Cold, Clammy and Crowded

Somehow, throughout the night, my socks didn’t dry out. They did in the 501! Maybe I should’ve been more deliberate about putting them in the view of the sun. If there was a sun. Even when it’s been dry over the past week, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the sun in a while it seems. I really want to air out my stuff. But there just hasn’t been the chance. I guess better this than being hot all the time? No, I think I’d appreciate being dry at some point… Then again, you’re never dry on the AT.

It’s hard to describe how demoralizing it is to wake up and purposefully walk into the rain. Every system in your body is BEGGING you to stay in whatever shelter you’re in. You’re warm! You’re cozy. And most notably, you’re dry. But, as I slipped on my wet toe sock liners, and a pair of dry socks, I sighed, resigning myself to my fate. I probably should get a second set of liners. Whatever… it’s not like it’s going to matter. As I took my first step outside… my feet got drenched almost instantly. Turns out, when it’s raining, everything gets wet anyways.

And yet, “without rain, there wouldn’t be coffee. And who’d want to hike without coffee?” Caffeine’s become the one thing that really pushes me out of bed and into the woods. After a good drink and a free apple from the owner of the motel, I at least was in good enough spirits to start pushing. At least the climb out of town today was nowhere as bad as yesterday’s. Things to look forward to.

I definitely need a Zero. Not mentally, but physically. The rocks in Pennsylvania beat me up, not necessarily because of the terrain itself, though that certainly didn’t help. I feel as if it’s mostly from the fact that all my steps have to be varied here. Lots of big steps to avoid rocks, or little steps to… also avoid rocks. The big steps cause a lot more impact on my whole system, which messes up the rest of the chain over times few hours.

A few hours in, I ran into Icarus and Woozy again! I’d actually seen them earlier, when I was pushing up the climb, but on the flats they were destroying me in speed. We hiked for a bit together, and I just learned of how they got on trail, what they’re looking at with mileage, etc. As we were hiking though, I was keeping an eye out for some guests.

Two weeks ago, my friends Madi and Olivia visited me in Harper’s Ferry. Now, Madi’s parents were coming to visit! They’d parked at Fox Gap, which was about 3/5ths of the way through my day, and hiked south to meet up with me. Through some rocky terrain too! I linked up with them, and then we quickly separated for a bit. They took the rocks up, but they instead took a blue blaze that avoided the worst of the rocks back down, and I can’t blame them. It was slippery, wet, and pretty sketchy.

I met up with them afterwards, where they accompanied me to Fox Gap, and we talked about the trail, about PA in general, and about drum corps! Jeff and I actually had met previously, in Allentown, for the 2024 edition of the Drum Corps International regional at J. Birney Crum. So, it was pretty coincidental that our next meeting would be so close to Allentown once again.

AT Fox Gap, we stopped for a nice. brief lunch break. They’d picked up some Wawa for me, as well as fresh fruits and snacks! Even though I was starving while hiking, the Wawa filled my stomach up! It was good though to also fill up on fresh fruits while out here. While hiking, it’s the one thing my body definitely craves the most!

After about an hour of break time, we then took off a bit north. I showed them around a shelter, before we did our farewells. I wished Jeff a happy Father’s Day, and then disappeared back into the woods.

It’s been interesting to see how my mental state’s fluctuated throughout this section of the trail. Ever since hitting Pennsylvania, I’ve been craving getting off trail more than ever, whether that’s through hostels or hotels. I think a part of that mental strain is the unfamiliarity with the trail up here. At least before hitting the trail, I knew of what I’d generally come across into Virginia, and throughout Virginia’s there’s always been “obvious” town stops. But as the trail winds now through the mid-Atlantic, it seems like I’m truly never more than 10 miles from another city, or town, or hotel option. I can see now why people say you never truly feel like you’re in the backcountry on the AT. That’s definitely the case throughout PA so far.

The trail here also just winds through a lot more abandoned service roads than anywhere else. It’s either bad rocks, or easy road hiking. Nothing paved, mind you, there’s rocks and roots everywhere. But it’s a nice reprieve from everything. The descent into Delaware Water Gap afterwards was also… fine. Steep, but lots of switchbacks and steps. As I got closer to town, I could hear more day hikers out and about.

Today’s rain wasn’t too bad, but the downside is all the standing water it makes. Bugs are out! Yeowch!

On the way down from the parking lot at Delaware Water Gap, I was looking at FarOut a ton to make sure I didn’t pass by Marty’s Old Yellow House, since I wanted nothing more but to peel my socks off and get out of the rain. I don’t know why I bothered, it was kind of impossible to miss. Turns out the house is indeed Old and Yellow. I got in, and checked out the room, with a MASSIVE and comfy king bed.

I washed up, making sure to take extra care of my feet, and got in some loaner clothes. I ran into Marty on the way out, coming back from his own Father’s Day dinner, before making my way over to check out the church in town. It’s the other hostel in town, but with how I was lollygagging, and their first come, first serve policy, I knew I wouldn’t make it in time. I didn’t realize though that I’d run into another bubble! The bunkroom was full of hikers taking care of their business, and there were a few in the lean-to in the back also. And it was muggy as all get-out in there. Rain… rain… go away…

I then made my way over to Sango Kura, the only Sake brewery in all of Pennsylvania! They had really good Japanese food, and some really cool retro stuff! Including an NES with Megaman! Megaman was probably one of the most important games to me growing up, but I’d never had the chance to play it on original hardware. So I had a great time sitting there, chilling, gaming on a CRT. The food was also top notch too. I’d highly recommend anyone to stop there.

Back at Marty’s, I explored the old house a bit, and talked to him about… “trail shit.” Then, to my surprise, I ran back into Spoonman! I thought with how he was blazing ahead, and my bevy of Zeroes since Harper’s Ferry, he’d be way ahead of me. But turns out, he’s been having the same set of foot issues that I’ve been having. With how wet everything is, and the abrasiveness. of the things that’ve gotten into our socks, his feet also have rashes everywhere. Ew.

Marty helped me get an Espom Salt bath going, and then I sank into the large king sized bed. Ah, this is the life…

(title lyrics from: Lifeboat, Heather’s the Musical)