Quick on the draw makes a por*o (unintentionally!), and gunshots on the trail

In an attempt to bring you more up-to-date, this post will mainly just be the drawings and you can click on the pictures for more details if you wish.

Closer to the US population

At this point, the Appalachian Trail moves much closer to habitation, and so there are more people around who are not thru hikers, including groups of high school kids displaying varying degrees of enthusiasm for hiking. Also something not really seen up to this point, and that is graffiti on the rocks, as well as more litter.

Snakes and other wildlife

There is still plenty of wildlife around this part of the trail, especially chipmunks and a fair few snakes. Of note, were two encounters with black rat snakes. The first was when I came upon what I thought was a whole nest of snakes. I started videoing them and then realised that it was just two snakes intent on making baby snakes (hence the title of this post). The second black snake incident was when I was forced to stay in a shelter through lack of tent spots. There were only three of us in the shelter, and just as as we were about to settle down for the night, one of the other hikers discovered a black snake right next to his head, only separated from him by an upright plank of wood. He moved next to me and we left the snake alone (they are good getting rid of mice). The same night we were visited twice by a porcupine (see the photo of the notice about this).

Although I have seen no bears and many other hikers have, I have seen a fox which very few hikers have done. Although they are very commonly seen in my hometown of London, they are a pretty unusual sight on the Appalachian Trail.

Gunshots on trail

Something you are unlikely to encounter in the UK on a hike, is the sound of gunshots. I have heard them several times on trail. But early in Pennsylvania, the AT passes very close to a shooting range. Intense firing of both small arms and heavy calibre weapons was rather unnerving.

A break

With over 1200 miles completed, I was lucky to stay in the Port Clinton area, with two lovely section hikers I had met many hundreds of miles back in Virginia. I had a zero day with them and felt recharged ready for more hiking on the AT.

And a few photos:

This guy was in the shelter