Rocky Raccoon
Rocky Balboa, the famous Sylvester Stallone movie boxer, came from Philadelphia. Then it should be no surprise that the main feature of the Pennsylvania trails we're finding are rocks. The trail is very rocky for long stretches and difficult to negotiate. One of the other hikers I met described them as bear's ears and knife edges which is pretty accurate. Bill Bryson says in his book that Pennsylvania is the place boots come to die. On this point, I guess I agree with him.
Hiking the trail here I have the Beatles Rocky Raccoon stuck in my head. This turns out to be pretty apt as you will see as you read on.
5/29 Swatara State Park to Pine Grove, PA - 13 miles
It's time to get back on the trail and for a short day. The weather is overcast and a bit foggy in the morning, but it's not supposed to rain so we should stay relatively dry.
Angelika and I set out from the trailhead. We start climbing to the crest of Blue Mountain which is a relatively short climb but steep at parts. Once we reach the crest the hiking is mostly smooth and flat with occasional rocky sections that slow progress. Angelika turns around at about 5 miles so she'll have 10 miles total for the day.
Most of the rest of the trail is unremarkable. There is a nice view just before I meet Angelika at the end of the trail even though it's still pretty overcast.
We met In Tandem and Step by Step again today. She was hiking the same section as I was and we ended the day at about the same time.
5/30 Pine Grove, PA to Port Clinton, PA - 23.5 miles
We started back at the trailhead on PA 501. It's very humid today, but not too hot. I'm hoping for an easy walk today because I have a lot of miles to do. Alas, the trail was very rough and rocky, so I looked like I was drunk most of the time as I staggered and tripped as I walked for 23 miles. It was tough going.
Angelika joined me for the first five miles so she completed ten for the day. Another good accomplishment for her.
About three miles in we crossed the 1200 mile mark. Angelika spotted the marker somebody left on her way back.
Not much further we pass by an overlook with a nice view. That's me, the guy in the hat.
After Angelika heads back, I pass by Hertlein campsite and for the second time on this trip, I miss a turn. The tree with the double blaze that indicates that the trail turns has fallen down and I don't notice it walking by since I'm so intent watching the rocks on the trail. Luckily, another hiker a little in front of me made the same mistake and I meet him coming back after he realized he wasn't on the trail anymore. We backtracked, found the turn, and got back on the right track. Thankfully, I only went an extra quarter mile or so before recovering.
Further up the trail, it passes close by the Palmerton Zinc Pile Site. Industrial pollution literally killed all the vegetation on thousands of acres of land here. It's just now starting to come back after remediation and decades of time.
Towards the end of the trail this guy guards the side trail to an overlook.
There's a steep decent down into Port Clinton that opens onto a railroad station. From here I follow some streets through town to meet up with Angelika. We're heading to a new campground tonight, but on the way out of town we stop and pick up some through hikers who need a ride to the Microtel in Hamburg. I passed these guys earlier today, but they didn't recognize me without my hat. It must be true that clothes make the man.
5/31 Port Clinton, PA to Eckville Shelter - 15 miles
Angelika drops me off back at Port Clinton. After crossing under the highway there's a steep climb to get back up on the ridge again. The trail is a mix of smooth, rocky, and wet today.
First highlight today was reaching Pulpit Rock after a fair amount of climbing. There's a good view from here and I can see The Pinnacle on the left which is my next destination. It's the weekend, so there are a lot of day hikers out today as well.
A few more miles and a little more climbing along the ridge and I reach The Pinnacle. This summit has the best views in Pennsylvania.
Curled up on the ledge just below me is a rattlesnake sunning himself. He doesn't seem to be agitated by all the people milling about, so I just snap a quick picture and leave him to work on his tan.
The Eckville Shelter is actually an old horse barn next to the caretaker's house. I was hoping to reach here before the rain started, but I didn't quite make it and got a fifteen minute shower just before arriving. There are two hikers already here when I arrive. One is a Japanese flip flopper who I passed way back at the beginning of the day. How did he get here before me? Turns out he took a short cut and bypassed several miles of the trail in order to get to the shelter before the rain. He missed Pulpit Rock and The Pinnacle that way, but he stayed dry. Everyone has their own priorities.
Even though this is a very cool shelter, it's scheduled to be torn down by the National Park Service because it's "nonconformant". I'm told it's too close to the road, so the caretaker's house and the shelter are going to be demolished. The caretaker has been living here for nearly 20 years. It seems a shame to me.
6/1 Eckville Shelter to Blue Mountain - 11.5 miles
Steve is rejoining the team today, so I'm planning a short day today to meet him at the campground.
I enjoyed some nice viewpoints along the way today. The first was at a spot known as Dan's Pulpit. The story is that avid hiker Dan used to come here to preach sermons.
A bit further up the trail is a viewpoint at Balanced Rock. There's a big rock slab here that you can teeter like a seesaw. I passed on that part, but snapped a picture of the vista on the way by.
The trail has been very rocky today, but ironically when I got to a fairly smooth section of trail I had a mishap. Since the trail was smooth I picked up the pace and wasn't paying close attention. My boot caught a rock and I went down hard face first. When I managed to get myself up, I saw a hole in the right knee of my pants and a lot of blood. I pulled over too take a close look and had a good sized cut across my knee. It didn't hurt too bad, so I tied a bandana around it and kept walking the remaining 5.5 miles to meet Angelika. When we got back to the van, she started to clean it up for me and said it looked bad and we needed to have it looked at. Long story short, the urgent care doctor put ten stitches in my knee to get everything right again.
We eventually made it back to the campground where Steve was waiting for us.
6/2 Blue Mountain to Outerbridge Shelter - 13.4 miles
Steve and I got up early and headed out with full packs for a three day excursion. Once again we had rocky footing and sections of steep ledge that had to be negotiated.
There were nice views of the Lehigh river along the way.
We arrived at the shelter fairly early and shared the site with about ten other hikers.
It's Steve's first day out this week and he's still finding his trail legs.
6/3 Outerbridge Shelter to Delps Campsite - 11.0 miles
Steve gets a head start on me in the morning. I'll catch up to him before lunch.
The first order of business is to descend down into Lehigh Valley and cross the Lehigh River over the highway bridge. Here's a view of where we're headed from a viewpoint on the way down.
The climb back out of Lehigh Valley is an insanely steep rock scramble straight up the grade. I can negotiate it alright going up, but I can't imagine trying to come down this terrain. When I finally get to the top I'm rewarded with some nice views from the open ridge.
There are some different wildflowers along the trail now. I'm seeing lots of bleeding heart and wild yellow irises along the edges of the trail.
I caught up with Steve after climbing the ridge and we proceeded along together. Along the way we also met a crazy guy and his dog heading in the opposite direction. He told us he was marching to Washington to protest the new regime. The only problem was he was walking in the wrong direction. Steve tried to egg him on, asking how his dog voted, which I thought wasn't a really smart idea. You never know what a crazy person is going to do. I guess that's why we call them crazy. We went our separate ways without further incident.
We got to the Delps Campsite and had to go down almost half a mile to get water. The trail guide said the spring was unreliable, but today it was gushing water with all the rain we've been having.
We set up camp, ate dinner, and were just about ready to climb into bed when a couple other through hikers came in and camped along side us. They apparently were clueless to the fact we were in bed trying to sleep since the woman decided to carry on a long loud telephone conversation right outside our shelters. Most hikers are pretty courteous, but these guys were just totally into themselves. I was so annoyed it took me a long time to finally get to sleep.
6/4 Delps Campsite to Wind Gap - 10.6 miles
A short day today to get off the trail tonight and take a little break at the campground. We wake up for an early start and keep things quiet so as not to disturb our campsite neighbors. Too bad they weren't as courteous to us last night.
Not much interesting to comment on the trail on the way out. We did run into a group of Cub Scouts hiking south just as we were reaching the trailhead. On of the kids looked up at me and declared, "We're hiking the Application Trail". That gave me a little chuckle.
We stopped for and early dinner and a couple of beers at a local tavern on the way back to the campground. Steve was very pleased with his cheese steak. I guess if you're near Philadelphia you have to try a cheese steak.
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