What can these legs? (Part 2)
When I reached the half way point of the AT I felt like an athlete for the first time in my life. I also had a ridiculous appetite. When I got to Chris’s Cabin 4 days ahead of schedule he said, “just eat anything you can find.” So I raided the refrigerator, mostly the freezer. I ate a full pack of hotdogs, a packs sausages, 2 loaves of bread, most of half gallon of ice cream, and drank the 4 remaining beers. That was just while doing laundry.
When Chris arrived he was determined to feed me until I was full, which mostly consisted of a infinite supply of pork products, bacon, ham, chops, etc. This is central PA. (There was a salad too)
My friend Scott offered to support my trip this week in any way I needed help. In addition to bringing a huge resupply package from Jane, Scot also did some Amazon ordering for me, replacing lost knee supports and getting Leuko tape, body glide and other essentials like replacement charging cords.
I had planned with Jane to skip a 60 mile section of trail from Port Clinton to Wind Gap, that we would go back and hike the next week with kids.
Scott said he could drive back out Tuesday or Wednesday and give me a shuttle to Wind Gap. The challenge is I needed to hike the 114 miles to Port Clinton to make this schedule work.
Friday Chris and day hiked (no pack) 16 miles from Pine Grove to Boiling Springs so we had already shaved off 16 miles. So I only had to hike 98 miles in 3 days.
That is about 33 miles per day. Although I was feeling like an athlete, I don’t think I could pull that off. But alternately I could maybe pull 3 marathon (26.2 mi) plus days back to back Sunday – Tuesday and the slack the 15 or so, miles Wednesday morning, giving Scot and I just enough time Shuttle to Wind Gap and for him to get back to Philly by 4:30 for a meeting he could not rearrange.
Sunday morning Chris insisted I take all the leftover Pasta and four giant Ham sandwiches. Adding 10 pounds of food to my already full 4 day food carry. I agreed on the condition he carry my pack the first four miles to his sister’s house. He did and I am glad. Then I spent the next few days trying to give food away.
After lunch at Chris’s sisters house I hiked to Duncannon for a total of 26 miles. It rained for about 2 hours going into town. I was wet and tired but decided to camp on the other side of town rather paying for a hotel.
On the way through town I thought I might stop for a beer, forgetting about the PA blue laws. No beer for sale Sunday at dusk. The store sells water pipes and has gambling machines…but no beer, thanks PA. A local saw my disappointment and asked if I wanted to come by his house for dinner. Duncannon redeemed. He was Spanish fellow and we had fried pork chops and yellow rice. Nice meal nice company. He offered to let me stay the night but I wanted to get a few more miles in and be up the hill, so I could start the morning on the ridge.
So in the dark I walked out of town. Over a 2 bridges and up a mountain. It started raining again. By the time I got to shelter it was late so tried to set up my tent quietly so as not to disturb the hikers in the shelter.
The next morning I met the other hikers staying there and managed to pawn off on the ham sandwiches.
The storm the night before must have been. Really intense before I climbed the hill because there where downed trees all along the trail making the morning progress slow. The good news…for me anyway is that one them was a cherry tree so I had nice snack.
Day two of Marathon week was a success. I ate 2 ham sandwiches and a bag of pasta and managed to give away another ham sandwich and the second bag of pasta, to people I met on the trail. Not exactly hikers.
One guy was getting water from a spring because he didn’t have utilities on at his trailer. We sat a talked for bit while I filtered water. Another couple was hiking out of PA because they couldn’t find jobs. I had sympathy for them as they really didn’t have backpacking gear. Mostly carrying their possessions in a duffle bag and a milk crate. They had small camp fire going so I stopped a chatted with them a bit. Pretty sure the 1200 mile crossing was also this day.
Day three I also completed my Marathon and after the 26 miles Scott picked me up and we stayed at hotel. The next morning I slack packed the the last 15 miles then Scott picked me up again and drove me to Wind Gap. My friend Yasya met me in Wind Gap and hiked a few miles with me. She also brought precooked bacon. From there I knocked another 10 or so miles to complete the 4th consecutive marathon.
At this point I was exhausted and my feet were killing me. I started to debate what constitutes a week. Is it 7 days like a calendar week, 6 days like God’s creation week (resting on the 7th) or 5 days like corporate work week?
So day 5 I set out intending to hike at least another 26.2 mile. There were only 9.5 miles left in PA. At Delaware Water Gap I met up with my 2nd cousin Walt who retired near by and he bought lunch. I ate chicken pot pie and a strawberry rhubarb pie. Worth it! Then I hiked across the I95 bridge to New Jersey.
I missed the trail at one point, ending up at nice water fall. The only problem was it was not on the AT. So I forded a stream and climbed small cliff face then bushwhacked my way to the trail. No way I was backtracking 3 miles. I happened to get to the trail right at the 1300 mile mark. (Which would be a little more impressive had I not skipped 60 miles in PA. I went a few more miles up the the trail to sunfish pond. After filtering water I took a little swim. With only 11 more miles to go to finish my marathon I set off again on the trail. The path around the pond was all jagged boulders and the 1.5 miles took me much longer than expected. Totally worn out it decided to throw in the towel on the Marathon week having only completed 16 miles on the 5th day. I spend the evening talking with Jane on the phone. I decided to call it a success. We all want a 4 day work week right?
The next few days in Jersey I kept the mileage up. Partially because I could a partially because I wanted to reach Bear Mountain Zoo in New York before I got off trail. This was an over ambitious goal. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was over exertion from climbing the High Point obelisk.
On Sunday when met up with my friends Moira and Keith near Vernon, NJ, rather than getting back on trail, I just stayed at their house for an extra day and a half then took the train to Philadelphia.
I met up with some friends for lunch at Reading Terminal, then went to De Bruno Bros. to get goodies to bring home to my Parents. Scot drove me out to the burbs and I got my parents just about the same time as Jane and the kids. My brother picked them up from the airport the same day.
Although Harper’s Ferry is the classic halfway point and Pine Grove Furness is the current midpoint of the trail, for me the meeting up with Jane and the kids marks the halfway point of my journey.
I had been pushing miles to get ahead of schedule so that I could enjoy a week on trail with my family (Jane, Robbie and Anna) and still be able to catch back up after with my trail family (Simmer, Windbreaker and AT). Although I was 50 miles short of my reach goal – Bear Mountain Zoo, I did make it more than 50 miles past my minimum goal – Delaware Water Gap.
That concludes what can these legs do? part 2. Next Blog post will be hiking with the kids.
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