Date: 2007-07-05
From: Pen Mar Park, PA

To: Delaware Water Gap - New Jersey
Miles today: 228.8
Weather: light rain

"Let's Rock"            Ranger Jan Reporting   I began Pennsylvania with pizza. It was an auspicious beginning. There is a lot more to PA than the dreaded rocks. My first real challenge wasn't rocks but a half gallon of ice cream. Pine Grove Furnace is the site of an AT thru-hiker tradition....to consume one half gallon of ice cream in a sitting. Bloody Nose, General Lee, Queso, Sven, Ufta, The Breeze, Dr. Ninja and I reached Pine Grove on a sunny but sultry 95 degree afternoon. For more than 2 hours we attacked our frozen confections. Being older and wiser than my young compatriots, I chose 4 separate pints and flavors over the half gallon and melted each one in the sun prior to joining the battle. We all achieved success, albeit with varying degrees of gastronomic discomfort. I spritely knocked off another 8 miles of trail, immediately thereafter, buzzing with my overload of simple sugars.      The next day I set a personal best of 26.5 miles. It was a long, hot, hot, day. Fortunately it's also one of the flattest sections of the AT. The trail goes through Boiling Springs, a quaint village,and we took a long break at the ATC office and to hydrate and soak our feet in the springs. General Lee, Bloody Nose and I continued on to the Darlington Shelter and arrived to the raucous welcome of 22 "Seahorses", NJ teens out for a 2 day backpack. They grilled us nonstop about thru-hiking until an impending thunderstorm drove us all into a shelter designed for 12. We formed a mass of wall to wall bodies and bags.      The next day I reached Duncannon and like Boiling Springs, the trail passed right through town, affording hikers an additional opportunity to download carbohydrates. The Pennsylvania rocks were asserting themselves more each day and the Gypsy moths continued their "Shermanesque" march north through the PA forests. After a beer and plate of cheese fries in Duncannon, I crossed the Susquehanna River and continued north.      Bloody Nose and I saw a bear harvesting blackberries the next day as we proceeded through an area originally populated by several coal mining villages. All that remains now is nicely graded trails (old roads and rail beds) and black glassy chunks of slag littering the path. That night we stayed at Rauch Gap Shelter and met Spaceman, Dick Wizzard, Bird Dog and Forrest. The heat wave had finally broken and the next few days would be sunny, cool and breezy. It was a great relief as we still continued through very rocky terrain, sometimes slowing our progress literly to a crawl.       Back and forth, rocks, no rocks, the trail couldn't seem to make up its mind. The trail to the 501 Shelter boasted some great views and easy hiking, with few rocks. Everyone seemed to converge on the 501, General Lee & Queso caught up with bloody Nose and me and the crowd from Rauch Gap. Soon after we rolled in, pizza started arriving. The 501 was converted form a pottery studio and being near the road, is only a short distance from the local pizza joint. No one would miss this opportunity for carbohydrates. Next day we all determined to reach the pavilion at Port Clinton. It would be yet another opportunity to avail ourselves of a town's amenities. As friendly as Boiling Springs and Duncannon, Port Clinton allows hikers to overnight at their local pavilion. (several soda machines, oddly placed in residential yards, line the route to the pavilion......a little local entepenurism (sp) at work) Getting there that day, however, was no walk in the park and sleeping there no dreamy luxury. Some of the rockiest and steepest sections of the entire AT lie between the 501 Shelter and Port Clinton. And while convenient, the pavilion is 50 feet form PA 61, a major thoroughfare and big rig conduit. Nonetheless I slept fairly well and next day I left early, my companions choosing to lazily linger in Port Clinton. Still sunny and cool, the weather couldn't be better for hiking. Pulpit Rock and The Pinnacle boast some of the best views yet, and I spent time at each. The trail was fickle, smooth and easy till Ecksville Shelter and then tormentingly rocky to the Allentown Shelter. You just had to accept it as it came, there was no alternative. Pennsylvania was passing rapidly, though, and I knew the rocks would soon be in my rear view mirror.    Leaving Allentown Hiking Club Shelter it was more of the same, easy, then rocky, then easy again. Today I would reach Lehigh Gap and one of the strangest of trail sections. Before then however were the gorgeous views a "The Cliffs" and "Bake Oven Knob" and the cool, breezy, sunny weather had an added bonus, the views were amazingly clear, no lingering haze or fog. One could almost forgive the rocky trail in exchange for these endless pastoral sights. Midway through the day, however, the unexpected occurred. While negotiating a particularly rocky section, I got careless and slammed my head, full force, into an overhanging branch. I was stunned. A perpendicular branch, about 8" in diameter extended over the indefinite trail of rock. The hiking club had even adorned it with a white blaze. The problem was, it was only about 5' above the trail and I stand 5'10". The rocks force you to look downward, surely it's no place for a branch, blaze or not. After finding myself still conscious, I checked for blood and swiveled my neck to assure myself of spinal integrity. I then proceeded to utter a non-stop string of profanities, primarily directed at the offending trail maintainers. Certainly, I'm not the first or the last to collide with that branch and what moron thought leaving it suspended directly over the trail would be cute? Thankfully I survived intact and thoroughly enjoyed the remainder of the day.         Crossing the Lehigh River and climbing out of the gap is quite interesting. The view just keeps getting better a a few points of rock scrambling make it exciting. Once on top of Blue Mountain, though, you enter a whole new world.......other worldly in fact. Nearby Palmerton has smelted zinc for decades and the top of the mountain was home for all their tailings. While green is slowly taking hold, the primary impression is one of apocalyptic upheaval. Dead trees and crushed rock cover the almost 4 mile ridge. The views are great, wide open and vast, and the level hiking very pleasant.   From Little Gap north the rocks continue, off and on for another 30 miles to Delaware Water Gap and New Jersey. My 10 plus days in Pennsylvania had shown me some of the best and worst of the AT. Other than my near concussion, it was mostly enjoyable and the nuisance of the rocks hardly negated the views, villages and rolling farmland trail, uniquely Pennsylvania.   After 72 days, I was finished with 7 states, half the total and close to 1300 miles of trail. (well over half) From now on it would be a countdown. Instead of miles traveled, I would be monitoring miles to go. (895 left to Mt. Katahdin) New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts would fly by and I'd soon be in the heart of New England's wild country. A journey that had begun in Georgia and had seemed insurmountably endless, was rapidly shrinking.