Date: 2012-06-30
From: Pine Grove, PA

To: Pine Grove, PA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Before yesterday I'd never been run out of the woods by heat. Yesterday I was run out of the woods by heat. By 10 AM in the morning it was already hot. I was doing the climb of the day, about 1000 feet up onto Blue Mountain. The top of this mountain (long sinuous ridge really) is about 1500 feet. In this part of PA the trail doesn't really climb mountains. It drops into gaps (about 500 feet elevation) and then climbs up out of the gaps and back onto the next ridge line. On this part of Blue Mountain the forest crown was fairly open. So I was in the sun quite a bit. Also because of the openness of the crown it was quite brushy. It was like walking in a green shoulder high trench filled with super heated humid air. We were also on the east side of the ridge and the little breeze was on the west side. We had a bit of rain the night just passed, so the humidity was high (rocks embedded in the trail, and hence cooler than the ambient air temp, were actually sweating). Talking with Cindy and estimating temp in low 90s and humidity conservatively about 60% gave heat index over 100. So it was hot. For awhile I was trying to hurry to get through it, but realized my body temp was getting hotter. Plus I had 8 miles (4 hours elapsed time) to cover this section of trail. So I slowed down (the answer to all trail problems) and felt my body temp moderate, which was reassuring. Fortunately I had enough water and was drinking regularly. So I got off the trail and am typing this update in the air conditioned comfort of a Comfort Inn near the town of Pine Grove, PA just off Interstate 81. I was due for a town stop anyway. I had planned to cover the 230 AT trail miles in PA in three chunks: 80 miles from Waynesboro to Duncannon, another 70 miles to Port Clinton / Hamburg and a final 80 miles to Delaware Water Gap on the PA / NJ border. I did not stop for a night in Duncannon because I knew this heat wave was coming and wanted to make miles before it arrived. So in the 7 days out I covered 125 miles (18 mi, 17 mi, 16 mi, 25 mi, 16 mi, 18 mi, 15 mi). In the 6 nights out I stayed in the tent 5 nights and stayed in a hostel one night). I had some milestones this week too. We crossed the 1/2 way point 1094 miles. Also crossed the 1100 miles completed mark. Here at Pine Grove it is 1185 miles completed. Just yesterday I crossed the 1000 miles TO GO mark. The first two days of this run temps were in the mid 80s with fairly stagnant air which made the walking a bit sticky. The second night out I pulled into Pine Grove Furnace State Park and spent the night at a hostel there in a big old mansion, the Iron Masters Mansion Hostel. Back in the 1800s iron ore was mined and smelted here. That night we were supposed to have rain, but it only amounted to a short drizzle that evaporated quickly. This coincided with a front passing causing the temps to drop sharply with highs the next couple days in the high 70s. So we had four very pleasant days which was accompanied by a nice breeze and even wind at times. Then another front passed about 3 AM Friday morning with much cloud to cloud lightning, a few ground stokes and a light rain lasting about an hour, which only wet the top of the ground. The passing of the front also ushered in the heat wave discussed above. The third day of this run we crossed the Cumberland Valley which is about 18 miles wide and very flat all the way across. In the valley we passed through the charming town of Boiling Springs, PA. This town also had an 1800s iron industry and I walked by the old 2-story tall stone iron furnace in a park at the edge of town. At the north side of the Cumberland Valley I climbed up onto the next ridge and planned to camp adjacent to the Darlington Shelter. When I got there I was still feeling peppy and decided to go the additional 7 miles to the next shelter on Cove Mountain. That's how I ended up with the 25 mile day (a near marathon). This additional 7 miles was challenging because we passed a long very rocky section (PA is know by hikers to have many long rocky sections and it does). In the town of Duncannon I picked up a mail drop at the Doyle Hotel, an interesting old building, built by Budweiser in the way back. Evidently at one time there were many of these Budweiser hotels, that were built as a promotional mechanism to sell their beer. I was told that only two of these survive to this day and the Doyle is one of them. On the way out of Duncannon I crossed both the Juniata River and the Susquehanna River on long bridges. The Juniata joins the Susquehanna at Duncannon. The last night out I started hearing what I thought were fireworks in the evening. I thought it was 4th of July firework being shot off by locals a few days early. I also was hearing helicopters, which I thought was strange to be hearing far from any major metropolitan area. And they sounded like big helicopters. Then I remembered from the map that I was near something called the Indiantown Gap Military Reservation. So the fireworks were really war games and the big helicopters must have been military. There were at least three episodes of war games and helicopters that boiled up during the night. Yesterday, during the heat, as I was deliriously speeding along the somewhat overgrown and brushed in trail, suddenly, about 5 feet ahead I just happened to notice a snakes head sticking out about a foot into the trail. Fortunately I froze in my tracks, and then I heard the tell tale rattle. My first Rattler of the hike, and a big one, probably about 5 feet long and 4 inches thick in the middle. I watched as it slowly slithered across the trail and moved into the grass and weeds on the other side, where it froze again and rattled at me some more. I got a couple pictures and then gingerly walked by. I have been told that this part of PA used to have a very high rattle snake population, the rocky terrain providing many good den sites. I guess over the years they have been hunted out to a large degree. Now, at least on some places, it is not permitted to take them. So I'm here for three nights. This morning I ate well at the included hotel breakfast. Sent this update to my e-mail group. Walked over to Dollar General for drinks and snacks. I washed my night clothes at the sink in my room. Ate some TV dinners. Called Cindy. In the heat yesterday, I just about decided that I was done with this AT adventure. Not wanting to give it up, in the heat of the moment, so to say, I decided to stay here three nights and sleep on it. By Monday high temps are supposed to cool into the mid 80s. So I will probably give it another go and at least do the approx 102 miles remaining in PA to get to the Delaware Water Gap and the PA - NJ state line.