We took our normal hour and a half to get ready, so we got on the trail just a little past 11. Did you catch that? Last night was fabulous sleeping weather, so we slept. In bed by 7:30 up by 9:30. 14 hours of much needed sleep. Maybe it’s our age, but we can’t seem to get enough rest these days. As long as Bunny fakes sleep when I get up to pee, I will honor her request to go back to sleep.
Several people made noise as they passed our camp starting around 6a. We have heard of Purple Haze and Earl Gray, but haven’t met them. As we started hiking from our camp, we met another couple close to us in age. Earl hiked the trail in 2011 and is doing it for the second time, this year, with his wife. They are from New Hampshire—in essence, they are hiking home.
Up ahead we could see a tent and tables in the parking lot. My first inclination was to be jealous of Harvey until I remembered it was almost 11:30. Surely, Harvey had to be one of the ones who passed our camp closer to 6. If he was still near us, he wouldn’t be able to get his 50 miles in today. Surely, this must be Trail Magic. Mountain Goat and Chopper, two brothers, hiked the trail in 2016 and were out with their wives paying back for their second year in a row.
This was the real deal. Cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chips, sodas, candy, fruit, ibuprofen, drying lines, lawn chairs. They told me of one hiker who ate 8 cheeseburgers last year so I didn’t have to feel guilty about my 3 burgers, 1 hot dog, 2 cokes, 2 bags of chips, a Snickers, a banana, and some grapes. I was a bit hungry from breakfast since Bunny gobbled down the protein bar we were supposed to share.
We spent over an hour chatting with Mountain Goat, Chopper, and their wives (I’m sorry, I forgot to write down names). There were lots of other hikers around including String Cheese, Broken Seal, Stump, Murph, Purple Haze, and Earl Gray. If Bunny hadn’t insisted we move on, I was eyeing a 4th cheeseburger. It was probably the right thing to do since I had to let my pack belt out a few inches.
They had warned us that 50 of the next 60 miles between the parking lot where they had set up and about 10 miles into NJ would provide the PA experience we have been hearing about and worrying about. The climb up to Bake Oven Knob delivered on that promise. There were a half dozen locals sitting around on the Knob soaking in the view. We got to align with them and discovered one of them had hiked from Pearisburg to Delaware Water Gap. The rest had no desire to hike any further than back to the parking lot where the cars were waiting. Something else I’ve noticed in PA; there is a lot of graffiti sprayed on rocks at lookouts. This spot had some of the most we have run across.
Coming down from the Knob, we met a man slightly older than us. Tioga just retired and is doing an unusual flip flop to get the trail in this year. He’s headed to Harpers Ferry from CT. Once there, he will take a week off to go to,a NOAC before heading to Katahdin. Tioga was an Eagle Scout as a boy and has 4 Eagle Scouts for sons. He is nearing the 50 years in scouting mark.
At Bake Oven Knob Shelter, we ran into Deluxe whom we haven’t seen for several days. It appears he has a stress fracture and getting off the trail for a while to allow it to heal. He was talking to a day hiker. I tried my hand at Yogiing a ride. He stopped me right away and said I didn’t have to Yogi, he would give us a ride. We walked out with Thunder Belly who turned off the trail to go get his car and told us where to meet him.
We had tried to get a bed reserved at the local hotel, but it was full. We’d also tried Bert’s Hostel, but got no answer. Thunder Belly dropped us at Bert’s and then we knew why we didn’t get an answer—it was closed. He offered to wait, but we said we’d be ok. We went around back and started knocking on doors. One neighbor gave us directions to the hostel where we found Fuji, String Cheese, and Broken Seal already settled in.
After supper at the Chinese restaurant, we got diverted to an ice cream shop in the opposite direction when Bunny saw people eating cones. She chose the largest member of the group to tackle to find out the location of the shop. While they were struggling on the ground, I asked his wife for the address. When Bunny heard I had the address, she let him up and gave him the remaining portion of his ice cream. We got in the shop just ahead of Purple Haze and Earl Gray just as the doors were being locked. Living up to my name, I was skipped when everyone else was getting served. I was almost forgotten for ice cream.
EFG
Palmerston smelter ziinc until 1980. It is now a Superfund site. 40% of the town is of Russian descent, 29% German and 13% Ukranian. The original settlers were mostly Eastern Europeans who worked in the smelter.
We were told the superfund designation has been or is about to be removed. The area above where the prevailing winds deposited everything is now lush and green. A friend of ours who hiked through 35+ years ago said it was like a moonscape then.
I was pretty sure there was a large Russian community in the area. Vladimir seems to be a common name in the area.