Appalachian Trail - Day 079 - PA Route 309 to Blue Mountain Resort

Day: 079

Date: Wednesday, 12 July 2023

Start:  PA Route 309 (AT Mile 1246.6)

Finish:  Blue Mountain Resort (AT Mile 1267.0)

Daily Kilometres:  33.2 (Ascent 2881', Descent 2874')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  2130.0

Weather:  Hot and mostly sunny.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pancakes

  Lunch:  Trail Mix

  Dinner:  Nachos/Chicken Quesadilla 

Aches:  Dave - the usual niggles plus some scratches and bruises from a fall and very tired; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  Making Blue Mountain Resort in time to have dinner at their pub and grill.  It's a ski resort, but the pub was doing very good business when we arrived around 7:30pm with many people dining on its large deck overlooking the valley far below.  The cold drinks were almost as welcome as the food after a long hot day.

Lowlight:  The last hour or so of hiking was not pretty.  Firstly, there was some newly relocated trail which seemed designed to take hikers off the obvious firetrail going to the same place and send them through the forest on gnarly rocky trail.  This was followed by a very steep and sweaty boulder-scrambling ascent while being drained of blood by squadrons of voracious mosquitoes.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We slept well, woke at 6:00am and Julie cooked us some pancakes for breakfast on the hostel kitchen while we chatted with other early risers including a father hiking the trail with his daughter who had just graduated from high school.

It was 7:20am by the time we left the hostel to walk the few hundred yards back to the trail, which was a little later than hoped, but not too bad.  Initially the trail was easy walking but soon we were boulder-scrambling across the Knife's Edge and Bear Rocks, making very slow progress.  On the plus side, the views were excellent.

We took our first break after about six miles at a shelter where several other thru-hikers were talking about getting to the pub at Blue Mountain Resort for dinner which wasn't something we knew about.  After consulting our navigation app we confirmed that the pub was indeed close to the trail and about fourteen miles ahead which was roughly our target distance for the day anyway.  Of course, we didn't know how difficult the trail would be, though we did know of one significant climb to come out of Lehigh Gap.

There was a new trail relocation in the next section which took us out into the open and high along the side of the ridge with great views to the north and west over the rural countryside and small towns while, overhead, eagles rode the air currents.  Out from the forest it was hot and sweaty hiking but it was nice and unusual to have views for so long a period.

We took our lunch break around 2:00pm after a slow section during which Julie saw a bear on the trail ahead, but it ran off before any photos could be taken or Dave arrived.  There were seven miles remaining to the Resort which seemed doable in the time remaining, but depended on how difficult the trail was.  Firstly, we finished our descent to Lehigh Gap and crossed the river, chatting to people in one of the cars held up by traffic crossing the bridge.  Down on the river, people were rafting, which seemed a lot more sensible than hiking on a day like this.

As we started our ascent from the Gap, we found a freezer with water and watermelon left out for thru-hikers, and were helping ourselves as the "trail angel" arrived to pack it all up for the day.  This was the second time today we had found water left for hikers on the trail on this notoriously dry section.  The "trail angel" apologised for how little was left, but we were happy.

The climb was very steep, the steepest yet in our hike, and required the use of hands to haul ourselves up the rock faces.  Then we had to ascend through boulder fields before we reached the ridge top.  Overhead, buzzards circled, waiting for one of us (probably Dave) to fall.

Once on the ridge we had a long walk on sometimes rocky trail which seemed to take forever with some maddening relocations (see above).  By this time Dave was getting very tired and our journey became a plod, made worse by a very steep final ascent (see above).

Eventually, we reached the turn-off to the Resort and got to the pub at 7:30pm.  It seemed surreal sitting there enjoying our meal and drinks amongst people having a night out (see above).

Of course, it was getting dark by the time we left the pub and began our walk up past the beginners ski slope and back towards the forest.  On the way, Dave spotted a small inconspicuous grassy area where we decided to camp, hopefully out of sight and not breaking any laws.

As we were setting up our tent some other thru-hikers passed on their way back to the forest and said that there was a security patrol at the resort and "good luck!".  We decided to stay put and quietly, with no lights, set up, washed, and got into bed, hoping we don't get any nocturnal visitors.

Appalachian Trail - Day 078 - The Pinnacle to PA Route 309

Day: 078

Date: Tuesday, 11 July 2023

Start:  The Pinnacle (AT Mile 1229.3)

Finish:  PA Route 309 (AT Mile 1246.6)

Daily Kilometres:  28.2 (Ascent 1988', Descent 2205')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  2096.8

Weather:  Warm, sunny and humid.

Accommodation:  Hostel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  New York subs, watermelon.

  Dinner:  Sweet & sour pork & rice, ice-cream.

Aches:  Dave - a few niggles, sore feet and very tired; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  It was a nice surprise to get some excellent "trail magic" - treats supplied to thru-hikers by volunteer "trail angels" - near the end of a hot and hard work day, even though we only had a couple of miles to go to our booked hostel.  We had an excellent New York sub, along with cold drinks and other goodies.

Lowlight:  Again, the Pennsylvanian rocks! Not just the seemingly never-ending jagged rocks to negotiate along the trail, but also massive boulder fields that had to be crossed.  All of the thru-hikers we met during the day were totally over the rocks and just focussed on getting Pennsylvania finished.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Not knowing what the terrain would be like, even though we only had 17.5 miles to our booked hostel for tonight, we got up at 5:30am and were hiking by 6:30am.  Ideally, we wanted to get to the hostel in time to shower and do a load of laundry.

Almost immediately we started hiking we encountered more slow technical rocky trail which seemed a bad omen, but it didn't last long and soon we reached The Pinnacle which gave fantastic views over the rural valleys below in the early morning light, as a reward.

After that, we had a long downhill run on trail that was relatively good and took our breakfast break by a stream in a damp and gloomy valley.

Then began a long climb up onto our next ridge and when we reached the top we were greeted by some unexpectedly reasonable trail through some lovely sunlit forest, but it didn't last (although the forest remained beautiful).  Soon we were clambering over boulders or picking our way carefully through jagged rocks at no more than one mile per hour.  At least there were some good views from Dan's Pulpit at the top of one rocky outcrop.  We met a few other thru-hikers along the ridge and all were complaining about the terrain.  It was a lot of hard work and tough on the feet with few rewards.

We took our lunch break around 12:30pm after about 11 miles and then set out for the last stretch to the hostel.  It was very slow going for the first couple of miles but then the trail improved a little and our speed picked up.  We were on schedule to reach the hostel at about 4:15pm but, when we reached a road crossing, there was some trail magic happening (see above) and we took a half hour break to eat, drink and chat.  Very pleasant and always a boost to the spirits.

Eventually we reached the hostel at 4:45pm and found it very busy.  It's not big, with one private room, which we had booked, and six bunks, but hikers can camp outside.  In total, there are about 16-20 hikers here, some of whom we have met before along the trail.  The entire place is run on an honesty basis, with no manager present.  Just a price list on the wall, a code to get in if you have booked, and a small store and fridge with prices posted.  You are expected to keep a tally of what you purchase and leave cash in a cash box or pay by bank transfer.

The hostel is perched high on a mountain with magnificent views over rural Pennsylvania, and we thoroughly enjoyed our delivered Chinese food sitting outside at a picnic table admiring the view on a balmy evening.

There's only one shower and one toilet, so the place is going to be a zoo in the morning and we will try to make an early start.  Even worse rocks are forecast for tomorrow on what will be a hot day.  Fun!

Appalachian Trail - Day 077 - Black Swatara Creek Campsite to The Pinnacle

Day: 077

Date: Monday, 10 July 2023

Start:  Black Swatara Creek Campsite (AT Mile 1206.8)

Finish:  The Pinnacle (AT Mile 1229.3)

Daily Kilometres:  39.6 (Ascent 3187', Descent 3245')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  2068.6

Weather:  Mild and overcast in the morning, warm, sunny and humid in the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Dried fruit & chocolates 

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - a few niggles and very tired; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  Our visit to the candy store in Port Clinton for lunch was special.  There's not much to the town of Port Clinton and few places to get food, especially since the only hotel in town insists that hikers shower before they are allowed into their bar/restaurant.  The candy shop sold cold drinks which were, of course, very welcome, but also a vast array of candy of all sorts.  It took us a while to make up our minds, but we ended up with some exotic dried fruit, chocolate and fudge.  It was more than we could eat, so we have added to the weight in our packs.

Lowlight:  There seemed to be a sadistic element to the trail planning along some of the trail today.  Although there were places where the trail paralleled little used, or unused, forest roads and fire trails which offered easier walking, the trail instead seemed to seek out the rockiest route it could find.  Three miles on the trail took us nearly two hours when we could have walked the same distance along the the firetrail in less than an hour and probably have seen more.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 5:30am and reluctantly put on all our wet clothes and shoes on a mild morning and were hiking by 6:30am.  We are booked into a hostel tomorrow night and it is 40 miles away so our plan was to reduce that distance by half by the end of the day and more if we could.

Sadly, this proved tougher than we had hoped.  The Pennsylvanian rocks were the culprit.  We did manage our first 6.5 miles to our breakfast break, the distance chosen because it was halfway to our planned lunch stop at Port Clinton, in three hours, which wasn't bad given much of the trail was extremely rocky and slow.  However, the second 6.5 miles to Port Clinton was even tougher, with a very steep descent at the end and it took over 3.5 hours with Dave looking totally exhausted.  The forest was pleasant and we did see a few deer, but most of the time our eyes were glued to where we were going to place our foot next.  Tiring and tiresome.

Port Clinton lies at the entrance to a gap in the mountains through which flows the Schuylkill River, several roads and several railway lines, the latter of which we had to carefully cross.  We made our way to the candy store for lunch (see above), wishing we had more time but did enjoy our treats sitting on a bench watching the world go by.

After lunch, we followed the river for a while before steeply ascending to another ridge on what was now a warm and sunny day.  Our (Dave's) pace was slow and it didn't look like we were going to get as far as hoped, but we plodded along, collected some water at the last opportunity, and began looking for somewhere to camp around 6:00pm, with 20 miles under our belt, as we began the ascent to Pulpit Rock.  We couldn't find a spot on the way up, but did enjoy some fantastic evening views from the rock before continuing on.

We didn't find a tent site until 8:00pm, much later then we would have liked and were very late to bed.

Appalachian Trail - Day 076 - Green Point to Black Swatara Creek Campsite

Day: 076

Date: Sunday, 09 July 2023

Start:  Green Point (AT Mile 1183.5)

Finish:  Black Swatara Creek Campsite (AT Mile 1206.8)

Daily Kilometres:  38.6 (Ascent 3406', Descent 2352')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  2029.0

Weather:  Warm and overcast in the morning, thunderstorms and rain most of the afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg, cheese & sausage bagels, hash browns.

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese roll, Trail mix

  Dinner:  Trail mix

Aches:  Dave - some niggles; Julie - nothing to report 

Highlight:  It stopped raining in the late afternoon so we didn't have to set up camp in the rain as feared.

Lowlight:  We both got very wet in the afternoon as thunderstorms passed through and it rained continuously for about five hours, often torrentially.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

As we left our motel room at 6:30am, Dave said that if we were smart we would have booked in for another night given the weather warnings we had just seen on the morning TV news - severe thunderstorms, tropical downpours and flash flooding for most of the day in eastern Pennsylvania.  Of course, we weren't smart, so headed back to the trail with the shuttle driver we had booked and were hiking by 6:45am on a muggy overcast morning.

After crossing Swatara Gap and passing under the freeway we climbed steeply up onto Blue Mountain ridge which we followed for the rest of the day.  Although there were some slow rocky sections, as expected in Pennsylvania, there were also long sections of easy and pleasant fern-carpeted forest walking that was relatively flat.

As the morning progressed, almost continuous thunder could be heard to our east and we did get some light rain.  Despite the weather, there were occasional good views to the east and we took our first break at one of them after six miles.

By the time we took our lunch break six miles later the rain had started to set in and thunder was rolling constantly.  Then the rain got heavier and the trail became much rockier and wetter and hiking was not much fun.  We started to regret not staying at the motel as before long we were very wet, particularly our feet.

We were going to have our afternoon break at another lookout, but there were no views and the rain was too heavy so we just kept going.  The next couple of hours were even more miserable as the trail turned into a stream with massive puddles and the rain continued.

Then, around 5:30pm, the rain eased and then stopped and our spirits lifted a little.  We walked another hour and a half, hoping our clothes would dry out a somewhat and that it wouldn't start raining again and eventually set up camp by the trail.  

Given we were wet and a little cold we decided to just set up the tent, get out of our wet clothes and into some dry ones and eat a cold dinner in the tent.  Eating in your tent is a "no no" in bear country but we decided to take our chances tonight.

We passed 1200 miles today. Less than 1000 to go!

Appalachian Trail - Day 075 - Day Off in Pine Grove

Day: 075

Date: Saturday, 08 July 2023

Start:  Green Point (AT Mile 1183.5) but staying at Pine Grove.

Finish:  Green Point (AT Mile 1183.5) but staying at Pine Grove.

Daily Kilometres:  0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from her jog/walk around Pine Grove today.

Total Kilometres:  1990.4

Weather:  Mostly overcast and very warm and humid.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Cereal, waffles, toasted bagels and jam.

  Lunch:  Hot dogs

  Dinner:  Meatloaf & veges, ice-cream 

Aches:  Nothing to report 

Highlight:  None really.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: No pictures today.

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We slept late, but not too late to make full use of the motel's complementary buffet continental breakfast.

Dave then had a very lazy day catching up on correspondence and admin with movies on the TV in the background.

As usual, Julie was like a caged lioness when confined to a motel room and ventured out for walks/jogs in both the morning and afternoon on local trails.

Dave did the laundry in the afternoon and we had an early dinner at a nearby diner, anticipating an early start tomorrow.

Appalachian Trail - Day 074 - Clarks Valley Road to Green Point

Day: 074

Date: Friday, 07 July 2023

Start:  Clarks Valley Road (AT Mile 1167.3)

Finish:  Green Point (AT Mile 1183.5) but staying at Pine Grove.

Daily Kilometres:  26.5

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1990.4

Weather:  Partly sunny, very warm and very humid, with some rain later in the day.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts 

  Lunch:  Trail mix 

  Dinner:  Cheeseburgers and fries, ice-creams

Aches:  Dave - a few niggles and very tired; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  None really.

Lowlight:  Dave was struggling during the morning, though we covered the usual distance.  He felt very tired with a low-grade headache and was finding the hiking hard work.  Maybe it was the continuing heat and humidity and/or cumulative fatigue from the last six days hiking but, whatever the reason, we decided at our lunch break to find a way off the trail in the afternoon for an unscheduled day off tomorrow.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We woke at 5:30am and were hiking by 6:30am after a warm and humid night.  More heat and humidity was forecast for the day with the chance of thunderstorms and heavy rain showers in the afternoon.

We started by crossing the valley floor and Clark Creek along which we could see a number of hikers camped, though apparently it is prohibited there.  Then there was a steady climb up onto the long ridge of Stony Mountain.  It wasn't that steep, but it was warm, despite the hour.  The trail was rocky for long sections, as was the case all day, jmeaning you had to constantly watch your foot placement, but it wasn't bad enough to significantly slow us down.

It was the same story once we reached the crest of the ridge and followed it to the north-east, but Dave was finding it hard work.  There were no views with the trail staying in the green tunnel - sometimes forest and other times rhododendron and mountain laurel groves.  We did see quite a few thru-hikers, all moving faster than us, but probably walking shorter hours since we have seen some of them before.

Our breakfast break at 9:00am didn't do much to revive Dave's spirits and the next six miles seemed to pass very slowly for him.  Originally, we had thought we would hike every day for the next week to reach the end of Pennsylvania without a day off but, with Dave feeling exhausted after six days of heat and humidity and a steady mileage, we rethought our plans at our lunch break and decided to see whether we could organise a day off tomorrow.

Without phone coverage, we couldn't explore our options for another hour or so until we reached the top of our next ridge, Second Mountain, having had to first cross an old beaver dam that had turned Stony Creek into a swamp replete with many croaking frogs.

From the ridge we booked a motel by a freeway interchange at Pine Grove which we could reach via PA Route 443, a couple of miles ahead.  Uber seemed to be available, if necessary.  However, when we reached the road we decided to try hitch-hiking for a while before trying Uber and within minutes a pickup truck which had already passed us returned and the driver offered us a lift to our motel.  There was only room for one of us in the cab, so Julie rode in the tray with our packs.  The driver, an electrician returning home from work, was a really nice guy who was very interested in our hike and peppered Dave with questions all the way to our motel.  Hopefully we have encouraged him to hike some (or all) of the trail himself.  He seemed keen.

It began to rain before we reached the motel but, fortunately for Julie in the tray, not too much.  We reached the motel at 3:30pm and checked in for two nights.  Later we bought dinner from the adjacent McDonalds and are looking forward to an early night.

Appalachian Trail - Day 073 - Duncannon to Clarks Valley Road

Day: 067

Date: Thursday, 06 July 2023

Start:  Duncannon (AT Mile 1149.5)

Finish:  Clarks Valley Road (AT Mile 1167.3)

Daily Kilometres:  30.0 (Ascent 2667', Descent 2313')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1963.9

Weather:  Hot sunny and humid with a rain shower late afternoon.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Breakfast hash, toast & jam/Omelette, hash browns, toast & jam.

  Lunch:  All American sub

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - a few niggles; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  Unusually, the late afternoon rain shower was very welcome on a hot and humid day.  We got a bit wet, but it cooled us down.

Lowlight:  Heat and humidity made it a very sweaty day for hiking.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a lazy start to the day, getting up later than usual then having breakfast at diner across the road from the hotel.  Dave then had some last minute admin requiring attention so it was 9:00am before we began the long walk out of Duncannon on what was already a very warm day.

Knowing that water was going to be hard to get for most of the day, we bought plenty of drinks to take with us, then a few more on the way out of town which we drank before beginning the big climb away from the impressive Susquehanna River.  The extra fluids added to the heavy weight of our packs already loaded with 4-5 days of food, and we were not looking forward to the climb to the Peter's Mountain ridge.

Then, when we got to the ridgetop, we found that the trail followed the narrow rocky/bouldery spine of the ridge for a mile which took the best part of an hour.  It looked like being a long day.  Fortunately, the trail became a little easier after that, though still very rocky, and we took our lunch break a little before noon in a nice clearing in the ridgetop forest having only done about five miles.

After lunch we continued on, saturated with sweat, even though the ridge was relatively flat, and were very happy to find a "trail angel" dispensing cold drinks and snacks to some very grateful thru-hikers at a road crossing.  We inhaled a couple of cans of drink and chatted for a while before continuing on, knowing we still had nine miles to go before reaching a spring where we hoped to camp.

The rest of the afternoon was spent following the ridge on slow trail in energy-sapping heat, relieved somewhat by a late afternoon rain shower.

Finally, the ridge ended and we descended until we reached the spring and our planned campsite at 7:00pm.  We both enjoyed a bit of a wash in the cold spring water before eating dinner and retiring to our very warm tent.