Author Archives: atsioneva

To cover today briefly – it was rocky, it rained on me, and I only did about six miles. It’s still chilly and damp. Pennsylvania will be remembered for being miserably wet and horribly rocky.

But let’s talk about more pleasant things. Let’s talk about the utter gem of a hostel called “Rock and Sole”, run by Craig and Jodi. It’s a shed and breakfast! Just opened two months ago, when I arrived, he had one handmade bunk bed in what used to be his shed, plus two cots. He finished and added another bunk bed the second day I was there. There was a hot water outdoor shower, a privy with an RV-type commode, an area for campfire down by the river, and breakfasts and suppers cooked by Jodi, which surpassed anything in a restaurant. It had everything, and for only $35 a night! They and their son Chase would do shuttles all over the area, too, for a very reasonable rate per mile.

I stayed three nights – they picked me up from the trailhead at PA 183. The next day, Thursday, I borrowed a daypack and he dropped me off in Port Clinton, I hiked 15 miles back to the same trailhead. Even slackpacking, it was a loooong day.

Yesterday, Friday, was a true zero day. Morning Song and I both had some stuff to do at the bank, so we took care of that, then toured the Yuengling brewery. Very cool tour, I do have pictures. We grabbed a late lunch after (hiker hunger), and Chase shuttled us back to the hostel in time for dinner. The Wannabes had arrived, and it was great to see them again! I think last time was in Waynesboro.

I really didn’t want to leave, but all good things must come to an end… Back to Port Clinton/Hamburg this morning to shop at supposedly the largest Cabela’s in the US. Maybe, but their selection of insoles was pathetic. I did replace my heavy, too-large waterproof food bag with a more appropriately sized one. Then Craig dropped me off at the trailhead in Port Clinton and I started going north again.

I never did get in the zone today. Maybe the distance was too short, maybe it was the rain, who knows. I got here about 5:00. Two others in the shelter, but people keep showing up, then going off to tent. I will do that tomorrow, it is warmer in a tent, and temps tomorrow night are supposed to be in the high 30’s. Brrrr.

10 miles tomorrow.

I hike on.

Bad reception tonight – just sketching out the thoughts to type about tomorrow.

• shed and breakfast
• Yuengling brewery
• Egg and cheese casserole
• Hamburger at Roma’s
• Rainy day turned to sunny late afternoon
• T-bone accident happening just in front of us
• Nice to not have screaming feet for a change
• Wannabes arrived!

15 miles in 9 hours today, which included some rest time. Some general observations:

• Ow.
• Pennsylvania trail maintainers have a different definition of how long a mile is. I think theirs is twice as long as a standard mile.
• I suspect that Pennsylvania trail maintainers were quite drunk on Yuengling beer when they plotted the trail through the more forested sections. It twists, turns, meanders aimlessly, and is guaranteed to drive a hiker nuts.
• Ow.
• Going south instead of north means you get to surprise a lot of people behind you who are hiking north. Startled cries of “Ziptie! You’re going the wrong way!” rang through the forest several times.
• I enjoyed a hot outdoor shower. Quite a unique experience. And much needed! Let’s face it. I stank.

A true zero tomorrow. I pause.

Ow.

Sleepy sleepy. Sleepy. 10 miles today, staying at the Rock and Sole hostel. A great place… Even a home cooked meal! I haven’t had that since I left.

Pennsylvania stubbornly continues to be rocky. And it will get even rockier before it is done with me. And vice versa. Today was easier than yesterday, on the foot pain scale. Tomorrow I will mix things up, just for variety. Instead of hiking north from PA 183 where I got off the trail to Port Clinton, I will start at Port Clinton and hike south. Slackpacking; hiking without a backpack. The hostel owner will pick me up again at PA 183, and I will return to the hostel, where I will reunite with the backpack. The hike will be 15 miles, all told, with a steep hike at the beginning, then leveling off. But still rocky. Friday will be a zero day, and rainy. Saturday will also be rainy, but not a zero day. I’m thinking of taking the tour of the Yuengling brewery on Friday – it is very close by. And if possible, seeing the new Captain America movie. 

So I went to the Port Clinton post office and I had SIX BOXES! I am so overwhelmed and blown away by the kindness and generosity of my readers – thank you all so much! I am in chocolate nirvana, and I may never come back down! I will keep on trekking and keep on blogging!

I hike on.

11 miles today. My feet are bitterly complaining. Painfully complaining! Parts of the trail were easy, parts were very tedious, and parts were very hard. The hard parts were a lot of rock stepping over massive fields of suitcase-sized boulders (or bigger), in the rain. I did not take pictures, because it was wet and slick and dangerous. Tedium was stepping on or around smaller rocks for long sections of path. And easy path was largely reckless. My feet, it must be said, feel very bruised, beaten up, and are cramping to an astounding extent.

Home for tonight is the 501 Shelter, unique in that it is an actual building, with four walls, two actual doors, multiple bunks, and a huge octagon skylight. There are a fair number of people here. Also unique is that you can order and have pizza delivered here… And this last was accomplished!

The distance to the next shelter is about 18 miles. I am still not ready for that yet, particularly over Pennsylvania’s rocks. Particularly tomorrow. So tomorrow will be a ten miler, and the owner of a hostel other hikers recommended to us will pick us up, then return us to the trail in the morning. I like hostels. They are always cheaper than motels, and more personable.

It doesn’t look like I will get to Port Clinton until Friday. I am okay with this. It will be nice to take a zero day; by Friday, I will have been hiking every day for twelve days. My feet in particular could use the rest.

I need to sit down and work out some kind of budget or plan, so I don’t spend too much too soon. It is very easy to spend too much in trail towns. Too very easy. Particularly on motels. And food!

Speaking of which… I tried to replace my shredded rain pants with cheap rain pants from a KOA General store, for about $10. They lasted about two hours. Not even. It was pathetic. Fortunately, there is a Cabelas in the zero day town. Some expenses are necessary, like it or not. I just need to be more careful.

I hike on.

Last night – unrestful sleep. It was pretty chilly! So the lure of a hot shower, a soft bed, and a chance to do laundry inexorably pulled me in the direction of a motel in Lickdale, PA, since I’d not had any of the above since I left Duncannon a week or so back. Not a zero day, no, since I hiked six miles to get here and will hike on in the morning. A nearo.

It was a pretty easy hike, all told. A walk along ridgeline, two steep descents into a pleasant walk through a field, then into Swatara State Park (where oddly, camping is not allowed). We stopped to chat with a turkey hunter on the way; poor man, we were the only turkeys he saw today!

From Swatara State Park to the road into Lickdale was only 1.3 miles. Topographically, it showed as a bump on my map, and so I airily declared it would be no trouble at all. By the end of it, Morning Song was ready to cheerfully clobber me. One of the steepest ascents I have run into yet on the trail, and mentally, we were not ready for it. Also it was muddy. That did not help.

But when we finally did reach the road, he magically Ubered up a ride, and we got to the Days Inn, for all the chores done, and hit the McDonald’s like a whirlwind. It’s an understatement to say we were both hungry… I devoured two cheeseburgers, a large fry, and a chicken snack wrap, plus a cookie. Four hours later, I was hungry again, but we just got ice cream. You burn a lot of calories, hiking. Your body demands you replace them. What can you do?

In the last three days, I’ve hiked 26 miles. I’ll add on another 11 tomorrow. By my calculations, so far I have walked (not counting mistakes and blue-blaze trails): 0.9 miles in West Virginia, approximately 41 miles in Maryland, and 117.3 miles in Pennsylvania, for a grand total of 159.2 miles, in 20 walking days. So far.  Bit by bit, it adds up.

I hike on.

This will be a long one! May 7 and 8, cell reception was minimal, but mostly non-existent. The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. So where did I leave off? Ah, yes.

May 7

I started hiking south from Peters Mountain Gap Shelter. Yes, that’s right… South. Terrain that you hike when it is rainy and foggy looks vastly different when that bright light in the sky is present. I hiked somewhere between 1.25 and 1.5 miles in the wrong direction before dayhiker kindly corrected me. So, at the beginning of the day, I’d already hiked about 3 miles and gotten nowhere… And then the bright light disappeared and it downpoured on me again. Pennsylvania getting it’s last licks in? I can only hope!

Moss-covered rocks are pretty. Wet moss-covered rocks are slippery! Fortunately, they are also softer than non-moss-covered rocks, because Ziptie fell sideways on one when her hiking pole slipped off another. Again, no, she did not make a sound. It took me a few minutes to get back up though, with a pack semi-wedged sideways. No harm to anything but pride!

Eventually, God turned the light in the sky back on again, but I still did not have it in me yet to hike 18 miles, plus the 3 extra. I joined hikers Survivor and Morning Song at a campsite 7.3 miles fron starting point, making it a 10.3 mile day.

It was not the most fun day I have had, but I was resolved not to quit. Things were better after I got to camp and made dinner, pitched my tent. I’d forgotten how much I liked the privacy of a tent. I also successfully, and this time properly, hung my bear bag in a tree, since the campsite did not have bear boxes or poles. That was a minor, but telling triumph. At this point, the food bag is getting pretty light, Port Clinton being only a few days away.

And then it rained on us again! I stayed dry in my tent, though. Everything important stayed dry. It was good. The next morning, though, with clotheslines and wet tents and gear hung up all over the place, it looked like a laundromat exploded. Which leads us into …

May 8

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! I’m sure you were watching!

Today was an 11 miler, from the campsite we were at, about a third of a mile south of PA 325, to the Rausch Gap Shelter. I had a semi-late start (I wouldn’t leave the tent until it was confirmed the sky was blue, not grey and cloudy), and we had to dry a lot of gear (see above), but the trail was relatively easy, compared to other days, and I went the right way this time. I found myself enjoying the hike quite a bit. At one point, it even followed an old stagecoach route.

At another point, it passed by the ruins of an old town. There was a campfire ring there, and someone had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange flat rocks into rock ‘lounge chairs’ around the fire ring. I took off the pack, pulled out some gorp, and reclined. Ah, bliss! That was living! I stayed there for about 30 minutes, and my feet rested enough to tackle the next 3.5 mile chunk.

4 miles from endpoint, I stopped again, at a clearing where some other hikers were having lunch, and pulled out some lunch of my own : a tuna packet, a tortilla to roll the tuna in, a small round of cheese, and some chocolate. They had accidentally dropped their maps along the way, but I picked them up and returned them, to the couples’ great relief. You never want to lose your maps!

Rausch Gap Shelter stood out for the ease of getting water. No 300 rock steps here! The piped spring was about 15 feet from the shelter, and it spilled into a trough, which in turn spilled out to the ground. The cleanest water was out of the pipe, but the trough-spill was very handy for non-drinking purposes like washing hands and so on. Morning Song, Survivor, a section hiker, and I were the only ones in the shelter; the rest were tenting. I would have tented, but it was late afternoon when I got there, and camp chores needed to be done before the sun went down. We campfired for a while, but it was getting late, for hikers anyway. A chilly night! No bears are our food.

I hiked on.

An early one today!

This is for all those readers living vicariously through me… Before you read any further, please do something for me that will greatly enhance your vicarious experience of the trail.

Go step into the shower, fully clothed, and turn it on full blast, somewhere midway between cold and lukewarm. You may wear rain gear. After you have stood in the shower for five minutes, put some dry clothes on, and come back. 🙂

Done? Okay, good! You have experienced 5 minutes of my life! Today, it was four hours of hiking in the /pouring/ rain. 6.7 miles. I put a note in the register asking people to help me gather wood for an ark.

The weather is supposed to improve starting tomorrow, and I want to start picking up the mileage somewhat. It’s not about the miles, but I feel like trying to push myseif more.

Staying at a large shelter for tonight – it’s supposed to fit 16. Easily. Probably more. A good thing, too. It is only 2 pm and already filling up. There is a group of Amish section hikers downstairs (yes, two floors). One of the other hikers, Survivor, fell on the trail and has a big bruise on his forehead. The man is prone to that – he almost broke his wrist once already!

And here comes the rain again. The spring to get water from is down 300 steep rock steps. I think I’ll hold off for a bit…

Last night, with the help of a firestarter stick, they got a good campfire going, despite all the wood being damp. It felt so good! Tonight, only a miracle would start a fire now. So wet!!!

18 miles from here to the next shelter, so I will probably end up tent camping somewhere. If the weather cooperates, I’m okay with it… Not sure I am ready for an 18 miles yet.

I hike on.

Happy Sinko de Mayo! Sink the mayonnaise!

Ziptie is sad to report an involuntary separation from her pack cover, and hopes it is only temporary! It was such a great day for hiking, with so many great views, I loosened the cover to get at the camera, and forgot to retighten it. Somewhere along all the rock scrambling – and there was a lot of fun rock scrambling – it fell off. I hope someone finds it.

Otherwise a great day. There are four others here, including Morning Song and they are gathering wood, so it looks like a campfire tonight, if it doesn’t rain. It may rain. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, hence my worry over the pack cover. I just don’t want my sleeping bag to get wet! I have a backup though – a plastic bag. It will do in a pinch.

I now have a new doodad thanks to my sister that will give one recharge to my phone battery along the trail. I will still try to conserve battery. Also fig bars, but they don’t have batteries.

A bit chilly right now. Typing while lying in my sleeping bag. Today was a fun day. Cloudy, but nothing fell on me. Great views, great hike.

I hike on.

I was walking in the clouds today… and it was chilly!

No, let me first start by reporting that porcupines are real. They exist. Two of the five of us staying at the shelter last night saw one. It was not a party porcupine though, and did not try to join us in the shelter, mercifully.

It did rain all last night, but let up by the time I got up, around 6:30. I was feeling antsy, and wanted to get into Duncannon early, so I ate a dry breakfast, packed up, and set off while Morning Song was still heating water. Only 4 miles, right? It was interestingly eerie, hiking through the fog, and a mile in it began raining again, but the rain gear was equal to the task.

The guidebook warned of extreme rockiness. Not joking! The first two miles were level, running the ridgeline, and not too bad, I made good time. There was an overlook about halfway along… All you could see was white. Nothing else.

I had to renew my credentials as ‘wrong way Ziptie’, so at the overlook, I looked around for white blazes, spotted one a ways up the hill and set out in that direction. It was only when I passed a very familiar looking, just-cut tree did it sink in I was hiking back southbound. I ended up turning around and relooping the downward loop again, then found the right trail, and began heading downward.

And that’s where they began. The rock steps. Literally a mile of rock steps. The slope of the path was so steep, they had to put in hundreds of uneven rock steps, now slick with rain and wet leaves. I had to concentrate so hard on footing, it barely registered that I was walking next to a very steep drop-off. Another hiker I know fell twice navigating the steps and bruised at least one rib. Somewhere near the bottom, Morning Song passed me – he always hiked faster on the downhills, and I go faster on the uphill.

THEN, just add I could hear traffic from the road leading into Duncannon, the blasted trail went back up again! Steeply up! For no reason! Meaning… It had to come back down again! More rock stairs… And finally, a road. I followed the White-blazed road to the Doyle, a hiker bar of notable renown, good drinks and hamburgers, and rooms that saw their better days decades ago. Only $25 a night.

I joined Morning Song for a beer and a burger, and I decided to stay overnight. All my clothes were wet, my rain gear was wet, I needed to charge the phone, pick up stuff at the post office, etc. Not a zero day. A nearo day. It was a tough hike, but a good challenge!

Tomorrow, Morning Song will physically push me over the Susquehanna River bridge, then there’s a mountain to climb. Please, Lord, give me switchbacks and not more rock steps! Though I would prefer to be climbing those steps, rather than descending. Going down is a lot harder on the knees.

Tonight’s dinner was steak salad. Craving those fresh greens yet. For some reason, I have a blister on my little toe. Annoying, more than anything.

Sad news at the Doyle bar tonight – legendary thru-hiker Baltimore Jack died today, cause unknown. He hiked the AT at least 7 times… It was his career. Toasted him at the bar… Then went up to finish organizing for tomorrow, need to bounce some stuff up to Port Clinton. Fortunately the AT passes right past the post office on the way out of town.

The thru-hiker with the really annoying laugh just passed by outside. His group hikes faster than I do, so they will pull ahead of me tomorrow. I am grateful for that.

Tomorrow is another day.

I hike on.