Hello from Boiling Springs, PA. That's right...Pennsylvania!! It seems incomprehensible that we've hiked here from GA, even though we've lived through every inch of it. That we've been hiking for a full three months is another impossibility. My longest backpacking trip before this was four days! We also crossed the official halfway mark (1,094.9 miles), coincidentally on exactly the last day of our third month on the trail. Even though we've long since given up any plan or expectation for a finish date, it was nifty to observe those two milestones lining up so precisely.
We've heard that rocks abound on the PA section of the AT, but so far the trail here has been smooth and forgiving. We're now on the lowest elevation stretch of the trail, but aren't missing the views thanks to abundant flowers and wildlife. The deer are so fearless around here that seeing one standing just feet from the trail has become almost mundane. Almost...it's still pretty cool :-) Early one morning, we surprised a young buck sleeping right at the trail edge. He jumped up, moved away maybe five feet, munched some leaves, and started peeing. He looked at us as if to say, "Would you mind? I'm taking care of my morning ritual."
We're coming off trail this week for a much anticipated trip home for Shiz's son's high school graduation. It will be a whirlwind - we're literally spending two days in VT. Although we'll be sad not to connect with as many friends as we would like, we were afraid that too many days at home would make it too hard to return.
Along with the graduation, we are very much looking forward to sitting in the car and watching the miles tick by without having to move our feet :-)
- Sweet Pea
Google album link: https://goo.gl/photos/yVaQgu5Xce88YoVb8
At Jefferson Rock, outside Harpers Ferry
Crossing the Shenandoah River on our way through West Virginia
The official 2017 halfway marker
The original AT halfway marker. There is a cool story about how this bronze plaque was lost and then found decades later by a farmer digging his fields.
Nice flat trail on our way into Boiling Springs