Day 99: Trip to Lancaster
Saturday, June 15th
0 miles today
1,080.8
Woke up later than I thought. Joes car had to be jumped and filled up with gas and we got subs from Giant. After noon we headed to Lancaster to see my family! It’s been over 3 years since I’ve seen them, too long. We caught up and played a round of 23 hole mini golf at the village green that I’ve been hyping up for a few hundred miles. Then we drove through Strasberg and had tea berry ice cream for the first time. It’s my new favorite flavor of ice cream best thing ever. Then we got back to the house for dinner and I got to talk to my grandad on the phone. We went out for ice cream again but this time with nancy to fox meadows. We got flights of 4 ice cream flavors and I thought the lavender honey was the best. We raced back home but got back late than we expected. Joe and Mandi got back from their graduation party and my friend Sarah came down from NY. She’s going to cook us French toast tomorrow morning! I’m so excited.
Day 100: Sarah’s French Toast
Sunday, June 16th (Happy Fathers Day)
Joe’s house
0 miles today
1,080.8 miles total
I woke up to Sarah turning on the lights to wake me up for breakfast. Oh man did she have a spread when I got upstairs. Stacks of stuffed French toast, turkey sausage and scrambled eggs for all of us. Thank you so much Sarah for that delicious breakfast. I’m gonna have to learn that recipe. It was really good to catch up with her and talk about our trail experiences.
After she left to go back to Wilmington and Joe and his wife left for their wedding Spencer and I watched the office and went to rei so he could get a new lighter camp pillow. I was disappointed with their selection they really didn’t have much there, not that I really need anything. I also just felt a little nauseous and tired all day today. I didn’t get much sleep the last couple days. Beyond that we didn’t do much else, we called Steve and talked to him for a couple hours to catch up and then i talked to my dad and family. We ate some left over ravioli and discussed our hiking plans with Joe after they got back.
Day 101: Swimming Pool
Monday, June 17th
Quarry Gap Shelter
7.3 miles today
1,088.1 miles total
While Spencer and I slept in (I convinced him to sleep down in the basement where it was cooler and darker), Joe went to the grocery store to grab food because he was out of breakfast foods. Joes wife Mandi cooked us some omelets while we had sticky buns and cantaloupe.
I didn’t expect us to get out before 12 and I think the only reason we got out by 1 was because Mandi had to go to work later. I’m glad to be hiking again but I’m not looking forward to the heat dome this week. We hiked at a good 15 min/mile pace but it was hot and today is going to be the nicest day of the week.
About five miles in we passed Caledonia state park which had a swimming pool so we decided to check it out which led to us swimming for an hour and a half. They had one water slide so we went down that as many times as we could before others kids noticed how much fun it looked. Afterwards we had dinner in the park so when we got to camp around 8 we wouldn’t have cook.
This is probably the nicest shelter we’ve ever been to. It’s two mini shelters with a covered picnic area in between, potted plants, a babbling brook, bear box, and a porch swing.
Day 102: Exactly Halfway!
Tuesday, June 18th
Iron-master Mansion
17.2 miles today
1105.3 miles total
I love birds more than the next guy but last night they were my worst enemy. Whip-poor-wills were singing… all.. night.. long. When they did stop I’d be awoken a little later. That combined with the warm weather just didn’t make for good sleep. It was 7am and we were the only ones still at the shelter. There was a big frog swimming around In the spring.
It was a hot one but I was doing fine with the heat. It’s supposed to just get hotter as the week progresses too. When I got to a shelter 6 miles in for water and a quick break, Joe showed up after us and when he sat down he was literally dripping sweat and a puddle formed underneath him. I’ve never seen someone sweat so much in my life. I just had a quick snack and filled up on water and kept going but the guys stayed there for a little bit longer. I told them I’d meet them at the next water source. On the way though I realized we were very close to the exact halfway point 1098.7 miles! So when I saw the sign I put my stuff down to wait for the guys for such a big moment. I did have a couple tears to spare even with the heat draining all the liquid from my body.
Some people think “only” halfway but my mindset is more “wow” halfway. I can’t believe I’m here. Once we get through mid PA it’ll be the northern most point on the east coast that I’ve been too. Then it’ll be completely new territory. I’m more excited for this next section that the first probably. They say it only gets better the farther you go. This next week there isn’t a lot of places to resupply and the heat will be a challenge but nothing we can’t overcome. I’m just so thankful to have the support of friends and family. Without them it would’ve been way harder to get to this point. Nothing incredible is ever accomplished alone.
I waited there for almost an hour before Spencer came around the corner and it was another 20 mins or so before we went up the trail a bit to see Joe. We picked some wild blueberries off the sides of the trail which tasted so delicious. I remember the wild blueberries in Alaska tasting more bitter. We all crossed the halfway point together and kept going. Joe was stopping more than we were and ended up behind us. We made it a few more miles down to the shelter and took another break there to wait for Joe and drink more water.
We laid in the shelter and talked for about an hour before we were like “Joe should’ve been here by now.” We checked and saw some messages from Joe saying he’s out of water and needs help. So we grabbed water and ran back a mile to see him laying on the ground, shirt off and out of water. We fanned him, gave him water and poured water on his neck and armpits to cool him off. It and about an hour of that before we was able to get up again. We got to a road crossing and called a shuttle for him to the hostel so he could try and recover while Spencer and I walked 3 more miles to meet him there.
We got there just as they closed the general store so we couldn’t do the half gallon ice cream challenge but we met up with Joe at the ironmaster mansion hostel. Where the blacksmiths at the pine grove furnace used to live back in the day. They had to put up a portable ac unit in the bunk room with a fan because there was no A/C. But missy the caretaker was very sweet and made us dinner for free and made sure we were all taken care of.
Day 103: Half Gallon Challenge
Wednesday, June 19th (Juneteenth)
Joe’s House
0.5 miles today
1,105.8 miles total
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - Frank Herbert, Dune
This is what I thought about that got me through the last few bites of ice cream. I threw up just before finishing but I finished. I’d say we were as a disadvantage because we didn’t hike at all this morning and I didn’t have much of an appetite. I also made the mistake of getting butter pecan for my bigger portion, which had a lot more calories and fat than the other flavors. That might’ve been one of the hardest things I’ve done on this hike. I’ve sworn to never eat ice cream again but my photo hangs on the wall among my friends.
Afterwards sat around groaning and regretting eating so much but Joe got some fries. We then hiked our shortest day yet, half a mile down to fuller lake for a swim. Complete with sand and a lifeguard stand it was a little beach that made me feel at home. We swam for a few hours before joes wife came to pick us up and we had tacos for dinner. We then stayed up until 3am watching Son-in-law and The Patriot. Our plan is to hike through the night for the next few days while it’s really hot so we can beat the heat.
Day 104: Fireflies and Sunrise
Thursday, June 21st
26.8 miles today
1132.6 miles total
I slept in until 1pm and Mandi made us banana pancakes with fresh fruit. I realized there wasn’t a good outfitter store coming up for another 100 miles and even there I wouldn’t be able to get the hiking shoes I wanted. If I waited until then I would’ve put over 700 miles on my shoes and they recommend replacing your shoes around mile 500. So Joe took us to his local running shoe store and luckily they had the shoes i wanted to try on, Topo Mountain racer 3, and they felt so comfortable! Especially since my current shoes have had 630 miles on them. Even the guys tried them and they liked them too so Joe ordered himself a pair too. I think I could’ve suffered through the pain to wait for new shoes but I’m glad that it worked out. I could’ve gotten more serious pain if I didn’t replace them.
Then they dropped me off at a great clips and I got a little trim while they got some extra food for the next couple days. We had a spaghetti dinner before leaving and getting on trail around 9pm. The miles seemed to fly by as the sun went down and the moon came up. I was loving these new shoes they are feeling great on the trail. We stopped a few times to fill up on water and before I knew it we were 13 miles in. We realized this campsite outside of boiling springs was directly next to the train tracks and the comments said the trains pass by all night long. Soo I proposed that we kept walking through the farm fields to Carlisle and stay at a cheap hotel instead. We got to boiling springs just before the sun started to rise and after a 30 minute rest we kept hiking. The sunrise over the fields was so beautiful, a great way to welcome the first day of summer.
We haven’t done a big 25+ mile day in almost a month so we were feeling it at 6am when we got there. Breakfast was very subpar, the juice machine was broken and they only had yogurt and waffles. The peach yogurt was quite good though. A shower and I was in bed around 9am.
Day 105: Sleeping All Day Staying up all.. niiiight
Friday, June 21st (Summer solstice!)
0 miles hiked (technically)
1,132.6 miles total
I don’t really know the best way to do these blogs since we’re hiking through the night but I’m going to count anything we do today/tonight as today. So I went to sleep at 9am this morning and was in and out of sleep until 6pm. This feels like when you take a nap in the middle of the day x10. The grogginess and the feeling that this morning was yesterday and today is tomorrow is multiplied. After i drank some water and ate some food I felt a lot better. We got dinner at the diner right next to the hotel and got the fish and chips special. It wasn’t anything to write home about but the fish didn’t taste that bad but it came was an extra side and salad so it was a good deal my book.
Now we’re back in bed resting up and getting ready to hike tonight/tomorrow morning into Duncannon.
(We slept through the rest of today and started at 2am the next morning, so you’ll have to wait to see how it turned out)
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