Serious Rockclimbing

More Crawling than Climbing

Today we hiked a little over 12 miles, and it took us much longer than we expected. It took us an hour to cover the first mile of this section, because it involved crawling up a mountain of boulders on my hands and knees, which definitely made for slow going. The mountain was once the site of a zinc mine, so the whole mountainside has been deforested, and has yet to recover from years of heavy industry. But climbing the open rockfaces was definitely a change of pace from the usual PA forests. It also made for a pretty great panoramic view once we finally pulled ourselves to the top.

Mountain-woman

The zinc mines that were once here have really left their mark on the landscape, and you can still see the effects for miles along the AT. The Trail has actually been relocated in this area so that it can be reclaimed by nature. But that is a long, slow process. For now, there is very little that looks like nature in the area. Instead, it looks like something out of a post-apocalyptic horror movie.

Wastelands of the AT

We plodded along the trail one step at a time, picking our way over the boulders and rock shards and around the dead trees. We didn't make it to the pick-up point until very late afternoon today, even though we started pretty early in the morning. It was just a tough hike today. But, we capped off the evening with a very nice dinner in the local downtown. I had lambchops and a pear tart for dessert. It's always nice to mix things up out on the trail, as far as scenery and terrain is concerned. Even if all the rock climbing has definitely left me sore.

Happy Hiker