Hawk Mountain Rd 1235.1 to Dan’s Spring Campsite 1239.3 (4.2 miles, 213.9 total miles)
This morning I slept in till 8:30am, which is rather impressively late for me these days. It was my last night in the king bed I’d been treated to, and it was hard to get out of.
Michele, Ray, and I all gathered in the living room for coffee around 9 or so, while the remaining episodes of Quantum Leap played in the background. I am determined to watch that show all the way through when I’m done with the trail.
They are both so easy to talk to, and we spent a couple hours talking about all sorts of things pertaining to the trail, life, family, pets, and more. I soaked my feet and ankles in an epsom bath one more time, at Michele’s stellar suggestion.
They then made me an awesome lunch of air fried chicken, broccoli, and a dish from the block party last night called haluska. It is another Polish food made from thick pieces of homemade noodles and cabbage sautéed in butter. It was heavenly.
After eating, we all looked around the table at each other for a moment, sad faces all around that our time together was over. Ray was taking me back to the trail, so Michele and I shared a big hug and said our goodbyes.
I asked her if there was anything I could do to repay their kindness, other than doing my best to pay it forward. Michele said what I could do was finish the trail, keep writing as I go, and if I’m ever back in the PA area make sure I look them up. I said I would do all three.
I took a last look at the house as we drove down the driveway, seeing the pups watch us out the window. I felt completely renewed as a person, both physically and, most crucially, mentally. It hurt my heart that it was over, but my time there felt like the best last day of summer vacation ever, and it also felt like spending time with family.
Ray and I had worked in different departments as coworkers about five years ago. Getting to know him and his wife so well was a completely unexpected, wonderful experience that was a direct result of taking this journey on the trail. When I complete the whole thing, their contribution will have been absolutely key in my success.
Ray and I made a quick stop first at the Salvation Army in Pottsville. There, I picked up (don’t tell the Eckville Shelter caretaker) a book. It’s called In a Dark, Dark Wood, and one of the reviews says don’t read it if you’re in a dark wood. I like to live on the edge, though. Clearly.
The thing with books is I used to carry them last time on the trail, but they are heavy. I do have e-books and audiobooks on my phone, but after running out of charge on my battery block before the 501 Shelter, I have been trying to be more careful with my phone battery.
The other thing is that I am going to try to reduce my mileage after I did so much on the first two weeks of the trail. I am well ahead of where I thought I was going to be, so I can take my time with the last 60 miles of PA. My body needs to build its strength in a sustainable way,.
However, one thing I noticed was that I started doing the big miles right after I got really bored spending hours and hours at the Tumbling Run Shelters. That was also what Lightyear and Margaritaville had said, that because it can be so boring in camp it’s easy to push too hard. They were obviously very right, so I figure if I have a book to entertain me, I might be able to reign in the miles a little better.
From there, we went to the Cabela’s in Hamburg, because I wanted to look into possibly getting new shoes. I had gone back and forth about this, not sure if the foot pain is from the minimalist zero drop shoes that I was wearing, or just the rocks in all the miles I was doing.
The Cabela’s was really cool, it basically had a museum inside with taxidermied animals displayed all about. However, their footwear selection left much to be desired.
I asked an associate to help, and I’m still not entirely convinced he knew what thru hiking is, even though he was working at an outlet just miles off the trail. Cabelas also did not have any Altras or Hokas in stock, which according to The Trek are the two most commonly used shoe brands for thru hikers.
I tried on a few pairs of Merrill‘s, but even though they felt more supportive on my feet, I didn’t know anything about them and so didn’t feel comfortable to switch out my shoes in that position. It was a far cry from REI, where I usually go.
The two times I went to REI to get equipment for my hike, the first person who helped me was about to go hike the PCT in a month, and the second person had done the whole Appalachian Trail a couple years back.
REI is much more versed in what I need, and until I can find an outfitter or get to the REI in Connecticut to swap shoes, I think the smartest move right now is to stick with what I have and what has already gotten me through 200 miles in Pennsylvania.
It was raining a little as we drove the few miles back to the trail, but but I had avoided the worst of the weather yesterday and earlier today. I said my goodbyes to Ray, and it was bittersweet because I was going back to the trail that I’m here to hike, but it was sad that such a nice time was over.
I crossed the road, and went back into the woods. Just a very short way in, I saw a tiny little fawn and its mother right off the trail. I got a good video of them before they ran away, it was the second baby deer I had seen in just a couple days. Which reminds me, I saw my second fox ever at Ray and Michele‘s house earlier today around lunchtime. We saw it was running through the backyard.
I was planning on going about 7 or 8 miles to the first shelter up the way. It was about 2:30 when I got on the trail, and I really took my time as I hiked. It was the trail that I loved again, coming back to it with a renewed sense of wonder and happiness to be there.
After the rain, everything was lush and green and beautiful, and I had about 2 miles uphill to go to start the day. I hiked very slow and delicately, feeling out my legs, ankles, and knees to see how they were doing after the rest.
By the time I got to the ridge, it had been over an hour, so I was hiking already under a 2 mph pace. The issue I was having both from the other day and today, was my extremely full food bag.
Because Ray and Michele had been feeding me so well the last day or two, I really hadn’t eaten anything in my food bag. There is at least six or so days of food in there, and at 1.5-2 pounds per day, my bag was very full and heavy. My base weight is 16 pounds, but I was carrying at least 28 with food and water according to their scale before I left today.
When there’s only about three days of food in my bag, it doesn’t feel like I’m really carrying anything at all. But with 28 pounds on my back, my joints and shoulders were really feeling it.
At the top of the ridge another mile or so in, there was a lookout called Dan’s Pulpit. I had promised myself that when I got there I would take off my pack and give myself a minute to rest and take in the view. I had made a lot of those promises to myself on the trail that I had broken frequently in the last couple weeks. I decided it would be important to start keeping these promises to myself as part of my renewed hiking style.
I drank a Gatorade Zero with protein in it that I had packed out, and had some trail mix while I looked at the beautiful view. It had stopped raining about three minutes into my hike, and the sun had come out pretty early on so it was absolutely gorgeous.
The trail has become a little rocky before the view, and I could see the rocks were definitely continuing after the view. I didn’t want to be rolling into camp again around 7-7:30 at night, so I knew I was running out of time.
I decided I would listen to my body, which was struggling with the weight I was carrying, and try to hit one of the tent sites before the shelter. After the other night, all I wanted to do was stay in my tent anyway and not have to worry about if a shelter was full or not. Or if I was disrupting peoples’ evenings by coming in so late.
The rocks continued on in a major way, and I saw several overnight hikers coming through southbound as well. Because there were so many rocks, we had to take turns of who could come from which direction first.
Some of the rocks were huge boulders, that took several steps to traverse, and sometimes the path was just strewn with small rocks that you couldn’t really step around. Going along, it became necessary to bend my ankles in all sorts of ways and step on pointy pieces of rock repeatedly. My right ankle was starting to bother me, and I had already heard the rocks get pretty significant further north from where I was.
I was aiming for a campsite that is right near a place called Dan’s Spring. At first I had thought I found the campsite when I saw one with a random blue blaze. There was a fire pit full of trash, which made me really sad that I didn’t have anything to pack it all out.
I checked my guide, and I saw that the spring was still .6 away. So I kept walking across more and more rocks, until I did find a much larger tent site with the side trail to the spring.
I wouldn’t have to collect water till the morning, so I went to set up my tent. I had already read that there were a lot of dead trees in this area. However, I didn’t think trying to hike another 4 miles with my heavy pack so late in the day was going to be the best idea at this point.
So I spent a while, probably 15 or 20 minutes, checking out the area and seeing what looked like the safest spot to tent. I knew there wasn’t going to be any wind or rain tonight, and I tried to set up my tent in an area where there were healthy trees all around.
It was my first night camping entirely alone. As I set up my tent, cooked, and ate dinner by myself, I didn’t really feel lonely or anything because my social batteries were fully charged from spending so much lovely time with Ray and Michele.
I also figured it’s a rite of passage to camp by myself. It’s something I never would’ve been able to do before, not even just a few weeks ago. Spending so much time in the woods, though, has made me feel more confident and capable to have that sort of independent experience.
Tomorrow I plan to do 13 miles to Bake Oven Knob Shelter. Or even a little less, depending on how I feel. I’m not upset that I only did a little over 4 miles today. I’m more proud of myself for reigning myself in, and doing my best to learn how to listen to my body, develop moderation and find the longevity that I will need to complete another 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail this season.