Rabid is STILL in Manchester, VT

Due to some plantar fascitis (Don't know what it is? Me either but all
I know is it means extreme foot pain like someone has taken a hammer
to the soft tissue on the bottom of your foot.), I have decided to
stay the day here in this very cool little Vermont town. I bought TWO
new pair of hiking shoes...yes, two!! I returned one after trying to
hike out of town this morning.... Got to the top of Bromley mountain
and thought the torture. Must end. Soon. Now. The new boots almost
got thrown off the mountain. But alas I remembered the $150 and they
were saved from a brutal ending and will remain in tact to torture yet
another unsuspecting hiker. I was rescued from the top of the mountain
by the fortunate coincidence of there being a ski lift, shockingly in
operation in the middle of summer, going down to the road at the
bottom and Jeff, the owner of the Green Mountain House, the
absolutely best hostel on the Appalachian Trail. So under the advice
of Jeff and Boomer, another hiker with P.F., I went to the Mountain
Goat Outfitters back in the town I had just attempted to hike out of.
Those guys are terrific (thanks Ron and Matt!) and helped me with a
new pair of trail shoes (not boots) and arch support inserts. I think
they feel like slippers. Ok, slippers with a lot of support. Ok, maybe
thats a stretch...maybe running shoe slippers. I am going to try this
hiking thing again and see if I can make it further than three miles
tomorrow. Ha.

The good thing about staying the day here is that I get to hike with
Safari again. Safari, you can run...but you can't hide. I caught you!
Again! But Timber unfortunately got away. Due to a COMPLETELY
UNREALISTIC hiking schedule, that's right...There. I said it. Yeah, a
completely unrealistic hiking schedule, and the amount of pain my foot
has been in lately, I don't think I will be able to catch her again.
She is meeting her boyfriend who is going to hike the last month with
her, so she was having to do really large days to meet him on time.
Goodbye Timber! Have a great hike! I miss you already.

It is truly amazing how close friends you become with people on the
trail. Life on a trail is like a condensed lifetime. A week feels like
months and months feel like an eternity. You can spend a few days with
someone and feel like you truly have a friend for life.

Mile 1634.4

Second day of 21+ miles and last night I was too pooped to post
anything (actually I did not have service where I was camped
anyway...or here either for that matter). Speaking of poop, I saw my
first moose poop on the trail yesterday. Moose poop is very
interesting because it looks like a pile of little chocolatey robin
eggs. They kind of look like some kind of Easter candy, but made of
poop. Yes, I just wrote a paragraph and used some form of the the word
poop six times.

I also had the unfortunate experience of pretty much running out of
food today. We are going into Manchester Center tomorrow so I
certainly am not going to starve, but I definitely ran low on energy
today, and had to ration out what was left in the food bag. I knew
everyone else was running low on food when I noticed the ridiculous
"lunch" we were all having. Let's see.... I was having, "put
everything I have left in one of my last tortillas and roll it up"...
which consisted of some peanut butter, the last of my granola, some
m&m's, and topped off with honey. Timber had some squished cheese on a
bagel with ketchup, and my favorite...Safari was eating a sandwich
filled with peanut butter and combo's. You just never know what kind
of crazy stuff a hiker will eat (answer...just about anything...
especially right now!).

We climbed up and over Stratton mountain today. We gained over 1800'
in elevation to turn around and drop back down to below where we
started. Vermont (or Vermud as we have come to say.... frequently) is
beautiful. On these larger climbs, we enter the odoriferous spruce/fir
forest with the blanket of soft pine needles covering ground. I think
Vermont has been one of my favorite sections so far. It just gets
better every day.

I have never been to Vermont...

...until today! This afternoon after about 14 miles of hiking, we
finally crossed the MA/VT border. Frankly, it looks a lot like
Massachusetts. However, it is beautiful, full of white birches, firs,
and spruces. Oh and very big mountains.
We are getting back into the longer climbs and higher elevation
mountains. Only 589 miles of bigger and bigger mountains to go. Wow.
It's hard to believe with just a few miles here and a few miles there
that you can actually walk to Maine. Or at least VERMONT!

The weather was so nice today. It was probably high 70's and breezy
with passing clouds. It really was perfect hiking weather. It is so
chilly right now, I am actually wearing my down jacket. It's been a
while since I was using it for more than my pillow. Of course now I
have no pillow. Hopefully I will come up with something other than the
stuff sack full of smelly socks. Even the clean socks smell like dirty
socks. Yes I know. It's really something.

Vermont is very muddy. We have had an extraordinary amount of rain
lately. We are beginning to pass a few sobo's and they said not only
is water not an issue here, but that half the time the trail IS a
water source. Today we passed some hikers doing the Long Trail (105
miles of the A.T. are concurrent with the LT), and they said "Welcome
to Vermud". Huh. We had never heard about this notorious mud problem.
My legs, socks, and boots look like I lost a fight with a bucket of
tar. The mud here is black as night. Who knew? I has no idea I could
actually get dirtier than I usually do.

Unexpected surprises!

This post is dedicated to Dick and Marge Saari, affectionately now
known as Houdini and Gingersnap. We gave them trail names for their
amazing trail "Magic" and scrumptious homeade gingersnap cookies.
These two wonderful people are Safari's parents. Not only did they
invite Timber and I to tag along, bought us wonderful meals, put us up
in the same hotel as they were staying, but also "slackpacked" us two
days, up and over Mount Greylock, the highest peak in Massachusetts.
Thank you both for a wonderful time! You both are just delightful.

Today was a terrific hike up Greylock. It was cool, windy, and partly
cloudy. It also helped that all I had was a bottle of water stuck in
my pocket. We absolutely flew up that mountain. Actually, we covered
over 16 miles in 6 hours. We even had an ice cream cone, right on the
trail, as we hiked through the town of Cheshire. By the time we got up
to the peak, it was getting very overcast and dark. We went inside the
Bascom Lodge for lunch and it began to rain. A cold rain. A cold windy
rain. We were not thrilled about finishing our 20 mile day in that. We
only had 3 miles left so we decided to stay in the hostel here in the
lodge instead. What a pleasure to watch rain from indoors, with all
your gear completely dry. My pack and boots are still wet from the day
before yesterday's hike in the all day rain. So yes, Rabid, Marge, and
Lefty are all thrilled to be dry. Once again, the universe has
provided everything I could possibly need.

A river runs through it...

The trail, that is.

Remember how just yesterday I said it was the most perfect day on the
trail? Well, today was not. I really cannot complain, because lately
the weather has been terrific. But today? Not so much. Timber and I
hiked 18.7 miles in 7 1/2 hours. This was due to the fact it was
pouring, we were freezing, and we were making a serious effort for the
October Mountain shelter. I have often commented to myself how well
the trail has been maintained up to this point... (Thank you trail
maintainers for spending countless hours doing such hard work!)
until...Massachusetts. The trail today was really overgrown with
briars and tall wet grasses. It was like walking uphill through a
carwash...with thorns. So in a nutshell, today was the antithesis of
yesterday. I knew it was coming, too. Yesterday was TOO nice.

That's okay. I am in dry clothes in the shelter and beginning to warm
up. Everything is hanging from nails, dripping all over the place.
Once again, a soggy hiker explosion of various dirty socks, wet
shorts, and dripping gear. I was so cold when I got here, that I
immediately arranged to have my cold weather gear and clothing sent
back to me next week in Vermont...a week or so earlier than I
anticipated having it sent. I am quite sure that as soon as I have
baselayers, heavy fleece, gloves, hats, and a winter bag, it will be
in the 90's again. Thanks mom!

"Town day"

The day a hiker goes to town can be equated to a 9-5er's Friday.
Unlike the dreaded day you leave town, which means always among other
things, your pack is heavy. Very heavy. In fact, the heaviest it will
weigh until the next town day....fully loaded with probably too much
food, possibly even leftover pizza from last nights' delivery...and
lately, as much water as you could possibly carry.

Regardless of how many days it has been since the last "town day", it
brings great joy to know that town food awaits you, as well as a
shower (possibly); and that clean clothes may be in your future as
well (cleaner anyway). Of course food is always the main
motivator...exciting food basically consists of anything someone else
makes, that is not in your food bag. But resupplying your food is what
MAKES you have to go to town in the first place. Of course there are
the hardcore people that go in, get what they need done and hike back
out the same day. Uh, yeah...that usually doesn't happen here. The
promise of clean sheets and a pillow typically lure us into a "nero"
here and there. A nero means nearly zero. Although, a lot of the time
we do big days to get into town. My personal definition is anything
less than 10 miles. We hiked a fairly strenuous 13 into Great
Barrington yesterday, and spent the night in town. It was a cool
little city with a great market and a nice little hotel. We are now
camped 18 miles away with Great Barrington being only a distant memory.

Also, today was by far, the closest thing to a perfect day on the
trail as I have seen. Especially the weather. Today was cooler, like
maybe 75 or 80, breezy, and low humidity. It was absolutely
spectacular! We also had a scenic day here on the trail in MA, with
some rocky outcroppings, a walk by a river, and the pond. The pond was
the highlight...a gorgeous breezy lake, nestled in between two
mountains, surrounded by ferns and white birches, with some smooth
rocks perfect for stretching out on and taking a relaxing break. Today
was an amazing day on the Appalachian trail, at least for Rabid,
shared with good friends.

Mile 1498.2

Yep that's right ladies and gents...we actually stopped short today of
rolling over the ol' 1500 mile mark. However, we did cross the
Massachusetts border shortly before throwing down the packs for the
day. It was a great day...some climbs, some rivers, a few short
breezes, a couple of milestones, a nice waterfall this morning...
Yes. Imagine that. A waterfall leaving the town of Falls Village. None
of us even thought to look for a waterfall and there it was.

I have to say, Connecticut was a beautiful section of trail.
Absolutely one of my favorite, although one of the shortest. I am
looking forward to seeing what Mass has to throw at us in the upcoming
week. We will be hiking into the town of Great Barrington tommorow
afternoon. It certainly sounds majestic, doesn't it? I will be
thrilled if it has a shower somewhere and a grocery store. Ok, and a
laundromat.

Falls Village, CT

Some days you just never know where you will end up. Right now, I am
waiting for the inevitable rain to accompany the heavy thundering
going on over my head. Believe it or not, I am camped in the yard of a
toymaker in the tiny town of Falls Village, CT. He allows hikers to
tent on the property, order pizza from the local delivery restaurant,
and use his spigot for water. Thank you so very much Greg! However, I
am still waiting for my lesson in toymaking. I did, however, have a
most excellent spinach, tomato, and (REAL, NOT CANNED...for the first
time on the trail) mushroom calzone. Mmmmm.

In fact, this post is dedicated to all the trail angels on this
incredible journey. There have been countless gallon jugs of water
left by road crossings in areas where streams and springs have run
dry. Thank you very much bringers of magical water! And then there is
Gene. The trail angel from Bear Mountain. He not only picked us up a
while back, from 15 miles away, but brought us back to the trail the
next morning. He would not accept a single penny for gas money. Thank
you Gene, a true trail "magician".

Of course today had it's own unique set of challenges. We keep looking
at the profile in our books each day and the trail "appears" tame...on
paper. In reality with the heat, the humidity, the incessant bug
activity, and the constant elevation loss and gain of 200-1000', we
are all completely zonked every day. We keep asking ourselves what
it's going to be like in only a couple of weeks, when the elevation
loss and gain is more like 3,000-4,000'? Is it fall yet? When is
annoying no-seeum, mosquito, horse and deer fly season over????Huh???
When? When?
And then there was "the bridge". Ok. So the trail had a "recommended
reroute" on a few busy roads and highways that added a mile to the
day. They are rebuilding the bridge over the Housatonic river.
(Doesn't that sound like a mixed drink?) Anyway, it's only a one lane
bridge with zero shoulder that the cars take turns via traffic light
to cross. So yes, I will admit we were being lazy and did not want to
take the fancy new... turn here on this road, and turn there on this
road...reroute. We thought we were being "old school" by taking the
original white blazed A.T. Well, we couldn't get across the bridge.
So while traffic going our way was stopped at the red light, I asked
this guy in a pickup if he would take us across the bridge in the back
of his truck. He said no problem (he had Maine tags of
course...Connecticans don't seem to like us smelly hobos all that
much..but that is another whole can of worms...) and he dropped us off
at the other end. So a long story, even longer, we are officially
"yellow-blazers"! This of course being a much dreaded term, an insult
if you will, meaning that you "skipped" a section of trail by hitch-
hiking north. Even though it was only 100', we joke around and call
eachother "yellowblazer" and "section- hiker" now. Ha.

Connecticut!

State number ten! So far, Connecticut has been lovely. Today was a
good day despite the high 90 degree temps. There were some scenic
rocky overlooks and a nice big river. The river was extremely low but
very wide and still deep enough to get in and cool off. We took a
side road to a market....a mile long side road. Yep. We were
motivated by extreme hiker hunger and thirst, alright!?! Dont mock
me! You would have done the same thing. Although they were a DOLLAR
each, I feasted on bananas and blueberry muffins. And chips. And
orange juice...ok so I had a Gatorade and a Mountain Dew as well. Oh,
and a nutty buddy ice cream bar. Ok? So there. Then we had a 1,000'
climb and I almost threw up.

Tomorrow we will be hiking into Kent, CT to resupply. We are not
staying there, just passing through. We are trying to maintain our
average of 18-20 miles per day. We have been talking all day about how
close we are to the Whites. Apparently, the average mileage plummets
when you hit New Hampshire for all the huge steep mountains...even
Vermont, too. We are trying to take advantage of the moderate terrain
here in CT and MA and step up our miles... or just see how well we can
torture ourselves. I don't really know what I'm talking about...we
barely made it 18 today. Town got us.

"The day that will no longer be mentioned"

I am sitting in my tent listening to a thunderstorm. It's just one if
those pop up types...probably will not rain long enough to say...fill
all the dry creeks we keep hiking past. Today was sweltering. Between
the high heat and humidity, I felt like I was ready to pass out. It's
amazing how it can zap your energy. On the positive side, we found a
lake in the middle of the day. Of course it was called "Nuclear Lake"
and we found out later it was the site of a nuclear plant, but it was
still refreshing and nobody seems to be glowing. Around here you just
never know about the water. Several places have these old timey well
pumps, but every one we found had a note on it that ecoli had been
found in the water. Really? Even the well water is bad?

So, poor Safari is the one with the complete gear malfunction today. I
can totally empathize of course. His water reservoir started peeling
apart and when he pulled out his spare, it had a leak in it, which got
his backpack all wet. His food bag fell from the bear rope this
morning breaking the line and splitting the bag when it hit the
ground. And, yes there's more, he bent his trekking pole AND lost one
of the baskets. Because we all were having such a hard day, we now
refer to today as "The day that will no longer be mentioned" and we
have already planned tomorrow which amazingly includes a hike right by
a fruit stand! We are all very VERY excited.

Yes my pack still feels heavy but I don't know why

I hiked 19 miles today to the RPH shelter in NY. Today was cloudy,
unlike yesterday, which was stormy...all day....which made it much
cooler. They said it was 91, but fortunately it did not really feel
like it. When you're outside all the time, you really get used to it.
When I go inside places with air conditioning I now freeze to death.
Especially when covered in sweat...oh excuse me, the p.c. term is
perspiration. I don't perspire, I sweat. A lot.

I never shared this before, but back in Rocksylvania, I ordered a
Tarptent and had it shipped to Port Clinton, and shipped home the
tent. That night in the town pavillion was the first time I set it up
and slept in it. They are a little finicky and take a while to tweak
the guylines here and there to the point where it is functioning
properly. Just tonight, maybe three weeks later(?), I feel like I have
the process down. Night before last was the first night it rained
really hard and I got to see how it would hold up in a storm. Besides
the fact that the seams do NOT come seam-sealed which I don't
understand, but that is another matter I won't get in to, I was mostly
pleased with it's performance. During the storm it was fine, but after
the evening rain, staying wet all night, and more rain in the morning,
it began to mist a little inside. (Not incredibly surprising being
single- walled syl-nylon and all.) When the heavy drops fell on the
taut material it sprayed a little water inside the tent. I miss the
space of the Big Agnes, but I do not miss the extra 3.5 lbs. The
Tarptent is 24oz. Yep that's right a pound and a half. It has no
poles, it uses a single trekking pole. I love it when gear performs
more than one function. I have not been able to weigh my pack lately
but I am figuring it to be around 17 lbs without food or water. I have
sent home just about everything that wasn't being used every day. So,
I decided to make another list of everything in my pack.

Gregory Jade 50 backpack
Tarptent
Big Agnes insulated air core pad
Thermarest tech blanket
Sea to Summit silk liner
2 short sleeve shirts
I long sleeve shirt
2 pair socks
1 pair sock liners
Legs from my zip-off pants
Montbell down jacket
Camelbak 100oz reservoir
Princeton tec headlamp
50' paracord
15L dry sack for food
3L Nalgene canteen
Sea to Summit x-mug
Sea to Summit UL spoon
Notebook and 1 pen, 1 pencil
AMK .7 UL first aid kit
Ziploc with TP and hand sanitizer
Ben's 100% deet
Aqua Mira
iPhone and battery charger
Useless pack cover
Useless UL rain jacket

Pretty slim pickin's, eh? I have absolutely nothing in there I don't
use every day. I even sent my B.A. Ultralight chair kit home. That was
the last luxury item to go. There is no time to sit around anyway.
When I get to camp, it's all I can do to stay awake long enough to
write this, let alone laze around goofing off in a chair. So with
that...I will bid you all goodnight.

Rainy day in NY

What an interesting day on the trail today. About halfway through the
day, we were all huffing and puffing up our second large climb of the
day when we reach the summit of Bear Mountain. It was a lovely
mountain complete with three vending machines on top....two soda
machines and a Pringles machine. Yep, even Pringles got in on the
vending machine business. We realized that instead of enjoying the
nice view from the top of the mountain that we just climbed, we were
all lounged out in the middle of the pavement in front of the vending
machines. (Of course we all went over to the viewpoint and oooohed and
aaaahhed because you could see the New York skyline...sort of.) It
was pretty funny when I looked over and Safari was curled up on the
ground in front of the Pringles machine nursing his fourth Powerade.
Another interesting part of today's journey was the fact that the
trail went right through the middle of the Bear Mountain Zoo. Although
I am not a fan of animals in cages, I still thought it was something
different and entertaining...even in the pouring rain. It was still
pouring when four of us crossed the Bear Mountain bridge over the
Hudson river. That is another very very long bridge. I noticed that it
had signs about how life was worth living with hotline numbers for
help. Needless to say, it was also a very tall bridge.

Speaking of walking along, near, or across the many super busy roads
of the Northeast, we also did the hiker equivalent of "Frogger" on the
Palisades Interstate Parkway this morning. All I can say is running
across a divided highway during the morning rush hour commute will get
your butt moving...fast. If you didn't get my Frogger reference, you
are too young and you missed out on one of Atari's best low-tech video
games ever.

So I am camped in a monastery ballfield at mile marker 1399.7. The
monks are kind enough to let hikers tent in their nice ballfield and
use their water spigot. As nice as it is to have spigots nearly
everywhere on this part of the trail, the water around here tastes
terrible. We all have become water snobs and I am pretty certain that
the water from the springs in Georgia tastes the best.

Lemon Squeezer

What a difference a state can make. New York has varied terrain with a
lot of ridges and mountains of nothing but huge boulders. We did more
climbing today than walking. Seriously. I am absolutely pooped. 19
miles of rock climbing. We climbed through something called the
"lemon squeezer" which as the name implies, is a skinny little slot
canyon. If my pack had been one millimeter wider, I would have been
wedged.

We did have a nice long break at the lake in Harriman S.P. It was a
great place to sit at the picnic tables and eat dinner. Plus they had
vending machines. It's just shocking how excited you can get over a
cold drink. The "beach" area they had roped off for swimmers was like
an aquarium full of kids hyped up on too much sugary soda screaming
their heads off. So needless to say, I chose to skip the swim. It was
getting cloudy like it might rain anyway.

We have all been commenting on how we have lost our big mountain
climbing leg muscles. Since the northern part of Virginia, the
elevation losses and gains have been minimal, but the terrain has been
more difficult for the feet because of all the rocks. Now, it's rocky
and getting steeper so we are all feeling the difference. I am more
tired today than I have been in a long time. It's okay though,
because we all know we need those muscles back for what's in store in
the days ahead.

Hello New York!

Good news on all accounts. First of all, last night and today have
been a hiker reunion of sorts. I was hiking with Ace yesterday, caught
back up with Safari and Timber, and then caught back up with Supermax
and Fig! I have not seen them since Tennessee. What a sureal day
hiking with people from all different parts of my hike! It was great
seeing everyone again. In fact, we all saw many other hikers that we
had not seen in a while, it was the most hikers I have seen on the
trail in a long time. Just after lunch time, we all crossed the New
York state line together.

Another exciting part of the day was due to the fact that there is not
a whole lot of stuff going on in the towns surrounding the trail
around here... except dairy cattle grazing. And where there is dairy
cattle grazing there is dairy. And where there is dairy, there is ICE
CREAM. Yep, two miles before the Wildcat camping area, our
destination for the night, was Bellvale Creamery. I ate the biggest
mound of ice cream I could get my grubby paws on. It was soooooo good.

Goodbye Unionville

This has been a very interesting day and a half to say the least. I
have had too many unusual experiences to even put them into words. I
have been at the "Mayor's House" in Unionville, NY. Dick Ludwig is not
still the mayor, but a wonderful man that opens his home to hikers.
With the help of Butch, who runs this unique hostel, and 82 year old
Bill, an eccentric man who does the cooking, this place provides
everything a weary hiker could need. Safari and Timber hiked out
yesterday morning, but I stayed on. I already miss them and hope to
catch them someday. I found my old friend Ace, who is recuperating
here from Lyme Disease. She is planning to hike out today, and not
knowing if there is anyone behind me that could keep an eye on her, I
decided to wait until she is ready to leave and hike with her. Before
she was diagnosed, she collapsed on the trail and Butch picked her up
and took her to the doctor. She is one of about a dozen people I have
heard that have gotten Lymes since beginning the trail. The county
with the highest percentage of Lymes is Dutchess, just across the
Hudson river and a day or so away. It's time to pull out the 100%
deet. I don't like using it and have only been annoyed enough to pull
it out and sparingly spray it a couple of times. Hearing about all
these hikers getting Lymes has inspired me to be a little more cautious.
Another interesting aspect of being here at this particular time is
being here with Bulldog (Mike Hanson the blind Appalachian trail thru-
hiker) and his cameraman Hitchcock. I have really enjoyed being here
with them, getting to know them better, and watching some of the
incredible footage of Mike accending Lehigh Gap (the mountain of
boulders sometimes called Dante's Inferno). I know I will not always
remember, but I can truely complain about nothing.

Although it is raining heavily now, I must pack my stuff and head out.
Katahdin calls my name. Until next time...

"Yo bear!"

Yesterday, I was able to confirm the rumors that there was in fact a
blind guy hiking the trail this year. I met him with his...cameraman.
That's right they're making a movie. He said he had only fallen six
times. Heck, I have fallen more than that. In fact, this guy has
ultimately changed my entire attitude about this hike. So many things
seem really petty when you know there is someone out there doing this
completely blind. Amazing. This is what got me in a better mood this
morning when I realized my Camelbak has a leak in it and drained
almost all my water inside my pack and all over the bottom of my tent.
Fortunately, the sun was out in blazing form and I was able to spread
everything out and dry all my stuff thoroughly. I was, however, very
dehydrated for half the day because all the water sources are drying
up. My book said I would cross two creeks today...the first was a mud
puddle and the second did not even exsist. It was just a pile of
rocks. So needless to say, when the trail crossed Culvers Gap and
Gyp's Tavern loomed in the distance, I went and sucked up some air
conditioning...for five hours.

You know how I have mentioned seeing all kinds of tree trunks that
look like bears? Today I saw a huge backpack sitting in the middle of
the trail. I was wondering who's it was when it got up and ran away.
It didn't go too far...just off the trail a bit so it could sit and
eye my backpack full of delicious thru-hiker food (ha). Near that
very spot, another hiker said he was awakened this morning by that
very bear stealing his pack from UNDER HIS HEAD! wow. He said all he
could say was, you guessed it..."Yo bear!". I think I would have had a
few more choice things to say about that.

Hello New Jersey!

I spent a hot and humid night last night camped at the Church of the
Mountain Hostel in Delaware Water Gap, PA... yes, my last night in
Pennsylvania. So far, Jersey has mostly been a nice, less rocky ridge
walk with the exception of the 98 degree super humid day. I thought I
might just melt today. A small victory was claimed this afternoon as
the 1300 mile marker was passed. I have to say though, crossing the
Delaware river this morning, mere feet away from I-80 was a
frightening awakening to the day. The screaming 18 wheelers careening
by at 65-80 miles an hour was something I will not soon forget. I
swear that bridge was a half a mile long as well.
Today we also hiked to the Mohican Outdoor Center where we paid an
extraordinary sum of money for a mediocre egg salad sandwich with a
few chips thrown in for good measure. Apparently, in this kind of
extreme heat and drought, a dollar becomes a great deal for a cold
soda...excuse me, I mean a pop. But at least it was a nice place to
cool off for a few minutes and fill all our empty, dusty water bottles.
Another cool thing about this area that I had no idea about is the
abundant use of the word "you's", as in, "Hey, how're you's doin'?" I
love it! I just do not hear stuff like that! Don't get me wrong, I
have been up this way a time or two, but I don't think I participated
in many conversations with people in a day to day kind of way. I
guess you could say, I am more used to hearing "y'all". Anyway, that
is one of the things I love about this journey.... experiencing places
that at times can feel completely foreign.

Sunfish Pond

"Osma must die"

The day started off well with an easy hitch back to the trail from
Slatington. We immediately started to climb the mountain of boulders
affectionately known as "Dante's Inferno". There was some graffiti
painted on some of the larger rocks at the top including the title of
today's post as well as a giant spray painted American flag. How
ironic to see that on the fourth of July. It's always so funny to see
how much graffiti is misspelled.

As soon as we began the climb (literally), we saw some firefighters
standing around in the middle of the trail. They were looking for a
fire that we had actually seen from the bridge in town. We hiked with
them for a while and we were excited at the prospect of being a part
of the operation. But alas, they found the fire a good distance away
from the trail so we continued on up the mountain. It was brutally hot
already, and it was only 8am.
It has been hot...like high 90's-100 degrees the past couple of days.
It's supposed to get even hotter and unfortunately dryer. The springs
have been dry when we try to find them and all the hikers have been
forced to carry a lot more water than some of them are used to. I
always start out with 3 liters because I slurp it down so quickly. Now
I have added a fourth and I still run out. I never thought I would be
wishing for rain. Ha.

Oops...the text did not show up with the picture

Fourth of July weekend, eh?  I would have had no idea except for the multitude of dayhikers and local loafers at trailheads I hiked by today. There were a couple of view points accessible by short sidetrails that were packed, make that infested, with kids, families, and teenage hooligans. Don't you just love that word?  Hooligans!  Yeah, yeah I was once one if those too.  Anyway, it's amazing how the quiet peaceful woods change on a holiday weekend.

So let's get back to these rocks. Yes, more rocks today. Mostly huge slanty ones that you had to crawl sideways over...for seventeen something miles.  Yep. Today wore me flat out. It's only 8pm and I will probably be asleep in less than an hour.
Tomorrow we are stopping in Slatington and/or Walnutport PA for a resupply. Who comes up with these names anyway? We have chosen to skip Palmerton, PA...where hikers are permitted to sleep in the jail for one night. I am really disappointed I am going to miss that one.

Welcome to the A.T. In Pennsylvania!

Just another day in Pennsylvania...

Today's post is dedicated to power line cuts. These are interesting
swaths of land that allow you to see in both directions, left and
right, for as far as the eye can see sometimes. It is amazing to me
how you can leave a dark, cool (ok, cool-ish) tunnel of green
deciduous trees and enter a really hot, bright, sunny space filled
with what most people would term "weeds" that grow only in disturbed
areas because somebody has come through and wacked down every tree in
a line...for miles. Of course this is usually a great place to pick
blackberries and such. Sometimes you can follow the power line with
your eyes up an over several mountains. Pennsylvania, like Virginia,
has alot of these. Did I mention Pennsylvania has a lot of rocks?

So again, another successful day on the trail without poison ivy rash.
The new boots seemed to do well today...no new hot spots. Although
having bought boots TWO sizes bigger than my last pair REALLY make
them look like Sideshow Bob shoes. I now have the biggest women's feet
I have ever seen.