What a day! I hiked by myself today (Rolling Stone went to town and Mallory had a sleep in). I woke up early and was on trail just before 7am. I planned to make it to a shelter 13.3 miles away.

The trail changed character all day long! Which made for an interesting, but tiring day. It started with my first water crossing. Beaver’s had damned up a small stream and made a large pond/ marshy area. My choices were to walk through it or take the dry detour which added a mile and a half to my day’s hike. There will be lots of water crossings so I just decided to go through (plus I didn’t want to do a 15 mile day). So I carefully picked my way across walking on sunken logs for about a quarter of a mile to the other side. I’m proud to say I did not slip off into the water and only the soles of my shoes got wet! It is always a better hike when you keep your socks dry (bit of foreshadowing – they don’t stay dry all day).

Pennsylvania is known for its super rocky trails and is called Rocksylvania in the AT community. It definitely lives up to the name. The trail has lots of rocks everywhere. Unlike most places, somehow they are not solidly embedded in the dirt. They are just there and if you step on them it hurts the soles of your feet AND they roll under your feet. I’m constantly looking at where J place my feet and adjusting my gait in an attempt to avoid rocks. The trail was like that for the first 6 miles of my day. I managed to go about 2 miles an hour (a pretty good pace for me. Since there was also a lot of PUDs).

I ended up making it to a trail side store (extremely rare) around 10am. I was thrilled. They had furniture with backs (so wonderful to sit and lean), a small selection of resupply, a place to charge my phone and lots of snacks. The owner gave me instructions on how it worked (self serve and pay with Venmo). I selected my snacks (pizza and ice cream sandwich) and sat down to relax. A couple of other hikers I knew stopped by and I charged my phone. It was a nice long break in the middle of my day. As I’m sitting there relaxing, one of the hikers, Heat Meister, who came in after me mentioned there was rain predicted for the afternoon. So immediately my rest break was over, I still had almost 8 miles to go.

I leapt up from my seat with a back (sorry to say good bye to that) and started off. First I had to cross Interstate 81 by passing through what felt like a a secret passage way (across an old bridge, through a park, and then under the actual interstate). I started a long rocky 3.5 uphill climb. Talk about a workout! I’m huffing and puffing (minimal coughing fits I’m happy to report) and telling myself I could do it (okay I was singing that in my head, but it works!)

About three fourths of the way up, it starts to rain. That’s okay I tell myself. It will be cooler. I won’t sweat so much. All good things about rain when you are hiking. Bad things about hiking in the rain: the rocks and the trail get super slippery. I finally make it to the top of the climb for what I am hoping will be a nice smooth ridge walk.

My hopes are dashed- with not just rocks, but millions of rocks. There are rocks on rocks on rocks! It is like a nightmare sea of rocks (see photos above). These rocks are precariously balanced on other rocks and THEY ALL MOVE! When you step on these rocks (and there is no way not to) they shift under your feet a lot. Not just settling, but big movements and sometimes they set off other rocks moving. it is like a scary fun house floor at the carnival, only the consequences of falling or getting your foot trapped are very real. This is all compounded by the fact that it had rained for about 2 hours and all the rocks were wet, slippery and most have lichen or moss on them making them super slippery! The entire time I was picking my way across I was thinking about what I had in my pack to make a tourniquet if I fell and broke my femur and started bleeding out (not joking). Scariest quarter mile of my life, so far.

My reward for making it safely across the boulder field was the rockiest trail I have seen to date. These rocks were mostly 12-24 inches across, piled on top of each other and shifted with every step (the photo above does not do it justice). It made for a long slow afternoon and I didn’t get to my campsite until a little after 5 pm. The soles of my feet were bruised and tender. I was wet to the bone (so grateful none are broken) and my socks and shoes were sopping wet.

Even though I was ready to collapse when I arrived at the campsite, it took me about an hour to get everything set up. An hour before I could sit. When I finally got my hammock set up, I was so grateful to just sit. Too tired to cook. Too tired to go get water. Truthfully too tired to eat. I just sat. After a bit, I struggled to stand, staggered down a ways to hang my food bag (you hang it as far away from you as you want the bear to be when they find it) brushed my teeth, changed into sleeping clothes and was sound asleep before 7pm.

Note: it was a very challenging day, but I am amazed at how far I have come since I started – not just in miles, but in stamina both physical and mental. A month ago I’m not sure I could physically have made it across the boulder field and mentally, I’m pretty sure I would have talked myself out of even trying.

Scary note: someone in camp told me the hard part of Rocksylvania doesn’t even start for another 10 miles 😱