Turn Your Troubles into Blessings
August 27, 2016
“Let’s go to Guido’s at Rt. 7. We could get apples, lots of apples, to bring out.”
At Rt 7, we stuck out our thumbs to hitch. Dozens of cars went by with no ride. “On this road, they probably don’t know about the trail.”
We walked a bit, thumbs out. No ride. “Too discouraging. Let’s see if we can get water at that Garden store over there, then get back out on the trail.” That worked! Cindy welcomed us into the workshop and offered fresh water from the water cooler.
July 6, 2016
Delaware Water Gap! It’s 9:30 a.m. and here we are at the Pennsylvania-New Jersey state line!
It’s halfway across the bridge across the Delaware River – on I-80! The trucks rumble by, inches away from us beside the concrete barrier, the bridge shaking. Only on the AT! Oh my!
Our three-hour walk this morning included the last of the Pennsylvania Rocks, a lily-pad pond, and a tunnel of rhododendron flowers! What a fitting flourish for the end of this section of our walk!
July 5, 2016
This is our last night on the trail for this section walk. Tomorrow, we’ll walk an easy 6 miles to Delaware Water Gap, rent a car, and drive back to Virginia.
The rocks are waning, Pennsylvania is falling behind us.
Today’s walk gave us a chance to exercise one of our “trail mastery” skills: moving on from an undesirable social situation. Let me explain.
We arrived early at our day’s goal, just nine miles from our starting point, at a shelter with easy access to water. A couple of hikers were already there. They pointed us to the water. We noticed a picnic table on the trail to the water source, in a shady clearing behind the shelter. Nice! We could set out our stuff there! I suggested that we share the fire the other hikers were tending at the shelter and took our pot over there. No problem.
July 6, 2016
There are only two people in the world who celebrate Calzone Day! That’s me and my hiking partner, John. The first Calzone Day was July 6, 2007, when John bought a calzone in Monson, Maine, couldn’t eat the whole thing, and shared it with me!
We didn’t know at the time that we would become hiking partners, but now celebrate the day we met!
Today marks nine years since the first Calzone Day!
July 2, 2016
“Pennsylvania has rocks!!” says my baby grandson. His mom sends me photos that keep me laughing! 16 days ’til our next visit!
July 1, 2016
We easily walked from last night’s camp to Eckville Shelter, arriving at about 2 p.m. The trail today was scenic with views from Pulpit Rock and The Pinnacle, winding from Blue Mountain to Eckville Rd on a smooth, old dirt road. Not so many rocks at all!
Eckville Shelter is a remodeled garage behind a big farmhouse next to the road to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, where hawks gather in great numbers during spring and fall migration.
The shelter features a caretaker who lives in the house, a solar shower (cold today!), a charging strip for electronics, and six bunks.
June 30, 2016
A popular hiker hangout in Port Clinton, PA is Frank’s Barber Shop. The barbers are a father-son team who’ve been running the shop for decades – $8 a cut. They had a steady stream of customers for the 2 hours we stayed while sorting our maildrop and charging phone batteries.
“Would you like to cut my hair?” I asked the younger Frank. He looked at me, “No, not really.” I think he just cuts men’s hair. And they just really enjoy having the hikers visit. They offer everyone coffee and cookies – vanilla amd chocolate sandwich cremes – and find out our trailnames and where we’re from.
June 27, 2016
Today is my nine-year anniversay of my first summit of Mt Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, in Maine!
What a day that was! I was astounded at the arduous terrain of the mountain, surprised at the boulder climbing and the 10-hour trek to get up – and down!
Now I know that Mt Katahdin is in the top five most difficult parts of the trail, too! But, I’m so glad I did my thruhike that way because I got the hard stuff out of the way first!
I’ve gone back to climb it again – eight other times! If you haven’t watched my video of Mt Katahdin, watch it here!
June 28, 2016
“We haven’t stayed at a trail shelter yet on this walk, but this would be a good one,” I said to John, as we heard the approaching thunder. We had been waiting at the fancy-dancy 501 Shelter at the junction of the AT and PA 501 for the last few hours, heeding the thunderstorm watch.
So far, we have bypassed all the shelters since our walk began on June 3rd. Here are my reasons:
*I’m not a social sleeper!
*They can be dirty and mouse-ridden!
*People leave things in them.
*They remind me of work as a ridgerunner when I cleaned them out.
*I love sleeping in my own tarp space out in the quiet woods.
June 28, 2016
“We brought those avocados,” Holly says, as she drives to the Red Lion for a reunion lunch in Pine Grove, PA. “It only took nine years to deliver!” We all laugh.
In 2007, when John and I were doing our thruhike of the Appalachian Trail, my friend, Diane, from Atlanta, had said, “When you get to Bethel, PA, call my step mom, Holly. She wants to meet you!”
I called her from Port Clinton, two days north of PA 501, the road to Bethel. Well, the next morning, a few miles out from Port Clinton, we found out that the next few water sources were dry, leaving us an 18-mile waterless stretch. We weren’t prepared for that!