Day 94: 15.7 miles hiked (trail mile 1194.1)
Feeling competitive about making it to the next shelter ahead of this giant bubble, we got a 6:15am start. Right Wanting to try to make it to the next shelter ahead of the giant bubble, we got a 6:15 start in the morning. Right off the bat we crossed about a 50-yard section of trail that was flooded by beaver dams. We could’ve used the blue Blaze route around, but it would’ve added .6 miles to our day, and we decided to roll the dice with the flooded section, despite the Guthooks warnings of “Zombeavers” and a harrowing tale of someone who attempted to cross in sandals and stabbed their foot on a stick. Ranger made it across without getting wet while I somehow managed to completely submerge one shoe in beaver-poop water.
Meta and Grasshopper, a couple of Michiganders we first met at the campsite last night when they hung their bear bag next to ours, crossed the beaver dam right after us. We hiked with them the first few miles at a good clip, powered by great conversation. They relayed to us that someone in the group heading to the next shelter had a nasty cough and that they were going to be finding a hotel room in the next town of Pine Grove. It is supposed to heavily rain all night and the next shelter, the “501 Shelter” is a fully enclosed space with room for 12 people in bunks and however many more would fit on the floor. The place would have been completely packed tonight with all the thruhikers heading there from last night’s spot, the rain, and any weekenders. Ultimately, we made the decision to shuttle to a hotel at 15.8 miles in; still a respectable day in terms of mileage.
We braked for lunch at an overlook and watched the storm roll in, then took a short hike down to the William Penn shelter, another architecturally unique PA shelter that would’ve been neat to ride out a rainstorm in.
We loved this simple (and comfortable!) bench
When we arrived at our pickup point for Pine Grove, there were a couple section hikers with their friend who was doing trail support. They had packed out way too much food and told us to dig through the box of food they weren’t going to use and take whatever we wanted! We grabbed a couple pop tarts and fruit leathers.
Thanks to our early start and a strong push to try to beat the rain, we made it 15.8 miles by 2:30pm. We arrived at the Comfort Inn with plenty of time to shower, do laundry, relax, and resupply at the Dollar General next door. For dinner we had a giant pizza delivered which we covered with nutritional yeast, bacon bits, and tahini.
Day 95: 17.1 miles hiked (trail mile 1211.2)
Today is an exciting day: less than 1000 miles left to go! 999 miles to be exact. We ate an instant oatmeal and cereal breakfast at the hotel then went down to the lobby to hang out with Whistler and Gadget. Brave was also in the lobby, a section hiker from California who completed the AT back in 2014 and was out to do a section with a friend she met on trail. Since it had rained all night and was still pouring outside the hotel staff gave us trash bags to fashion into rain skirts, and Brave hosted a mini rain-gear fashion show.
We shuttled back to trail with Whistler and Gadget and started hiking by 9:30. Only a few feet into the trail awaited some trail magic: a Costco size package of corn nuts, apples, and water. We did ninety-twos with Whistler and Gadget all day and were happy to discover that we all hike at a similar pace and daily mileage.
At a road crossing this afternoon we met Merlin, who was doing trail magic out of the back of his pickup truck. He has a daughter on trail that he had come to visit and wanted to also offer some trail magic. He had chips, soda, water, candy, and other snacks, and offered to take our trash. So nice! The generosity of folks out here never ceases to amaze me.
We reached camp 17 miles north by 5pm despite the extremely rocky trail sections and the rain, which fluctuated between drizzling and actively raining all day. Temperatures also began to drop in the late afternoon, so we were relieved to make it to the shelter and find some good tent sites. There are few people here tonight, and the four of us were able to snag a little campsite that has its own picnic table and is well protected by trees. We cooked and ate dinner in a steady drizzle of rain, enjoying a Knorr Sides beans and rice with tahini, olive oil, bacon bits, nooch, and shoestring potatoes. By 7:30 we were all damp and shivering, and the temps had fallen to the low 40’s, so we turned in. Fingers crossed this will be the last cold night of the season.
Later in the night: It must have dropped into the 30’s. Ranger struggled to fall asleep with how cold he was on the low R-value Z-lite and we ended up shoving raincoats and pack covers under his pad to try to help with warmth retention. Sending home one of our quilts was a bad idea.
Day 96: 14.7 miles hiked (trail mile 1225.9)
These cute little efts are all over the trail in northern PA!
It was still raining this morning so we started around 9 when the rain began to taper off. A few hours later it picked back up again, and our little group hiked in the rain all morning until reaching the junction for walking into the town of Hamburg. We also crossed the Reading Railroad tracks!
No shuttles were available, so we walked the death-defying 1.2 mile highway shoulder into town, in the rain. Ranger and Whistler got new shoes at Cabela’s which will hopefully help with the jagged Pennsylvania rocks on trail, then we all ate a big lunch at Red Robin.
At the Walmart—while resupplying for the next section of trail—we ran into Meta and Grasshopper again! When we hit the trail again with 3 hours to sunset and about 7 miles to go, with a decent climb out of the valley, the rain had finally subsided. We reached Windsor Furnace Shelter by 8pm and found a few campsites down near the shelter water source.
Day 97: 16.5 miles hiked (trail mile 1242.4)
We have been enjoying hiking with Whistler and Gadget, so continued our ninety-twos with them all day. First thing in the morning we hiked over the Pulpit and Pinnacle Rock, a couple popular overlook hikes in PA.
The Pulpit
We lunched at the Eckville Shelter, another fancy shelter that is maintained by a caretaker called Lazy. Lazy was equal parts gruff and friendly and gave us otter pops for dessert.
Whistler enjoying his otter pop
We are all feeling tired and beat up by all the rocks and were relieved to finally make it to tonight’s shelter. Ranger and I miraculously found a flat tent site among all the slanted/rocky options, and we ate dinner at the picnic table with Jolah and Frogman before turning in.
Day 98: 17.7 miles hiked (trail mile 1260.1)
This next section has less water than usual, so we are carrying a full day of water with us. We all departed camp around 8am and hiked strong through a beautiful, fern-covered forest. There were fantastic campsites, too, with pine needles cushioning the forest floor, makeshift stone seats, and campfire rings. We later found out that Spots and Snapshot, who are just behind us now, snagged one of those awesome sites.
Around mid-day I discovered my first tiny, embedded tick. A couple hours later, Ranger found his first embedded tick, too. Both were surprisingly small, but thankfully easy enough to remove (intact) with tweezers.
Knifes Edge
We were joined in the late afternoon by Frogman, whose name is inspired by the fact that he is working toward a PhD in herpatology with a specialty in… you guessed it, frogs. He participated in a round of ninety-twos and despite the painfully rocky terrain we made good time getting into the last shelter before town in a rotation of five people.
Frogman
Toward the late afternoon we neared the descent to Palmerton where Will would be picking us up for a rendezvous in Bethlehem, PA. Ranger and I met Will when we stayed at the alpaca farm. He and his girlfriend, Elisa, were staying there on a road trip to the Smokies and we all hit it off in the brief time we got to chat at the hostel. Elisa is a sports medicine doctor and Will is a medical student with a background in law. They both have an infectious positive energy about them. They were adamant that we should contact them when we made it to the Lehigh Valley, so we did!
Will, Elisa, Sticks, Ranger
Will picked us up in the evening and we rode about 25 minutes into Bethlehem. Ranger and I stayed at Will’s condo while Whistler and Gadget got a hotel room down the street. We got cleaned up and then headed down to a local brewery for dinner. Will ordered just about every appetizer on the menu and we gorged ourselves on incredible food and drinks, sharing stories about the trail and getting to know Will a bit more. He seems to have thought of every detail that might make us more comfortable during our stay here, including a fridge stocked with fresh and healthy foods like blueberries, avocados and hummus. Once again, we are humbled and heartened by the incredible kindness from someone we only just met.
Day 99: 4.5 miles hiked (trail mile 1264.6)
Whistler and Gadget walked over from their hotel room around 7am. Will brewed a big pot of coffee and made delicious egg sandwiches for everyone.
From there we left Will to attend his class while we explored Bethlehem’s Steel Stacks. The town is home to Bethlehem Steel, a giant steel plant that was in operation up until 1995. The steel stacks have since been transformed into a free, self-guided history lesson. Visitors walk along the catwalk through the stacks and are provided historical context via historical markers places along the catwalk.
The space around the stacks has been transformed into an event space with a stage, PBS station, movie theater, and memorial park. After exploring the stacks, we walked to a little coffee shop and had some refreshments before making our way to the Industrial Museum. It was in a converted old factory space right by the steel stacks and contained lots of incredible relics from the industrial revolution including ornate machinery, automated silk weavers, and so much more.
When we were finished, Will picked us up and took us to a Giant for a resupply, then back to his place for lunch. He made turkey burgers for Gadget and Whistler while Ranger and I filled up on hummus, dolmas, salad, and donuts. Elisa arrived shortly before our departure, so we were glad to get to say hello before taking off. We hope they will be able to take some time to join us on trail for a small section somewhere further north.
We were back on trail by 4pm and immediately began the most challenging climb of the entire trail: a rocky and mountainous ascent that turns into full-blown rock climbing at some points. To make matters more challenging, our packs were quite heavy with the recent resupply plus enough water to get us through the night at our tent site.
Day 100: 14.8 miles hiked (trail mile 1279.4)
Today was hard. The trail was full of jagged rocks sizing from small to extra-large, all day long and with no reprieve. Once again there was very little water on trail so we relied on the water caches that generous locals keep filled for thruhikers coming through this dry section.
Feet aching, we decided to call it off early at a little under 15 miles in, so we could be inside our tent by the time the rains hit again. We had a decent little tent site but a dead branch super high up in the tree was positioned a too directly overhead for comfort so Ranger heroically threw the bear bag line over the branch and pulled it down with a giant crash!
Once in the tent, we called my mom to celebrate her retirement from teaching! My mom is the kind of teacher who makes kids fall in love with science and learning. She has been balancing a lot for a while now and I’m so excited to see her reclaim some of her time. Congratulations Mom! ♥️