Green Eggs and Ham

Duncannon PA is the location, and though we have not had green eggs and ham for breakfast, we did walk through Maryland since our last adventure update. There are only ten miles of walking in West Virginia, and then 50 in Maryland, so after hiking more than a quarter of the trail through Virginia, we have been gluttons for state lines the past few weeks. However, now that we have entered the path of pointy rocks that is the AT in PA, we wont see another state line until NJ at the Delaware Water Gap, probably 2 1/2 weeks away still.

We were treated two nights ago to a lovely afternoon of hiking and then dinner by Laura's parents. They met us in Boiling Springs (found us playing on water slides, in fact), took us out to a loverly dinner at the Tavern, and proceeded to take us to an even loverlier Bed and Breakfast for the night. It was a welcome break from the toilsome journey that is the Appalachian Trail (water slides and all) and truly was appreciated.

Pennsylvania is feared in hiker-lore as a state of rocks; weather small and sharp or big and round, a hiker is supposedly unable to make a full stride through the entire state on account of the rocks. We were eager to test our rock skipping abilities in this state, and at the very least find out if the tales of nightmarish stones were true. The Thru-Hiker's Companion (our trusty guide on this long journey) has this to say on PA: "No other state is feared by more hikers who have never been there." True to lore, we have found that while yes, there are many rocks, stories are blown entirely out of proportion as the travel distance and time. Granted, we have much of the state in front of us, however nothing yet has sliced our ankle's clean off nor shattered our knees into a millions pieces. Truthfully, have spent the previous four years of our lives attempting to navigate the rivers that are trails in the Adirondacks, PA seems alright.

Our first stop in PA was in Caledonia State Park. Sue and Walt Powell, the parents of a Hamilton friend (Sally Powell) picked us up on a hot muggy day and brought us to their home in Gettysburgh. We were treated to a tour of the town and college, a full dinner, a bed to sleep in, hot showers, followed up by a gigantic breakfast and ride back to the trail. So truly, as you can tell, we have been living a tough life of late, full of turmoil and angst. Thank you Powells!!!

Our next adventure took us to Pine Grove Furnace Sate Park, the halfway point of the AT! The thru-hiker tradition upon reaching halfway to to join the "half-gallon club", which is to say, eat a half gallon of ice cream! Laura dove into her mint-chip while Ben meagerly toyed with his chocolate; as you can guess, Laura met the challenge (with a little help from Roxi) and Ben, though a valiant effort, was unable to claim the prize. The following morning we found the half-way sign and skipped into the second part of our journey!

Thanks for reading!

~TrailDogs