Day 99 – Can You Smell What Pennsylvania Is Cooking?

It’s rocks. Maybe also meth, but specifically rocks in this instance. Also a general lack of white blazes. That’s right, we’ve hit the infamous ‘suck’ of Pennsylvania, the rocks. And boy do they ever (suck).

We woke up and did all the typical morning ‘chores.’ Get dressed, personal hygiene (optional for some), pack up, make/eat breakfast, poop, plan the days route/water stops/breaks and stopping point for the day. Once all that was done we were ready to hike. We got on the trail around 8:30.

The rocks did not hit us with full force right away but eased their way into the trail. Lightly at first, and then in greater numbers and odd orientations. The most mind boggling of which are the ones that seem to have their sharpest points going straight up (not the most friendly of places to step).

The mind reels at how these rocks even ended up here. An acceptable answer would be literally any historical explanation. “Settlers placed the rocks like this to prevent the red coats from following their Army.” Or “Native Americans arranged the rocks like this to limit the movement of trappers on their land.” Or “The rocks prevent vegetation from overtaking the trail.” The explanation really doesn’t matter, makes something up Pennsylvania.

Anything other than “we have the worst AT Volunteers who could care less about this section of trail” is a fine answer. Today I think we saw more downed trees on the trail than white blazes. We remarked on how glad we were that we didn’t night hike like we discussed. The paucity of white blazes would have made it near impossible to navigate the rocks at night.

With so many downed trees we missed a turn in the trail and headed down a poorly marked blue blaze instead. No double white blazes indicating a turn in the trail. Don’t get me wrong, if I were a volunteer, I wouldn’t want to maintain this section either. We saw a small rattlesnake today too. I’ll stop berating Pennsylvania now (until tomorrow).

I finished Red Rising and immediately started on the second book in the series “Golden Son.” I enjoyed the book immensely and can see why so many have told me it’s a great book for learning about ‘leadership.’ Leading by example and by giving autonomy to the people that work under you to make their best decisions are some of the biggest takeaways.

We eventually made it to our 20 mile destination. A stop for dinner at Thunderhead Lodge was in order. We all nearly ordered the same thing. Ceasar Salad, Ribeye, and Key Lime Cheesecake. It was the best meal I’ve had on trail to date, hands down. We waddled our way another 0.2 miles to The Lookout Hostel. It’s aptly named as it has a firepit with a great lookout over the valley.

A shower, charge and laundry was just what the Witch Doctor ordered. We went to bed late and I’m hoping our feet are up to another day of poor trail conditions. Maybe if every hiker moved one rock a day off the trail, it would be a more enjoyable place.

Stow away in my pack for day 100 of the Appalachian Trail.