AT Days 70 to 79 - Through Rain, Rocks, and Ice Cream: Crossing Four States into the Heart of Pennsylvania

Day 70

Due to the close air and nocturnal wildlife activity, I didn’t sleep much, unfortunately. When we woke up at 2:00 am for our 4-state attempt, I was already mentally dead. Once we started at 2:40 am, Masochist launched off, and we didn’t see him again all day. Instigator and I walked together across the bridge into Harpers Ferry, and then again across the other bridge, which spanned the Potomac into Maryland. From there, we enjoyed the quiet sounds of the water rushing and a nearby train as we strolled down the causeway. Once we reached the climb, I quickly lost sight of her as I was struggling. I then continued in this sort of fugue state, listening to the audiobook of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, until I reached the first shelter, where I stopped by and consumed some much-needed calories in front of some freshly awoken shelter sleepers. Feeling invigorated by the little bit of food, I rushed to Gathland State Park to have breakfast with Instigator. I was dragging due to my lack of sleep, but she was flying! So from here on, she went ahead with the plan to see what happened and to stay in touch. The day then proceeded onward with the weather turning first to a comfortable, gentle mist, and then to a total downpour. Due to the fog that came with the rain, and my increasing brain fog, I hardly processed the various Civil War historical sites that I shambled past. At some point, I was drenched and my headphones were dying, so I stopped at Pine Knob Shelter to recharge myself and my electronics. I was considering just stopping there, but I was already soaked, and I didn’t want a long day of catching up the next day. So when Instigator texted me to say that she was stopping at the next shelter, Ensign Cowall Shelter, I decided to trudge on, now with my rain jacket and pants on, in the hopes that I could warm up a bit. I selfishly wanted to catch up to her to steal some of her body heat as well. That stretch seemed to drag on for hours as the trail first turned into slick granite boulders, and then into a river of flowing mud. The wonderful British voice of Simon Prebble continued to narrate my book and describe a strange, magical world, as I became less and less aware of the foggy world I was falling asleep in. Blissfully, I eventually rolled up to the shelter, and the rain finally broke. I had a fairly modest meal before cuddling up next to Instigator. Before I went to sleep, I turned my reception back on and received the news that Masochist had completed the challenge in under 15 hours, despite the horrific rain! A massive achievement for him! I’m confident that had I slept the night before, I could have completed it. But in light of my persistent IT band issues and just recovering from illness, I am hesitant to push myself too hard. I might come back and attempt it again, but right now my thru-hike comes first. All of that being said, Instigator and I still crushed a massive 34-mile day in horrific conditions!

Day 71

Although I was dead tired, I was awoken twice last night, once due to some sort of nearby air raid siren (which woke the whole shelter), and once by some kids howling down by the nearby road… Needless to say, Instigator and I were both dead the next day when the first air mattress was deflated in the shelter. We ended up lying around until about 10 am, when we finally began to mosey on towards Pen-Mar Park to meet up with Masochist. Other than a short climb and a small rocky section, the remaining miles were fairly easy, and the weather was perfect. Upon arriving, I noticed that Masochist was talking to Soggy and his girlfriend, whom I had not seen since Hot Springs! After a quick catch-up, he kindly offered us a ride into town to resupply and to get some coveted town food. Because my food bag was mostly empty, I was running on fumes when we were dropped off at Walmart. I ended up scarfing down a pretzel dog and a pretzel from Auntie Anne’s, but that wasn’t enough. I still ended up buying significantly more food than I needed. As usual, grocery shopping while hungry proved to be quite dangerous… We then walked over to the brewery for a proper meal before beginning our walk back to the park. Along the way, a random passerby offered us a ride, saving us the 1.8-mile trek. Back at the park, we decided to just stay there for the night as it was already pretty late in the day. I found a lovely bench overlooking the setting sun, and I called my Mom for Mother’s Day and to catch up. While on the phone, I was shocked to see officers creep past me with guns drawn to arrest two people at a nearby bench. Two wanted international fugitives, whom we had heard about, were hanging out at the park as well! Once that settled down and my call ended, we set up at a stealth site, and then went to use the park bathrooms, which were already locked… We then took advantage of the empty playground before crashing for a much-needed rest.

Day 72

We slept in a bit at our stealth site in hopes that the bathrooms would be unlocked early, and they were! With this luxury, we washed up a bit and finished some camp laundry before striking out for the day. Unfortunately, my knee/IT band was once again giving me trouble, so we decided on a relatively short 20-mile day with little to no elevation. This worked out perfectly as well, as it put us not too far from the state park where the half-gallon challenge takes place. Throughout the day, we enjoyed the gorgeous weather and the wonderfully whimsical shelters that the PATC maintains in the Pennsylvania section. All of them have two smaller shelters, and one of them had one side labeled snoring and the other non-snoring! We also passed some high schoolers doing fieldwork for an environmental science course and two gorgeous state parks. Eventually, we made it to Quarry Gap Shelters, which looked like an adorable little cottage, complete with fresh flowers and landscaping! As we settled in for dinner, we started to notice little “easter eggs” scattered about, like garden gnomes, turtle statues, and even some board games! If the rest of Pennsylvania is like this, we will be spoiled. Hopefully, my stomach feels perfect tomorrow, as I’m excited to attempt the half-gallon challenge!

Day 73

We slept quite well in our cozy corner of the shelter, which meant we were able to hit the trail early today! Unfortunately, my knee was giving me a bit of trouble, and Instigator’s blisters from the wet 34 mile day were paining her, so our pace was a bit slower. But the trail was quite easy and relatively soft, as a good chunk of it passed through a dense pine forest. We stopped off at Toms Run Shelter for a light lunch before wrapping up the last few miles to Pine Grove Furnace State Park. Once we arrived, Masochist and I immediately jumped into the half-gallon challenge, along with Ozoner, whom we had just met along the way from lunch. He very kindly purchased our 1.5qt tubs as trail magic! Off the bat, Masochist and I started strong, but towards the bottom, I started to not feel well. Exercising restraint, I threw in the towel early at around 30 minutes. Masochist continued and finished his 1/2 gallon a bit after 30 minutes, and Ozoner finished shortly afterward. Ozoner decided to hike on, and the three of us went and hung out next to the gorgeous lake at the park. Unfortunately, the showers were still off for the season, but we had a wonderful afternoon hanging out by the water. Because we were all a bit beat, we called it an early day and set up camp in a stealth spot just outside the state park. All in all, an excellent day! I’m a bit disappointed I couldn’t kill the half gallon, despite having inadvertently done it a few weeks ago, but it’s all good. I still enjoyed my ice cream and the experience!

Day 74

Amazingly, neither Masochist nor I had any stomach issues from the copious amounts of ice cream we consumed yesterday. My knee felt a bit better from the easy day, and we were once again able to leave camp at a good time. Because of camping restrictions at the Cumberland Valley Crossing, our choice today was to go either 18 miles or over 30 miles… Because my injury had just stopped hurting, and Instigator’s blisters were killing her, we happily opted for the shorter day. The first half of the day was pretty easy, with a quick walk to a local convenience store/restaurant called the Green Mountain General Store. We stopped in for a fresh, hot lunch (truly a luxury) before completing the second half of our hike. Because water is scarce in the Cumberland Valley, we had to haul extra liters with us the last few miles. Thankfully, the hiking turned out to be nice and easy through a few gently rolling pastures. The “backpacker camp” which was our only option, is in a little clump of trees at the back of a farm field, right next to a train track... I guess we'll see how busy this set of tracks is.

Day 75

The day started with a nice, easy 6:30 am rollout and a quick 10 miles through mostly farmland and the town of Boiling Springs. We saw the old foundry, the mostly drained city lake, and miles of pastures. It wasn’t long before we reached US Route 11, where Linda, a local trail angel, picked us up and took us to REI so that I could replace my shoes and buy some permethrin. We didn’t want to impose, but she also offered to drive us on a few of our other errands. She ended up taking us to Primanti Bros, where Masochist and Instigator had their first experience, and then she drove us to Walmart for a resupply! She had water and muffins on hand as well when she picked us up. An absolute gem of a human, and one of the kindest people I’ve met on trail so far. After we were dropped off, we were all feeling fat and happy, so we only hiked a few more miles to the Darlington Shelter. The shelter was packed, but thankfully, there were several excellent nearby campsites. All in all, a wonderful day on the trail, and I’m excited for laundry and a shower tomorrow! We haven’t had either since Front Royal!

Day 76

Again, we were able to get a nice early start from the shelter, and we only had 10 easy miles to do before we arrived in Duncannon. Unfortunately, many of the last few miles were incredibly rocky, but it helped that our end goal was in sight. Once we reached the town, we said hi and caught up with Ma, who was hanging out in her van. From there, we made a beeline to Kind of Outdoorsy, where Instigator and I ponied up $5 each for a shower and loaner clothes. We then went next door to the laundromat and washed all of our clothes with some Tidepods that Ma had kindly gifted us. I don’t think my clothes have smelled that clean all trail! From there, we went to a nearby park and sprayed our clothes down with permethrin and got some pizza to chow down on while we waited for it to dry. Masochist decided to stay in town at the local church hostel, so Instigator and I took an Uber to Harrisburg to stay in a hotel, as the lodging options in Duncannon were slim to none at that time of year. Once in Harrisburg, we hit up a local diner before enjoying an advertisement-free movie night, compliments of a cheap Chromecast I had picked up in Walmart. All in all, the perfect nero.

Day 77

In normal nero fashion, Masochist was up early and texting us whilst Instigator and I slept in to take full advantage of the money spent on the hotel room. We had breakfast at the diner again, before heading back to Duncannon to reunite with Masochist around noon. Instigator and I did a quick (and very overpriced) resupply at a local convenience store, and then we promptly hit the trail. We pushed our pace a bit faster than normal because we were expecting heavy rain around 5 pm. Thankfully, like most of Pennsylvania so far, the grade of the trail was pretty gentle, except for the copious rocks, which were annoying. We stopped off to admire a few views, had a quick break at a shelter (where I spotted a bunny), and conversed with a few locals, but otherwise had an uneventful hike. As we hiked on, the sky grew increasingly dark, and then sure enough, it started to pour just after 5 pm. Thankfully, we were only a little way out from our endpoint, the Peters Mountain Shelter, so we didn’t get soaked. I was frustrated that we didn’t make it further today, but none of us wanted to deal with setting up tents in the mud. We should have incredibly nice weather in the next week or so, so if we can all stay healthy and not get injured, we should finally be able to ramp our pace back up.

Day 78

Amazingly, our crowded shelter last night wasn’t full of snoring, and I ended up sleeping wonderfully due to the cooler weather. We were able to leave early once again, and we quickly put down just under 10 miles by 10 am. Strangely enough, there was very little water available in this stretch, so we had to take a longer blue blaze to fetch some. Not long after this brunch stop, we encountered our first trail magic of the day, an iced-down cooler full of Gatorade. And it was right before a climb to boot! Thank you so much to the person who left that there. The climb ended up being graded extremely gradually, so it wasn’t much of an issue. From there, we had lunch on some rocks, as there were no good stopping places until the next shelter, but we needed to stop to address some blisters from the rocks. Strangely enough, we were buzzed by a low-flying helicopter, and we could hear planes doing aerobatics off in the distance. It turns out that we were near the Muir Army Airfield! We then stopped at Rausch Gap Shelter (which is a weird-looking shelter) for a quick snack before moving on to the campsite we had selected for the evening. Right before we stopped for the night, we caught some last-minute trail magic in a parking lot from Christina and Eddie, who gave us snacks, good conversation, comfy seats, and ice-cold Sprite! We also managed to do well over 20mi.

Day 79

We were able to get a nice early start today, and the weather was perfect. My allergies sadly came back with a vengeance after a very overgrown, pollen-covered section early on in the day. Water was also a bit scarce, but we made do with what we had loaded up the previous night. Early on, we crossed over a gorgeous old bridge at Swatara Gap, before climbing up to the aforementioned overgrown section. In that section, I also saw a very peculiar sight: a large rat snake poking the front half of its body out of the crevice of a tree! Once we finished up at the ridge line, we went down a short decline, where I spotted another small bunny. It appears that spring is out in all its glory today. We stopped for lunch at the 501 Shelter, which looked more like a clubhouse than a standard shelter, with its wild skylight window and actual chairs. From there, we continued to stumble through paths of various-sized rocks until we reached our destination, another quiet stealth site along the trail. We had once again achieved our goal of a 20+mi day in relatively good time, but the endless rocks all day had taken their toll on our poor, beat-up feet.