Halfway

Halfway There

Over the past 3 days, we hiked over 30 miles further north into Pennsylvania. I apologize for the delay in posting, but connectivity isn't great in Pennsylvania State Parks, it seems. On Sunday, we moved to a new campground and hiked about 10 miles. It was a beautiful day to be out, for us and the millions of gnats that inhabit the area. For some unexplainable reason, the bugs absolutely love to pester me. I was spending the entire hike swatting gnats out of my eyes, so I had to break out a piece of equipment it took me 1,000+ miles to use.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

I know the bug hat is incredibly attractive. It really ups my trail appeal, I think. Even though it looks like something out of a safari movie, it does its job of keeping the bugs out of my eyes, so that's a plus. Two other interesting tidbits from Sunday were that I met a SouthBound thru-hiker from Richmond, who had just graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA. And he was a science major as an undergraduate. We chatted for a bit and I marveled at what a small, small world this is. Second was that we passed a Sanitorium/Insane Asylum on the drive back to the campground from the trail. The building was very old and gorgeous, like a mansion out of an old movie, but half of it was abandoned, so it felt a little creepy. You never know what treasures you're going to find out here.

I was expecting Jack Nicholson to show up at any moment. "Heeeeeeere's Johnny!"

On Monday, we hiked about 12 miles and officially passed the AT Midpoint, which means we are now closer to Maine than we are to Georgia. I guess that means we have to finish this thing now. The hiking was all in the woods, and mostly level and pretty easy, but I managed to find a few interesting rest stops nonetheless.

Rock climbing to a good perch.

Quarry Gap AT Shelter. I have really tried to hate this Yankee State, but I'm finding it very difficult to do. So far, everything has been beautiful, and the AT Shelters in PA are by far the nicest ones I've seen on the entire trail. This one may not look like much, but it is immaculate. All the way down to the varnished shelter floors, hanging potted plants, and checkerboard on the picnic table.

On Tuesday, we hiked about 12 more miles, through the state park where we are staying, to another state park a few miles down the road. Pine Grove Furnace State Park is the former location of an iron making furnace from the 1800s, and is very beautiful, and has several gorgeous old stone buildings preserved on it, including one which has recently been turned into an AT Hiker Museum. It's the end of the season, so not much was open, but it was very interesting regardless, and I wish we could've explored it more. We also passed the ruins of an old World War II Camp along the way, as well as several Civil War Battlefields.

Pine Grove Furnace

Overall, thirty beautiful miles of hiking, with lots of interesting things to see and tons of history surrounding us. It's very clear that Pennsylvania takes the management of these historic lands very seriously...

No Fun Lake

...and while we are here enjoying these lovely areas, we intend to take it seriously too.

Having Fun Anyway