Pennsylvania Pictures

Pennsylvania Pictures

This is a view from the bridge in the middle of Caledonia State Park.  The walk in to the park from Rt. 30 was really beautiful -- all hemlocks and rhododendrons.  I arrived too late (it was nearly dark) to get photographs of that, and I'm too focused to go backwards for anything, so I had to settle for this.  Still, it was a very pretty view up and down this creek.

This is the idyllic clearing in which I camped at Tom's Run.  The creek is right there, but below grade where you can't see it. I did have the lovely babbling brook noise to help me sleep.  I love the babbling brook noise.  You might also note that there are a lot of rocks embedded in the ground here.  Finding a place to tent that wasn't on top of any of them was a challenge.  At least it's flat.  

The Pine Grove Furnace General Store with hikers eating ice cream, starting with the total back view

and moving clockwise: Too Obtuse, PA Mule, David, Pace, Bagel.  The idea here is to down a 1/2 gallon of ice cream.  A lot of hikers can actually do this.  I didn't even consider it.  I picked out a pint of Hershey's peanut butter ice cream and couldn't even finish THAT.  If you are about to take the 1/2 gallon challenge, don't pick peanut butter.  Bagel did, and the lumps of peanut butter facing you at the bottom of the 1/2 gallon are just too depressing.

This is a surprisingly good representation of what I saw.  The Fuller Lake, which is just outside of Pine Grove Furnace,  was as smooth as glass because there not even a whiff of wind.  I'm surprised this was so clear of a photo -- it was before 6am and not very light out.  This was the earliest start I've EVER gotten while backpacking.

About 30 minutes later, there was this, the half-way marker.  You can just see the sun coming through the trees, but it was still quite dark in the forest.

This was some bizzarre graffiti that I saw later on the same day between Pine Grove Furnace and Boiling Springs after PA-94 and before Whiskey Springs Rd on that first climb.  By now, it had gotten very hot and there was still no wind.  By the time I got to Boiling Springs, about 3pm, it was over 100'.  The Springs are not actually boiling, they are bubbling.  They are a very regular temperature of 55'.  They made my feet very, very happy as that feels incredibly cold when the outside temperature is over 100'.

This was taken at Port Clinton, PA at about 8:30am when Tino dropped me off.  The temperature climbed to 105' that day.  There are many of these signs on the road all up and down the trail.

When I say that the trail is less of a trail and more of a pile of rocks, this is what I mean.  There's no blaze on this pile of rocks either, so you're just supposed to figure out that you are to scale these rocks.  Pennsylvania really made me appreciate the consistent blazing provided by the PATC.

This is the Blue Mountain B&B on PA309.  They were nice enough to allow me to pitch my tent in their backyard.

This is me on top of Mt. Minsi just outside Delaware Water Gap.  Note my PVC pipe poles.  I didn't get my Lekis back until I got my drop at DWG.  I think Carl must have taken this picture.  

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