hiking around two college-age sisters and their uncle for several days now - Silly Spilly, Pluck, and Shenaniguy. They seem like really nice people (they were the other unshowered people we had seen in the Port Clinton Hotel bar the other day). So, when we caught up to them on the climb, we were happy to stop and visit for a minute. As we reached the top of the climb, the rocks turned vicious. We are now hiking on one of two varieties all the time. They are either large rocks that require hand over hand climbing and rock-hopping or small, sharp wobbly rocks that turn your ankles and poke the soles of your feet. As you can imagine, navigating the rocks really slows us down. Of course, wet rocks are even worse. Luckily, the rain moved out around 10:00 AM, as promised, and the sun came out. We struggled over the rocks for several miles and finally reached the Allentown Hiking Club Shelter where we stopped for second breakfast. We are in a little bubble right now and shared the shelter with several other hikers. It turns out that all of us had decided to head to the Blue Mountain Summit B&B, about another 4 miles ahead, for lunch. We lucked out and the trail smoothed out, allowing us to make good time to the restaurant. It's amazing how food-motivated we've all become - like horses who smell the hay in the barn. By the time we arrived at the restaurant, there were 11 of us ready for a town food lunch. Anytime we don't have to eat Spam, peanut butter, or tuna for lunch is a time to rejoice. Though the service was slow, the food was good. After lunch, we only had 6.1 miles to the shelter. The only problem was the rocks got even worse. At one point, we found ourselves on a knife edge, walking on big slabs of rock tilted at a 45 degree angle. That proved pretty tricky. After miles of rocks, we finally reached the shelter. It turned out to be an old and small shelter with very limited tenting space. We managed to get five tents and one hammock into the small space and several other people are camping near us along the ridge. We have now eaten and done our evening chores and are all settled into our various tents (and hammock) for the night. Tomorrow, we pass another AT icon - the near-vertical climb out of Palmerton. Woo hoo!