ha hee he he Why isn't this in the Humor Forum. see none, me included dont know all things TU Illa LOL humor intended back at ya.
gratitude OMG it gets some through thru hikes...so much more.
You will pass by some AT landmarks:
1. The Washington monument in Maryland
2. the shelter with the "snoring" and "no snoring" sections
3. The iconic half way sign.
4. The AT museum and the Ironmaster's hostel
5. as already mentioned, the Doyle in Duncannon. Even if you don't stay there, do not miss the draft beer.
Couple random thoughts I had while hiking in PA:
Some people will tell you the PA rocks are a result of geology, the last ice age, etc. That is FALSE. The rocks were installed by the PA chamber of commerce in the 1950's to get future hikers to spend more time and money in the state.
The hostels in PA should start doing work for stay where they drop hikers off at the trailheads with jackhammers and come back after a few hours. After 10 or 20 years, the AT will be a nice, flat gravel path through PA.
It's all good in the woods.
If anyone needs a play by play, Rohlands website offers mile by mile pics of the entire AT. All the highlights are in there
Trail Miles: 4,992.0
AT Map 1: Completed 13-21'
Sheltowee Trace: Completed 20-23'
Pinhoti Trail: Completed 23-24'
Foothills Trail: 47.9
GSMNP900: 134.7(16.8%)
AT Map 2: 279.4
BMT: 52.7
CDT: 85.4
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
But then again, PA would be pretty boring with out the occasional nasty rocky patch. There really wouldn't be much else to talk about.
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I remember one rocky stretch south of Eagles Nest Shelter in PA year ago that went to great lengths to avoid an underground utility right of way with a dirt road that ran along the top of the ridge. The trail crossed the road on occasion and then paralleled the road in the woods over classic PA rocks until the next random crossing. The openings back into the woods were not obvious on and off the road so it would be difficult to just walk the road and skip the rocks. The PA maps at the time were poor, we had the PA AT map current at the time that was basically a copy of an older black and white USGS map with the AT shown as a thick black line with shelters on it. If you looked carefully, the base USGS map had the AT that was present when the base map was first printed. It was quite obvious that the original AT route just stuck to the ridgeline on the road and cut out the zig zagging. I also remember sections where the trail was on an very old woods road at the top of the ridge where the footing was not so bad. Anytime we started to come up on a communications tower on the ridge, the trail would take sharp turn off the ridge then parallel the ridge on the infamous rocks then promptly would go back up on the ridge once the tower was passed. My guess its a result of NPS effort to formalize and protect the AT route but after miles of rocks, diversions off of easy walking were definitely not appreciated.
Yes there is a flat, rock free service road that runs from the game commission parking lot on 183 to within a tenth of a mile of that shelter. The trail is a rocky mess in that area. When I hiked that section with a few friends, another friend of ours who has bad feet but likes to camp met us at the shelter by riding his bicycle up the service road and bushwacking a tenth of a mile through the woods using his GPS. Meanwhile we were abusing our feet on several miles of rocks.
Like most comments in this thread, perspective is key. I totally get your comments on NOBOs mindset when getting into PA.
I've been mulling it over since my original post here. I think I'm going to do this section, regardless of the footbridge situation in Harpers Ferry. I'll be coming off teaching at 4 different schools per week, with different grades and different resources each day. I have a feeling this section may still feel like a great escape and reset after this work year. Thanks y'all!!!!!
It's a cool section. The rocks got there cause the glacier stopped there and dumped the last of the rocks it carried down from Canada. Erratics they are. Erratics cause they are not products of the original geology. As you go north you'll see these erratics getting bigger. By NY they're as big as boulders. Glaciers reformed the whole north country, and you get to walk thru it, and see what they did
No section is inherently bad or good. They is what they is. And whatever you bring to it. And how you choose to react to them. I preferred to find it fun. Stepping on, over and around them is like dancing. Dancing with Mother Earth.
Real mountain folk dance with their mothers ...
L Dog
AT 2000 Miler
The Laughing Dog Blog
https://lighterpack.com/r/38fgjt
"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." - John Muir
It can be a little bumpy, but the view...
Although this is a really tame piece of trail until it goes over that cliff.
SAM_4852.jpg
Then there are climbs like this which are fun:
SAM_1700.JPG
Last edited by Slo-go'en; 02-02-2020 at 20:26.
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