Expected and Unexpected Challenges in Eastern Pennsylvania: AT Flip Flop Days 19-26

Day 19

We all slept in and were slow getting ready to hike out of Duncannon. Despite leaving at different times, we all met up for lunch at the first shelter after hiking through town and up the mountain. Perch and I walked together in the afternoon, continuing our conversation from the night before.

We got to the shelter, and I couldn’t find good trees for my hammock, so I decided to test my ground game in the shelter.

While we were getting set up and doing camp chores, a guy named Magic walked up to the shelter and said he was making dinner for everyone. Magic lives nearby and regularly comes up to the shelter to make mountain pies (known as pudgie pies where I grew up) for hikers. He fed hikers over 70 different nights in 2022, thru hiked the trail himself in 2023, and was just starting to serve hikers for the 2024 season. It was one of those magical shelter evenings with the good dinner and Perch playing her guitar and singing. 

Unfortunately, the good evening didn’t translate into a good night’s sleep. I was plenty warm, but I could not get comfortable on my ¼ inch foam pad and clothes bag pillow. I got some sleep, but not much. At least there were no shelter mice. 

Day 20

Today was my birthday. I was excited to have my birthday on trail. We discussed our plan for the day and agreed to try to make the next shelter in 18 miles. The day started fine, I left camp first and walked alone for a while. I like waking alone first thing in the morning to get my head right for the day. 

I scared a rattlesnake off trail, the first one I had ever seen. I only saw a middle section through the bush it was hiding in, but the size and markings were undeniable, and I wasn’t going to get closer to find out. 

Just after the rattler encounter, Perch caught up to me, and we hiked a few miles together. I needed water at the stream and she wanted to get a head start on the next climb, so we parted. With a full water load, I was very slow to the top of the hill. I sat down to eat tired, hot, frustrated by the now swarming bugs, and alone.

The hiking after that felt very hard. I think I was slightly overheated. The trail was flat, straight, and not that rocky, but the miles passed slowly. I walked alone all afternoon, not encountering anyone else for the rest of the day. I lost cell coverage for most of the afternoon, the first day with limited service so far. In a rare spot of coverage, I got a message that the McGees weren’t going to make it to the shelter. Here I was on my birthday alone and struggling, stuck between my friends ahead and behind. I had dinner on trail, again alone, and decided to push for the shelter. 

I arrived shortly before sundown, absolutely drained. It was by far my hardest and most mentally challenging day on trail. I struggled to set up my hammock. I also needed to hang my bear bag for the first time. It was so late when I got done with everything that everyone else was settling into bed. It was demoralizing to push so hard to make it to the shelter and not have any time to socialize and relax with others. The redeeming quality of the day was that I slept amazing being back in the hammock after the failed shelter experiment. 

Day 21

I slept so well that when I woke up and got everything packed, everyone but Perch was gone. We discussed our plans for the day. She wanted to hike 17 miles to the 501 shelter, but there was no way I could do that after the struggle of yesterday. We hiked for a while in the morning and crossed the famous beaver dam together.

I was feeling a hot spot on my foot, so I stopped to tape it up. Since she had an ambitious day planned, she decided to keep going. She was planning to have lunch at the new Stay-AT-Sawarta hostel in about 5 miles, so she said she might see me there, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to hike fast enough to catch up.

I eventually made it to Swatara in the early afternoon. I cooked a frozen pizza for lunch and easily ate the whole thing. My appetite was fully back after the rough beginning of the trail, and I was starting to get my hiker hunger. While eating I got a text that the McGees were only two miles behind! So I waited comfortably at the hostel.

After a few more hours, the three of us hiked up the mountain and found a tent site to set up for the night. We got everything set up and dinner eaten just in time before a thunderstorm dumped rain on us. It was an early night to bed after a short hiking day. 

Day 22

It rained off and on overnight, but it stopped by the time we woke up. My hammock tarp kept me and everything under it completely dry.

The first six miles of the hike to the shelter where we ate lunch was rocky, but not terrible. We saw section hiker David, whom we had been hiking around since Duncannon, at the shelter cleaning it out. Jingle (named for the bell she carries on her pack and one of the Meandering McGees) thought David left his flip flops behind at the shelter, so she carried them. When we were near the 501 shelter, I took the flip flops to the shelter to see if he was there. He was indeed there, but the sandals were not his. He was touched that we thought to carry them back to him and suggested that I could leave them there. I thought they looked about my size, and I had been wanting some camp shoes for awhile, so I decided to keep them. I later discovered they were a perfect fit! The trail provides. 

The rocks after 501 were horrific; we had finally reached Rocksylvania. After reaching a campsite shortly after the shelter, the McGees decided they didn’t want to go any further for the day. I took a break with them, but I decided that I wanted to push for the next campsite two and half miles ahead. 

It was a tough stretch, but I made it to my destination. I set up my hammock, nailed the bear hang, and settled in to camp totally alone for the first time on this trail. The bugs were bad again, so I jumped in my hammock early for the second night in a row. 

The heat and bugs in this stretch had been relentless, and I was looking forward to more seasonable, cooler days to come. On this day, I also started to develop some painful chafing that would come to define the next few days. 

Day 23

I slept in a bit, and the McGees rolled up on me as I was packing up. They gave me a good ribbing for sleeping in. I quickly ate breakfast and caught up with them a few miles later at the next water source. 

They again got ahead of me, but I caught up when they took a wrong turn. We found a place to have lunch together. 

They yet again got ahead of me after lunch. My chafing was really starting to bother me and slowing me down. Two miles before getting to Eagle Nest Shelter, I came upon a burn scar. The wind was blowing the dead trees precariously, and the grass hid a field of rocks. These two miles were so painful with the rocks and my chafing that I wanted to scream and/or cry.

I hobbled into camp completely drained, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Perch was there after taking an on-trail zero to deal with some foot problems. I felt a little better after everyone affirmed that the last two miles had been terrible. It wasn’t just me. 

I was also happy to get there early so that I could take my time with camp chores and hang out with my friends. Section hikers Hot-for-Teacher and her daughter Bug also showed up to camp with us. I convinced the McGees that we should get a hotel room in Hamburg the next night. I was hoping that a night indoors would help me feel like a person again and give me a boost to keep going through PA.

Day 24

We woke up decently early to start the trek to town. The first six miles were mercifully easy, and we took a short break before the descent into Port Clinton. My chafing was still killing me, but Vaseline and the allure of town kept me going.

After the steep descent into Port Clinton, we got a shuttle to our hotel in Hamburg. Our room wasn’t ready, so we stashed our packs behind the front desk and walked across the highway to the shopping center for lunch and resupply. I steered us to Five Guys to satisfy my burger and fries craving.

At Walmart, I bought what felt like too much food for my resupply. I picked up some hydrocortisone cream and a new pair of shorts to try to fix my debilitating chafing problem.

Day 25

What a difference a day makes. I slept great in the hotel, and the hydrocortisone cream was working wonders on my chafing.

We had been dreading the climb out of Port Clinton, but it wasn’t bad at all. I hiked alone most of the day and had some great views at Pulpit Rock and the Pinnacle. I wish we could have camped at the Pinnacle to see the sunrise there, but it was a posted no camping area, so we set up camp a few miles further along close to a water source.

After the stretch of tough days before, this was one of the better days in Pennsylvania. My chafing was so much better, my new shorts were working out well, and the trail didn’t feel like it was beating me up constantly.

Day 26

I didn’t want to get out of my hammock in the morning. It had been the coldest night on trail for me so far and it was still chilly in the morning. If we had gone to the campsite a mile further north like I had initially planned, we would have froze with the wind whipping over the exposed ridge.

The first part of the day was really easy. I was feeling good and confident, but then the rocks came. It was hard walking, and I got very hungry before lunch. Despite having a good lunch, I never recovered my energy for the rest of the day.

The rocks continued after lunch for a while. My original chafing was still doing really well, but I was starting to develop chafing with the new shorts in a different spot. The trail got nice again for the last four miles of the day, but with my energy low, feet throbbing, and new chafing, it felt hard.

We made it to the Lookout Hostel just off trail where we were going to stay for the night. The shower at the hostel felt good, except the shower floor was made of more damn rocks that hurt my feet! Perch, Hot for Teacher, and Bug were also at the hostel that night, so we had a good time being back together again.

Lack-of-Shower Thoughts 

I knew Pennsylvania would be challenging, especially reaching it so early in my hike. I made a rule for myself that I couldn’t quit in PA. I never wanted to quit, but I was pretty miserable a few times during this stretch. Pennsylvania is often called Rocksylvania for the maddening rocks on the trail. In that spirit, here are the other ways Pennsylvania challenged me:

• Hotsylvania
• Painsylvania
• Chafesylvania
• Snakesylvania (total snake count at 21 thru day 26)
• Bugsylvania
• Mudsylvania
• Drysylvania
• Dehydrasylvania
• No-bear-boxesylvania
• Feet-throbbsylvania