I've Been Busy

I saw it's been nearly three weeks since my last update. Sorry. I've been doing a lot of hiking and chores for Sherry. Since my last posting we've moved the RV twice and I went hiking with a friend for a couple days. I finished two states - West Virginia and Maryland - and went over not just 700 miles, but also 800.

An old friend from my Navy days came out to hike with me. He had never been hiking and his introduction was two days and twenty miles on the AT. We started by doing the one mile approach to Harpers Ferry and then across the bridge over the Potomac River into Maryland. It was an easy twenty miles and he got some good experience. It was nice to hike with him and share the experience. He seemed to have a good time. It'll be interesting to see if he continues with it.

Sherry and I moved the RV from Harpers Ferry to Fort Meade, MD the day after he left and that gave Sherry a chance to see some family in the area and tour around DC and Annapolis, including my old employer - the US Naval Academy. After a week, we moved the RV to Delaware Water Gap, PA. In the pouring rain. Driving in the deluge was hard enough, but we got soaked doing the breakdown and hook-up. We haven't figured out where we're moving to next. We'll be here through at least the 18th so we have time but bookings are getting harder to get in the summer season now that school is getting out.

While she was doing all of that in the DC area I finished Maryland and crossed into Pennsylvania, famed on the trail as Rocksylvania. It's a somewhat justified nickname. What I've been finding is the trail in Pennsylvania comes in three varieties with regard to the rocks. There's the rock-free sections which are very easy to hike. Then, there's the rock-scramble sections that are also pretty easy. I just walk on the rocks (not between them), especially the knife-edges. It makes it easier that way but makes the ankles tired. Then, there's the third kind, sections where it's as if someone came in with a dump truck and unloaded a pile of rock debris. Sections like this are hard to walk on and slow you down. My feet hurt after walking on long stretches of this. And, they can go for miles at a time.

What people have failed to tell me about hiking in PA is how pretty it is. There's the forest-covered hills, of course, but also these bucolic sections surrounded by farms and meadows.

Unfortunately, we are getting into the hot season and that means the bugs are out. Both are a problem The heat is obviously an issue, but it also means water consumption goes up. You can go a long ways between water sources here and I'm careful not to filter water downstream from those farms I mentioned. Filters take out bacteria and particles that size or larger. They don't take out chemicals and viruses. If the water smells like cow urine before you filter it, it'll probably smell like cow urine after.

The bugs are reaching the summer-trouble level. I've had to start using DEET and a head net. Mosquitoes are just starting and aren't too bad yet. But, there's these little bugs that fly around your head, driving you crazy with their constant buzzing. They're somewhat suicidal and will dive bomb into your eyes, nose, and ears as you're walking. Fortunately, they don't bite. Everyone calls them black flies. I've always called them gnats. I've been researching to find out just what they are and found out they're called eye gnats. The females use secretions from our bodies for their eggs in much the same way mosquitoes use blood.

I've also hiked through three towns in Pennsylvania - so far. I mention this because I read somewhere the AT only passes through three towns - Hot Spring, NC, Damascus, VA, and Hanover, NH. I know from experience it also passes through Norwich, VT and Dalton, Massachusetts. Now, I've added three more towns to that list in just one state - Boiling Springs, Duncannon, and Port Clinton. It also goes through Delaware Water Gap and maybe even another town. I still have seventy miles to go before finishing PA. I think that are a number of other towns in sections I haven't done yet. Clearly, whoever wrote that statement didn't do a lot of research.

I was feeling pretty ill yesterday (the 7th) and Sherry picked me up in Port Clinton. Not surprising I got a little sick since you eat everything with your hands and they're filthy. The surprising part is that people don't seem to get sick more often. So, I'm going to do a couple of days slack-packing south out of Delaware Water Gap. The son of one of Sherry's friends recently died suddenly from a stroke and we're going to the funeral service in Massachusetts this week. When we get back I'll finish the section between here and Port Clinton.

I'm able to get good miles in every day but the end date is a long ways off. Eight hundred miles is a lot, but still only a little more than a third of the way. This week saw the three-month anniversary of my starting. That's a lot of miles left to do. So, onwards and northwards. If you want to follow my location you can try this link that shows my Garmin InReach waypoints.

https://share.garmin.com/6aw87