Since Trippy was feeling better, we went back out to the trail to try to finish up this local section. We are hiking some of these sections here in PA out of sequence. We also made the strategic decision to skip the local sections of trail that we hiked back in March and April for training considering we hiked them this calendar year with full pack weight anyway. It’s something like 15-20 miles.
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We zeroed to let Trippy recover from feeling like crap. As the day progressed, it became apparent pretty quickly though that she probably had Lyme disease. She had all the symptoms and the telltale bullseye rash appeared. We went to the emergency room and the nurses and doctors took about 2 minutes to confirm that suspicion. They still do a blood test to confirm, but it seems like a slam dunk diagnosis. At first glance Lyme sounds very bad, but it’s actually really treatable if caught early like this was. They prescribed the common antibiotic Doxycycline to kill the bacteria that causes Lyme and OTC drugs to help fight off the fever and headache caused by it. So we’ll be taking a few extra zero days for her recovery. We should be back on the trail within a few days. A small fortunate part of this ordeal occurring now is at least we were within relatively easy driving distance from the comfort of home.

We hitched a ride back to the trail in the morning with some nice folks who strangely call themselves Packy and Tapey. They were a little weird, but pretty cool nonetheless. Continue reading →

We took a double zero at home for Justin and Susan’s wedding picnic. It was a blast. Congrats again guys!
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Today we woke up and hit the trail knowing family and friends awaited. The hiking went super fast. We went through a 6 mile stretch that was labeled in our AT guide as “very rocky”. It really wasn’t bad by Pennsylvania standards, except for a few loose rock piles as we descended down towards Duncannon. We had a nice view of Duncannon and part of the Susquehanna river from Hawk Rock.

Hawk Rock view looking down on Susquehanna

A good 3 miles or so of trail went right through Duncannon, which wasn’t overly scenic or exciting. Then we crossed the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers and met Ma and Pa Trippy in the parking lot (and Pat the littlest pooch). It’s very exciting to see them and to be able spend this weekend with family and friends. We’ll be back on the trail on Monday morning, but it’s rest, relaxation, partying, family, and friends until then. Adios! Continue reading →

We had some pretty big storms early last night, but kept the streak going of no hiking in the rain. Bring it on, jinx!!
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We had a warm and humid night last night. We also had some rude deer snorting and cavorting, so it wasn’t the most peaceful night.
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Today was a hot but nice day down here in South PA. We had a short climb up to Chimney Rocks in the morning, which had some nice views.

View off Chimney Rocks

Pretty cool spot. Continue reading →

Today was a momentous day.

Home!!!!!

All the springs and streams are flowing with Yuengling (I was hoping for Troegs or Weyerbacher, but hikers and/or beggars can’t really be choosers and all that stuff). The woods are filled with the scent of pierogies and halushki. The roads are filled with Harleys and beat up Camaros. The people say “yous guys” or “yinzers” instead of God forsaken “y’all”. Ahh home sweet home. Funny enough, the first water source we hit in PA had a warning sign to not touch it at all because it had been contaminated with wastewater a couple weeks ago. Not only don’t drink it, but don’t touch it! Ha it’s good to be home. Continue reading →

We hit the trail this morning around 8:30. The trail went through Lower Town, the historic section of Harper’s Ferry.

Lower Town

Then we walked along the C&O canal path for a few miles. This reminded me of the D&L trail by the Lehigh river, except the Potomac is just a slight bit larger.

Turtles hanging out in the algea covered canal

We then ascended up a small climb to Weverton Cliffs. There were a lot of boy scouts, weekend backpackers and day hikers out. Many of them gave us encouragement as we climbed up, which was simultaneously amusing and very nice of them. This was probably not in the top 100 climbs we’ve had in terms of difficulty, but most of them were not aware we are thru-hikers obviously.
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