Slacking and loving it

We’ve had an awesome few days, visiting with Pancho’s mom and my folks. Stayed in Mechanicsburg, and slackpacked our longest day by far—25 miles from Boiling Springs to Duncannon. 

Doyle Hotel, Duncannon, PA.

Leaving Duncannon, looking down on the bridge
on which we crossed the Susquehanna.

Had a beer at the Doyle Hotel, one of the classic hiker bars along the AT. It’s 100+ years old, built by the Anheuser Busch company, and definitely a bit of a dive. Recommended for food and beer, not so much for lodging. Duncannon is definitely the antithesis of Boiling Springs, which is super cute and rather upscale. Some very cool, very old houses.

Garter snake. Who clearly just ate a somewhat chipmunk-sized snack.

Suck it in and squeeze through. Note the blaze on the left.

Getting ready to head into the field. PA.

House and old power plant (on left), Boiling Springs, PA.

PA has been very interesting so far. We’ve hiked through corn, cow, and hay fields and seen some amazing and enormous old barns. We haven’t hit the awful part of PA yet, in the north, where the trail is apparently a field of sharp, pointy rocks that torture ankles and chew up boots. This area is mostly flat, but disturbingly full of large poisonous snakes. Pancho had his first experience with The Rattle yesterday. One of those sounds hardwired into our genetics, to just freeze you in place. Hiking along a ridge, through some rocks, we heard it. He starts backing up, going “oh shit, oh shit.” And there was a good sized timber rattler all coiled up in the sun. I took out the camera, snapped a few shots, then as I turned to put the camera away, I spy the other snake, coiled about 4 feet away. Not nearly as dramatic as other hikers through this section, who have seen 4-5 copperheads, often at the same time.

For the last couple of days, we’ve been staying in Marysville, at a nice little BnB on the shore of the Susquehanna, right by the Rockville Stone Arch train bridge. My dad has been watching trains all day after they drop us off at the trail so we can hike. 

Hiked by a couple of abandoned coal mining villages today. One, at Yellow Springs, was deep in the woods. In the 1850s. I can’t imagine getting the equipment in there. And I think my pack is heavy. Also saw a diversion well on the creek in Rausch Gap, trying to improve the pH of the water, in order to allow fish to live there. Very interesting—passing the creek water over crushed limestone.

Rausch Gap RR bridge.

Diversion well, Rausch Gap PA.

Swatara Creek Bridge. Built 1890. Now an AT footbridge.

On the deck at Bridgeview BnB. The Rockville Stone Arch Bridge is in the background, across the Susquehanna.

A good hiking day and educational, too. We did over 17 miles, without much effort, which would not have been possible for Pancho, just one month ago. Not to mention the fact that he’s lost about 25 pounds so far. Really, really proud of him! Tomorrow, my folks head south and we head north, next town stop in Danielsville, PA.