The North...

It's been a long time since I've been up north. The past week I have officially crossed over the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania! That puts 6 states and over 1100 miles of trail behind me. I've ran into a lot of good people already and 3 days in a row i never had to cook lunch. Whether it was eating the leftovers of 2 different bbq's at PenMar Park, or the Zimmerman family doing there annual hiker feed at Caledonia. A ton of good people and a ton of free food. One lady even gave us a whole birthday cake! Haha. After 5 rounds of burgers, hot dogs and potato salad it was all we could do to scarf down half of it.

The first night out of Harpers Ferry I ran into a terrible storm. It came on so fast I barely had time to set my shelter up. 60 mph winds and constant lightning striking all around me. I was camped in a designated tent site which I hardly ever do. And for good reason. The platforms the PATC makes turns into a bathtub and after 40 minutes of I was already lying in 1 inch of water. It only got worse from there and the wind blew so hard it ripped one of my stakes right out of the ground. After fixing that I put everything that couldn't get wet (maps, electronics, clothes) in my sleeping bag and hoped I could stay dry enough to sleep. Luckily the storm only lasted about 3 hours and was calm the rest of the evening. Apparently the storm knocked out power to over 1 million people on the eastern seaboard so I'm just lucky to get out unscathed except for some wet gear.

It's late and I'm exhausted after hoofing out 21 miles and not gettin in the trail until after 12:30 in the afternoon. The sun in the Cumberland Valley was absolutely relentless and I don't think I've ever sweat so much before in my life. Take a look at a weeks worth of pictures and enjoy friends.

I'm in Duncannon, PA right now and I've had a few very different & memorable experiences in these PA towns. One guy in Boiling Springs, where they DO NOT like us smelly hikers coming through town, slowed down while I was walking from the gas station to honk at me and give me the finger. I hope it made him feel a lot better. After this sandwich at Road Hawgs BBQ I'm gonna hit the trail and get back to the rocks.