SOBO Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike Part 4: The Race to Pennsylvania — 9/4/19 to 9/21/19

Looking for some context as to what this post is about? Check out Part 3 here Part 2 here and Part 1 here

“Today, I woke up at ___ AM, hiked ____ miles, and slept at ____ PM. Along the way, I saw ____, ____, and _____.”

~Me for the last two frickin’ months

While I was sitting in my parent’s house in Pennsylvania letting my leg muscle heal (where we left off at the end of Part 3), I could swear that in looking over my last blog post as well as most of my personal journal entries for the last month that this was all my blog posts and journal entries had devolved into. I was doing nothing more than giving a ho-hum play-by-play of every step I was taking every day along the mighty Appalachian Trail, and while that can be exciting material for some people to see, it didn’t feel right to me. I sat back and read that last blog post about a million times and thought “there’s something wrong with this…I don’t feel like I’m encapsulating the spirit of a thru-hike properly.”

And then it finally hit me just the other day as I prepared to sit down and write down Part 4. Maybe it’s because I’ve hiked close to a thousand miles at this point, I’m approaching the halfway point, and I’ve been able to hike through 4 states in just the last 3 weeks. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in the woods for two-and-a-half-months and at a certain point, walking along a narrow footpath can only be so exciting and it soon becomes redundant and unnecessary to try and remember (and then recap in a blog) every little detail of what happened while you were walking that day through an endless green tunnel. Maybe it’s all these reasons.

But what hit me is I’m tired of writing about exactly what I DID every day. After all, in terms of what I did every day, it’s pretty simple. I woke up, I hit a privy, I walked a lot on a narrow footpath following some white blazes on the trees, I ate, and then I slept. And then I did it again the next day. And then I did it again the next day. And then I did it again the next day. What I did never seems to change.

However, something else changes from day to day…the way I FEEL and the way I THINK when I’m on the trail. At a certain point…and I guess I’ve finally reached it…hiking is no longer the fun activity. It’s the chore. Everything else BESIDES hiking, though, that you experience on the trail, is what you start to long for and what you start to remember when you’re doing the chore of hiking.

That’s the angle I’m going to aim for in this blog. Writing less about what I did (which is honestly, just a lot of walking), and more about what I felt/thought/experienced. Hopefully, that will make this blog more enjoyable of a writing experience and more fun of a read for you.

That being said…here we go!

I know that I left off at my parent’s house on 9/2, but I’m going to start with 9/4 because 9/3 basically consisted of a little more icing, a little more resting, a little more massaging, and a few more Advil as I finished resting my left quad while simultaneously completing a long drive up to Great Barrington, Massachusetts to pick up where I left off. After 4 days of rest, my muscle felt healed and it was finally time to get back to work.

Day 56 – September 4

Lots and lots of doubts and contingencies were running through my mind when I stepped out of the cab just south of Great Barrington, a nice a little resort town in southern Massachusetts. The sky was dark and gloomy with severe weather in the forecast, my quad was a little wobbly from 4 days of rest (not 100% sure if it was fully healed), and I was feeling demotivated. The trail is like coffee to me. I need it when I’m close by or have only been away from it for a day or so. But when you remove me from it for three-four days and give me a lot of other stimuli (family, friends, my old family home, a steak dinner, etc.), it’s pretty hard to go back to at first. So those first few steps off the road and into the grass field where white blazes were adorned on a series of fence posts really made me pause. “Do I really want to be doing this? Should I even be doing this? Maybe I should spend more time with my family and Ashli…maybe that’s the right course for me.” Thoughts like this ran through my mind over and over again. But as I was thinking, I noticed I was already walking and was already about a half mile down the trail. It’s like my body made the decision before my mind did. “OK”, I thought, “I guess it’s the trail for me.”

Then, after a couple miles, a different feeling started to hit me. I felt like I was visiting an old and familiar friend. In some ways, I felt more safe and sheltered than I had at any point in the last few days while I was off trail. I felt more like I was home. This is how it seems to work for me. Every time I try something new or different, it feels awkward and forced, but once I settle into it, it is my absolute ZONE to be in. Being off the trail the last few days had been rough, I realized, because I was actually settled into the trail. The first few miles had been rough today because I had been settling into the comfortable routine back home. I just have to survive transition periods, and I’ll be golden. I have a feeling I’m not the only one who thinks that way.

I decided today would be a short day because of the weather forecasts and because I didn’t want to push my leg too hard and go right back to being injured. So my buddy Nitro (who I happened to catch up to about 5 miles in) and I reached a shelter at the 8-mile mark and settled down for a long afternoon and evening of catching up while also meeting a couple other section hikers and riding out a nice severe storm that went by in the early evening. “Funny,” I thought as a loud bolt cracked overhead, “I don’t feel any less safe in a shelter than I do in a house.” Another way the trail changes your perspective of things over time…

MILES COVERED: 8.0 miles (+30-mile bypass between Lee, MA and Great Barrington, MA for logistical reasons)

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 677.2 miles

Day 57 – September 5

I awoke with a slight chill in my bones. It was only early September, but the warning signs of winter were continuing to linger, and I was still pretty far north. I needed to start racing south as fast as I could if I wanted to avoid chilly mornings for a while.

Nitro had a rough morning. On two separate occasions, as he was cooking his breakfast, he knocked over his stove and spilled food everywhere. Now, if this was me, I would be on the point of tears from frustration and the loss of valuable food, not to mention the time I would lose from having to clean up and cook everything again. However, Nitro seemed to just laugh and take it in stride. We can sometimes learn a bit about how to behave in unfortunate situations just by observing other people’s actions.

So after a slight delay, me and Nitro set off, this time seeing if we could get back to doing 20-mile days. I was a little nervous at first, but my quad seemed to be doing quite well. It would always be a little achy at the start of the morning, but after a few miles, it would warm up and feel just as strong (if not stronger) than my other muscles. Every time I injure myself, I always say to myself that I will be more appreciative of being fully healthy once I’m healed. This time, I took all morning just to relish in this fact. I’m young, my muscles are healed, I’m strong, I’m healthy, and I have the world in front of me. Cherish it! I just wish I could learn to think like this EVERY day…

Today was also a great day because another state fell by the wayside. After a scamper over Mount Everett and Mount Race (which included a BEAUTIFUL ridge walk), I descended to a river and suddenly found myself at a sign that read “Welcome to the Connecticut portion of the AT!” 4 states were done. I had walked the length of 4 states! But honestly, this state line had a different feel to it. Yes, it’s always great to cross a state line. It’s a heck of an accomplishment to have come so far. But the truth is, it started to just feel like a checkpoint. There are more states ahead and more miles to go. Just keep pushing and don’t pause to celebrate every five seconds. I don’t know if it was pessimism, which I should work on, or if it’s just a total work mode, which I should be proud of. Maybe it’s both. It’s almost certainly both, I decided. There’s no black and white. Everything is grey…a combination of many different things.

In the late afternoon, I reached the town of Falls Village and camped for free in the backyard of the Toymaker Cafe with Nitro. That night, coyotes all around me lulled us to sleep. Does Connecticut even have coyotes, I wondered as I fell asleep. What weird world is this?

MILES COVERED: 20.7 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 697.9 miles

Day 58 – September 6

Toymaker Cafe sells the best muffins you will ever eat. If you ever find yourself lost in northwest CT, get over there pronto and have another one for me. Just saying.

Quad felt great. Legs felt fresh. Tomorrow is a special day…my anniversary with my awesome wife. For the third weekend in a row, I’ll get to see her (I’m a spoiled man)! So with a smile and an extra bounce in my step, Nitro and I set off on an 18-mile stroll to a shelter located right next to the Housatonic River.

The day was filled with the riveting sounds of a nature. That’s right. Nothing sounds more like nature than the sound of cars squealing around a racetrack just 2 miles from the trail. For 7 whole miles of hiking, I could hear cars ripping around corners and squealing on asphalt. Normally, I wouldn’t mind. We live in a world that has a perpetual Hum to it. The Hum of humanity…cars, planes, trains, ringing phones, people talking/yelling/screaming…it’s hard to escape. But for the most part, we’re used to it because we’re constantly immersed in it. We’ve grown immune to it in some ways. It only becomes deafening when you find yourself alone in the woods for a while. So when I heard the racetrack, it gave me an unreasonable amount of anxiety and confusion and I found myself hiking the entire 7 miles that I was within earshot of the track at an unusually fast pace.

The rest of the day had a great tranquility to it, especially the final 2.5 miles to the shelter where Nitro and I walked alongside the river as the trail followed a smooth dirt path. Within less than an hour, we had covered the entire stretch and were making dinner in our stoves (Nitro didn’t tip his stove this time) while chatting with NOBO’s Riverbird and La Forza. I enjoy the peace and quiet and solitude of hiking mostly solo during the day, but to get an evening with fellow hikers in a shelter may be even better.

MILES COVERED: 18.0 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 715.9 miles

Day 59 – September 7

WHA-BAM!!!!!! SMACK!!!!!! CRACK!!!!! Nothing is more fun than getting ripped out of a sweet dream at 2 AM to the sound of the shelter you’re sleeping in getting pummeled with falling tree limbs and hail while one of your shelter mates screams “WE’RE GONNA DIEEEEEEE!”. Ah, so much fun that I can barely put it into words.

The outer bands of the remnants of a hurricane passed just over the edge of where we were in CT that night, and so with it came a very large and unusually strong wind and rain storm. Again, though, I honestly felt nothing other than annoyance that I had been ripped out of my dream because of loud noises. “Yes, we’re gonna die”, I calmly said to the crowd as I rolled over and prayed I would soon find myself in Candy Land again sharing a Strawberry Pie with my wife.

But sadly, I didn’t, and after a few restless hours, I found myself up and moving again…this time, running to the town of Kent, where Ashli (my aforementioned wife) would be meeting me so we could celebrate our 6th year of marriage! Honestly, the trail is a blur to me that day. I remember climbing a very steep rock wall that led away from the river, and I walked past a lot of trees. Pretty riveting stuff.

Ashli truly is my guiding spirit out here. We have definitely had our ups and downs together, but there is no person in the world who makes me happier and no person in the world that I want to make more proud. On top of that, she has been a great support for me this entire trip, from the moment I announced my decision to hike back in mid-March all the way to now, where she had been sending supplies for me and visiting whenever she could. I can never express my appreciation to her in a way she truly deserves.

Rather than doing the play-by-play of the rest of the hike and our anniversary celebration, I want to just give three tips for young couples about how to possibly keep the bond strong year after year.

1. Always keep dating each other. Never stop earning each other.
2. A healthy relationship is between two equals: no leaders or followers.
3. When she says everything’s fine, everything is totally fine.

Wait, scratch that last one. Here’s a real last one.

3. It’s OK to each have your own interests and each be your own person. Help each other in pursuing each of your own interests and passions. After all, you’re a team. A wonderful and loving team. 🙂

I love you, Ashli. You’re the best teammate.

MILES COVERED: 7.0 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 722.9 miles

Day 60 – September 8

If you haven’t puked yet and closed the blog, then I’m glad you’re still with me! Today was going to be a super action-packed day that would involve not only seeing Ashli and hiking over 20 miles, but also getting a chance to see some of Ashli’s trail family from her thru-hike in 2014!

A “trail family,” for those who don’t know, is a small group of hikers who stick together (for the most part) over the course of a thru-hike. By the end, the group has essentially become a family because there’s nothing that can bring a group of people together better than doing a 2200-mile walk through the woods together. SOBO’s like me tend to have more trouble finding trail families (since there are so few of us), but NOBO’s like Ashli are generally able to have an easier time with this. Sure enough, Ashli had a trail family by the time she finished the AT in 2014, and we remain close friends to this day. Now, a few of them…Tinder, Birch, and Mac…were coming up to see Ashli (Katness Neverclean is her trail name, by the way) and myself and to cheer me on for the day!

But to start, Ashli slack packed me about 11 miles to the rendezvous point where I met her, Tinder, Birch, and Mac. It was a great 11 miles that had lots of ups and downs, but felt like nothing because of the light pack on my back! After that, I got a lovely lunch with the gang as we also provided “trail magic” in the form of snacks, sodas, and beers to any other hikers who passed by, which included Nitro and Sonic! Then, we ALL hiked about 6 miles of the trail together to a road crossing…AND WE ENTERED NEW YORK IN THE PROCESS! (ANOTHER STATE DONE!) Finally, we all said our good-byes to the trail family as they headed out for the day and drove back to their homes in PA. Ashli and I got one more activity together as we grabbed some BBQ at a roadside restaurant and then she dropped me off on the trail so I could bag a few more miles to a shelter just as darkness settled in. As Ash drove away to head back home to PA, she yelled out “GO SHANTY GO!!!!”. Man, I love that woman.

Thanks for a great weekend, Ash and trail family. People are what make this trail so great.

MILES COVERED: 21.5 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 744.4 miles

Day 61 – September 9

“It’s time to start racing,” I thought to myself with a smile as the sun rose right in front of me as I sat eating my breakfast in front of the shelter I had slept in the night before. I had two weeks now until I would see Ashli again, and at that point, I would be jumping off trail for 5 days to go to the beach and see both her family and mine. Essentially, it would be “halftime” for my thru-hike. But if I wanted to truly enjoy halftime, I wanted to at least be close to halfway done with the trail. And to do that, I needed to bag about 270 miles in the next 14 days. No easy task, but it was doable. Ahead of me was about 500 miles of relatively easy terrain in NY, NJ, and PA.

So with a burst, off I went going up and down over the short but rocky hills of New York. What’s cool about New York is that every 10 miles or so, you reach a deli just off trail where you can stop and grab as much as food as you want, so about 10 miles into my day, I swung over to a deli and grabbed a huge sandwich and bag of chips for lunch. Thank God. I’m starting to get real tired of munching on blocks of cheese and summer sausage day after day.

At the deli, I met a new SOBO I hadn’t seen before: Roan. A nice girl from North Carolina. We decided to hike the rest of the day together and ultimately found ourselves at Clarence Fahnestock State Park where we camped in a open field next to a large lake. As we ate our dinner that night, we were sharing our backgrounds and what brought us to the trail. Sometimes, though, I really have trouble explaining why exactly I’m out here and what exactly brought me to the AT. I feel like I could write a book about it, and there’s times I really wonder why I’m here. I started off in some ways wanting to prove things to myself and others (what, even?) and to see if I could physically pull something like this off. Now, I’m not trying to prove anything. I’m just…hiking. It’s weird.

MILES COVERED: 22.6 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 767.0 miles

Days 62 and 63 – September 10 and 11

Two days. Sometimes the days just blur together out here because you just hike, and hike, and hike. That’s what this felt like. New York is probably my least favorite state on the trail at this point because there’s nothing scenic about it with no real good views and it’s surprisingly challenging with lots of ups and downs that are short, but are very rocky.

But the Delis…ah the Delis. What a redeeming grace. Roan, Nitro, and I about halfway through the day on the 10th found ourselves chowing down on subs and pizza at the Appalachian Market right on the trail. On the 11th, I had several vending machines to raid in the region of Bear Mountain.

Now that I think about it…I’m going to take back my claim of New York being the worst. I forgot about Bear Mountain! I got to cross a beautiful suspension bridge and climb up to the top of a mountain where I could see the skyline of New York City (on 9/11, no less, so that made it even more special). Maybe I was just so frustrated by the heat and the continuous ups and downs on rocky terrain.

I know that I want to comment more about what I was thinking and experiencing, but these days are not days where I was thinking. I was just…hiking…and trying to survive in the blistering heat. “Man, I miss New England mornings”, I thought to myself, “I need a zero”. After 4 days and going 84 miles as part of this race to Pennsylvania, I felt I deserved it. Then again, I thought to myself, I deserve to do whatever I want out here. It’s OK to be happy.

Man, I’m not thinking like the person I was in Part 1 of this blog…..

MILES COVERED: 17.2 miles; 22.1 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 784.2 miles; 806.3 miles

Day 64 – September 12

A zero day in the town of Harriman. I ate a lot. I slept a lot. I resupplied. I patched some gear. Riveting stuff. Rather than bore you with those details, let’s play the game “You might be a thru-hiker if…” based on stuff I did today…

You might be a thru-hiker if…

1. You’re overjoyed at the idea of eating sausage that you’ve actually been able to zap in a microwave
2. You wash your clothes in a hotel sink and you consider it luxury
3. You see a ‘continental breakfast’ that has just apples and Corn Flakes, and you think you’ve hit the jackpot
4. Between the door of your hotel room and your bed, you’ve managed to rip all of your clothes off
5. You place a $30 order at Subway and it’s not enough food to last you the rest of the day
6. You place your nice shoes outside your hotel door…and you have absolutely zero worry that they’re going to be stolen because no person on this planet wants to even LOOK at those shoes

Days 65, 66, and 67 – September 13, 14, and 15

Roan and Nitro were now ahead of me, having chosen to press on, and I realized I was going to miss having some hiking companions during the day. A first-time feeling for me, really. However, I was alone for a total of about 30 seconds today.

Because as soon as I got out of the cab to hop back on trail, I found myself hiking alongside a section-hiking SOBO named Skipper. Skipper might be the most rad person I’ve met on the entire trail so far. I honestly think Skipper might be the 63-year old version of me…or at least, the person I WANT to be when I’m 63 years old. Super fit, super energetic, intelligent, appreciative of life, and a good heart. That’s the type of person I want to be when I’m older. Basically, I want to be that old guy that people look at and go “wow, that guy has stories to tell!”

I was very impressed how he was able to pretty easily keep up with me as we banged out the last 16 miles of New York (stopping for some ice cream and hot dogs in the process) and crossed into NEW JERSEY! Another state has fallen! They’re dropping like flies now.

After a relaxing night with some other section hikers at the first shelter in NJ, we entered the section of trail that makes many people consider New Jersey one of the most “surprisingly beautiful” states on the entire AT. For mile after mile, Skipper and I walked on a boardwalk that took us through nature preserves and wildlife management areas. We saw beautiful cranes, herons, and amazing birds. I didn’t even notice at one point that it had started raining. Or maybe I just didn’t care. Everything around me…all of nature…looked and felt beautiful.

Skipper went on ahead to bag a few more miles before having to hop off trail for about a week (again, he’s a section hiker) while I went into a town to grab some pizza for lunch. About 3 miles later, I found Skipper and his wife (who had come to pick him up) waiting for me to give a final good-bye and give me an apple for the road. Another simple, but wonderful gesture from a good man. Thanks Skipper! People like you are making this hike the joy that it is.

And then just like that, I was alone again. And suddenly, I felt even more alone than I had when I had first started the day before. The ebb and flow of the trail and how it changes your emotions is endless. It didn’t help that in the evening, I spent the night completely alone in a shelter for the first time and was almost certain a bear was going to come eat me.

But, I survived. I actually slept well, and the next morning I found myself pressing on. Just 30 more miles were left in New Jersey, and I was absolutely FLYING. “I never thought I could bang out 20+-mile day after 20+-mile day so easi…”–that’s what I kept thinking to myself as I hiked throughout the day, but then something else hit my mind…

“I can’t believe this, I can’t believe that….why don’t you just start accepting and enjoying what you are and what you can do, Andrew?!”. You the readers probably understand this about me pretty well by now. How many times in this blog have I said I couldn’t believe this or I couldn’t believe that?! Too many times. And way too many times has it involved something that concerned me personally, whether it was physical strength or mental confidence or emotional well being.

I’m honestly tired of any form of self-doubt. I’ve hiked almost 900 frickin’ miles. I can do whatever I damn well set my mind to, I’ve decided. See if you can go a whole month without saying “I can’t believe.” YES, I CAN BELIEVE.

MILES COVERED: 22.0 miles; 23.9 miles; 19.6 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 828.3 miles; 852.2 miles; 871.8 miles

Day 68 – September 16

Home. What does that word mean to you? What does that word make you think of? What’s the first thing or word that comes to mind when you’re hear the word “HOME” and what emotions does it spark?

This is a concept that had been driving me crazy. It’s been fascinating to me for the last several weeks. Today, though, this concept had all the meaning in the world to me because today was a day I had been waiting for and working towards ever since I had started down Katahdin on July 11th.

Today, I would be reaching my HOME. I would be exiting New Jersey and entering Pennsylvania, the state that I was born and raised in and also the state that I have liven the vast majority of my life in. I haven’t lived there since 2015, having relocated to Wisconsin for a few years for my then-career and then spending over a year traveling full-time in an RV before hitting the AT. However, that has never really released me from the idea that PA was, is, and always will be my home, even if I never end up living here again. And now, I was about to finally start hiking in it!

I wound up having my biggest hiking day so far, bagging almost 25 miles as I finished the last 24.5 miles of New Jersey so I could reach PA before dark and settle down for a zero the next day in Delaware Water Gap. That 24.5 mile-stretch was maybe my favorite day on the whole trail so far. I walked across a beautiful mountain ridge the entire time and often found myself walking on smooth and flat surfaces. The entire time, the clouds drifted lazily across the stay, a soft wind blew, and orange and red leaves (another sign of fall!) crunched underfoot with each step. I found myself being very nostalgic throughout the day, thinking about walks on fall days with my grandma and grandpa. I thought about lazy Saturdays at home in Lancaster when I was growing up and then the excitement of Sunday afternoons as we waited for our beloved Eagles to come on TV. I wonder what my grandma and grandpa would think of me doing something like this? Isn’t it crazy that I actually don’t find myself really caring about how the Eagles do this year or what Carson Wentz’s passer rating is going to be? I wish I could hop in a time machine and go back to one of those sunny, cold, windy fall days in Lancaster. Everything was so simple and happy.

So many thoughts swirl around all day. I’ve probably flashed through my childhood about 100 times while hiking the trail and I still remember something new with each pass. It’s really nice to replay the movie of your life so far in your mind and every so often, an easter egg pops up that you didn’t know was there before.

Sure enough, all this reminiscing made the time fly and before I knew it, I was standing on the I-80 bridge that spanned the Delaware River and with Roan and Dropzee (who I caught just before the border), we took our triumphant pics at the PA state line. I still had 1300 miles of trail to go, but that night, I felt like I was home.

MILES COVERED: 24.8 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 896.6 miles

Days 69, 70, and 71 – September 17, 18, and 19

After a very relaxing zero day at the Church of the Mountain Hiker Center in Delaware Water Gap, PA, I struck out with another SOBO named Book. He’s a very cool dude from England who has been crushing miles and was able to catch up to me after about a month and a half of being just a couple days behind me. We decided that we would do the next 90-100 miles of PA together, which I was excited about. I missed the company of Skipper, Roan and Dropzee had gone ahead during my zero, and Nitro was behind me and taking some time off because of a tooth infection.

With our packs reloaded and ready to go…we set off into the PA section of the AT. In a word: ROCKY. For months, I’d been hearing it: “Beware the Rocks of Pennsylvania”…like it was a damn monster movie or something. But there is no joking. PA is by FAR the most rocky and mentally challenging section of the entire AT. The trail is fairly flat in most of PA (following the top ridge line of Blue Mountain for over a hundred miles), but the terrain is essentially a giant never-ending boulder field. As a result, you can’t go as fast as you normally would in a flat section and you ALWAYS have to keep your eyes on where you place your feet. It’s not physically exhausting, but it is nevertheless mentally draining.

Me and Book decided, though, that this would be a good time to have ludicrous back-to-back mileage days that would total 53.6 miles in just 48 hours. 53.6 miles of walking through rocky terrain is not something I recommend to most people, but it was actually not as bad as I thought. My feet are stronger than they’ve ever been and both Book and I were able to finish each day before dark! On top of that, the weather was AMAZING! I haven’t really gone into detail on weather that much, and I like that about myself now. I don’t care if it’s raining or sunny or windy. Somehow, I find myself just carrying on anyway. A lot different than what I was thinking in New Hampshire.

MILES COVERED: 26.1 miles; 27.5 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 922.7 miles; 950.2 miles

Days 72 and 73 – September 20 and 21

I treat these rocks like an old friend playing a prank on me. Somehow, I feel like I have a real advantage being from PA. I know this state. This state is my home. I’m OK with walking on rough terrain if it’s my home state. If I was from Virginia or Ohio or somewhere, I would probably be just like any other hiker who is screaming in the trail logs “PA SUCKS ROCKS!!!!” or “GET ME OUT OF THIS ROCK-INFESTED STATE!!!!!” or “REEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!” (I didn’t see any logs that said “REEEEEE”, but they may as well have)

For these next two days, my last two days before Ashli would pick me up and take me to the beach for my “halftime” break, I would be hiking a section of trail I’ve done almost half a dozen times over the course of the last 15 years…the section just north and south of Port Clinton, PA. This would involve going over the Pinnacle (the highest and most scenic point of the AT in PA), the Pulpit (another cool rock formation), and climbing out of Schuylkill Gap (probably the hardest climb in all of PA on the AT). It felt really weird to be covering familiar territory as part of a thru-hike, but at the same time, the section that I thought I knew seemed totally different. It took me a while, but I finally got it. The trail is more overgrown than it used to be, and so it’s making things more difficult than it was growing up (it makes sense, though, since PA had a very wet summer). Funny how your perception or memory of things can be totally different from reality.

After countless rocks and a nice descent, I found myself in Port Clinton, PA, where I met some great friends for dinner (thanks Joni and Brian!) and even got to meet my sister and brother-in-law for a cigar and beer (thanks Susan and Brian!). One more day and I would be off on break…

…and then…I sneezed and my throat started to hurt…

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” I thought over the span of the 15 miles I hiked on the 21st to get to the road crossing where I met Ashli and we headed to the beach. My only vacation I get from the trail, and now I’m sick. Just frickin’ great. Oh well…like I said in part three of this blog…you take what the trail gives you…

MILES COVERED: 22.2 miles; 14.8 miles

TOTAL MILES COVERED ON THE AT: 972.4 miles; 987.2 miles

And so now here I am, vacation over (and cold subsiding just in time) and I’m about to head back to the trail to finish off PA and begin entering the South. It’s hard to put a wrap on this blog. There’s just so much to think about and so much that still lies ahead. I know I’m just gonna have to write a book about this thing when it’s all over. Even if nobody buys it, it will help me sort everything out that I’ve thought, seen, and experienced while out on this long, grueling, hard, and beautiful hike.

Thanks for reading everyone! Catch you all soon! Onward!

~Shanty