About that trail name…

Make your guesses and I’ll share what it is at the end of this post 😉

Wednesday, March 19

We hiked 11.4 miles on Wednesday and heard a lot of machine gun fire throughout the day; apparently there’s a military base nearby. When we stopped at Yellow Creek campsite to decide whether to stay there or go on the next shelter there was a huge military drone that kept circling us, flying very low. I assume they had a fascinating view of me putting Leuko tape on the 2 blisters that had formed on my toes!

Wednesday’s section had a lot of trees down across the trail; I counted 38! I took pictures of 2 of them, and they are representative of both the easy and more tricksy ones we had to get around, under, over, and through.

Easy

Tricksy

The hike was much less rocky than Tuesday’s.  There were a lot of creeks (we crossed on stone bridges for some of them) and a lot of green tunnel under rhododendron bushes.

Stone bridge over a creek- photo by @keithmetzger78 on Instagram

When we got to the Rausch Gap shelter we were happy to see a piped water source right outside the shelter! The shelter is built down into the ground – partly underground, and it kept us warm and protected from any wind.

Rausch Gap shelter – so cozy! Photo by @keithmetzger78 on Instagram

Piped water source at Rausch Gap shelter (@keithmetzger78 on Instagram)

I heard what sounded like a military chopper for an hour or two as I was falling asleep,  probably from the same military base. No animals bothered us during the night – I have been surprised that we haven’t even seen mice in the shelters.

I realized today that I’ve been on trail now for almost a month and I am definitely stronger,  but my ankles and feet and lower legs take a beating when navigating over the really rocky parts here in PA.  Taking Advil at night after a long day has helped decrease the inflammation, but I don’t take any during the day because I don’t want to mask the pain. It’s been a balancing act managing the aches and pains while developing my trail legs.

Thursday, March 20

1st Day of Spring Sunrise (@keithmetzger78 on Instagram)

The hike on this first day of spring from Rausch Gap shelter down to Swatara was fun, especially crossing the logs at the area flooded by a beaver dam!

I got across with dry feet, but K slipped and ended up with one wet foot. I tried not to laugh… but I failed! I feel lucky not to have fallen in while getting this photo!

The slip

The recovery

I saw a lot of large green & yellow salamanders (yay spring!) swimming in the water next to the logs as I crossed, but didn’t get to see the beaver engineer of the dam.

The weather was perfect and the hiking was not too tough for the rest of the 6.3 miles. We did have to navigate another 40 or so trees that had come down across the trail, but the rocks weren’t bad. We also crossed both a big open field and a long section of green tunnel along the way.

I called Eric, the owner of Stay-at-Swatara, and arranged to spend the night in their shed and out of the rain that was coming that night.

They hadn’t really opened for the season yet, but he was very helpful. The shed was surprisingly comfy and we each had a cot to sleep on, outlets to charge our phones, and heat!

We arranged a ride to resupply with Pip, a terrific local shuttle driver, and picked up Subway for dinner. I highly recommend the honey mustard BBQ chicken sub!

Friday, March 21

We had some great views on our 11.4 mile slackpack between Route 501 and Swatara. Each of them seemed better than the last!

It was still a little windy but the sun came out and it warmed up to 50 degrees by around noon. I really enjoyed the hike, and it was made even more enjoyable when a friend came down around a rocky corner.

Lucky 7, who we had spent a night with at a shelter early in PA, seemed happy to see us too. We caught up on eachother’s adventures  and trials for 15 or 20 minutes before continuing on our way.  I hope our paths cross again somewhere down the trail. 

Me navigating some of the rock field near where we ran into Lucky 7 again 

The day ended back at Stay-at-Swatara after crossing the bridge that is right across the road.

The piped spring there was super convenient and the shed we stayed in was warm and dry.

What’s next?

We have plans to do more slackpacking to help us get through the rockiest sections that are coming up soon. I have found that doing a few days of that mixed with days of carrying my full pack helps my ankles and legs recover and keep going.

I am looking forward to warmer spring weather (although probably not this week), and hopefully I won’t need to say my trail name as much soon!
Who am I kidding… I’m always Chilly!