~*~ PA section of the AT ~*~

Duncannon, PA to Swatara Creek, PA

Date: Martin Luther King Weekend, January 2005

Hikers: Brad , Eric (Brad’s brother), Ken (Brad’s dad), Kim (lilmountaingirl), 2 mysterious young men & Dakota (Ken’s dog)

Mileage:

Elevation Gain/Loss:

Day 1

After a Friday night of hanging out in downtown Harrisburg, the phone ringing at 6:45am was not all that well received. Ken called to let us know that they were on the way and would be at the trailhead by around 8:30am. After getting a wee bit lost on the way to the trailhead (in PA, right means left, evidently, PENNDOT for ya!), we finally managed to find our way to the rest of the group. After brief introductions, Eric jumped in the car with Brad and I, while the two young men rode with Dakota (the resident four legged creature) and Ken to Duncannon, PA.

Around 9:30am, we were geared up and ready to hit the trail. We started off on the train tracks in the wrong direction but thankfully discovered it almost immediately and turned around. There was a train parked in front of the trail, so we hadn’t seen it on first glance. We made our way between the train and a rock wall until Brad yelled out that he found the trail. Thank God. We started off on an immediate 3 mile up hill climb. Brad led the way, followed by Kim and the two youngsters. Ken and Eric followed along behind. Almost immediately I remembered what a pain in the arse the PA trails can be, covered with roots and rocks that are impossible to avoid.

Brad forged on ahead and shortly I heard a voice yell “Hey – do you want a pickle?” What??? As I made my way up to him, I discovered that indeed there was a gallon jar of kosher dill pickles waiting for us on the rocks. I’m not sure who would have carried such a thing up that trail, but we had a good laugh and a brief discussion on whether or not peeing in a jar of kosher pickles would matter and if they would still be considered kosher after being peed in. Brad consulted his Jewish friend at work and he decided that it would depend if the pee itself was Kosher. The kids had gone ahead at this point so we called them on the radio when Ken and Eric reached us. They had reached the top of the mountain so we all made our way up there for a brief break. The view from the top was beautiful of Duncannon, PA and the Susquehanna River, the Juniata River and the other creek…which I dubbed “Shit Creek” since we couldn’t remember the name. The amount of rain in the area lately made for an extremely high water mark. We noted that the islands were almost underwater.

After about a 10 minute break, we took off again. The air was about 35 degrees but the sky was beautiful and it made for great hiking. When we reached Clark’s Ferry Shelter, Brad and I decided to take a lunch break and everyone else kept on trucking. We spent a good 40 minutes; enjoying lunch and refilling our water before heading back out onto the trail.

Around 2:00pm, Eric came up behind us. Apparently the rest of the group had stopped for a break and when he heard us go by, he chased us down. We paused briefly as we waited for everyone to catch up before we set out again. This time Eric and the boys took off ahead while Brad, Ken and I lingered behind. Ken was having some difficulty with the rocks and roots (weren’t we all) so we took our time with him. Dakota was good and made sure to keep tabs on all of us. That dog hiked at least twice as far as the rest of us! Around 4pm we met up with Eric and the boys at Table Top rocks. Brad and I threw our packs down and rested for a minute. Ken decided to keep on moving to the shelter. Shortly, Eric and the boys took off as well. Brad and I lingered for awhile longer, snapping a couple of pictures and taking in the scenery.

At 4:30pm we rolled into the Peter’s Mountain Shelter only to discover that there was a full house. The shelter was packed with another group and there was a tent set up already outside the shelter. So much for solitude! We settled on the “old” shelter which was basically a small little lean-to that fit about 4 people. Ken and the boys took the shelter and built a fire, while Eric set up his tarp. I set up my tent and camp was ready to go! We needed to replenish our water so Eric, Brad and I decided to walk the 300 feet to the spring. Needless to say, the 300 feet was a straight down, vertical drop. It was miserable. It’s a sick, sick joke to make someone walk such a trail to fill up their water. I can’t tell you how many times “this sucks” was said.

When we finally made it back to camp, we each went about making our dinner (Brad’s was the best, by far) and swallowed it whole. Several of us noted how clear the sky was and how beautiful the stars were. I wished at that moment that I knew more about constellations and only managed to seek out the big dipper and the small dipper. We sat by the campfire huddled around Eric’s little portable TV watching a little bit of the Jets/Steelers game and after about 15 minutes or so around the campfire, I decided to turn in for the night. It was only 7pm, if that. The group that was staying in the new shelter was a little bit rowdy and Brad commented that he wished he had remembered to bring his ultra-light grenade launcher. Around 9pm they quieted down and we fell into a deep sleep.

Day 2

As I broke down camp, the rest of the group packed up. Ken had twisted his knee the day before and had decided to cut out early and have his wife pick him up. The boys decided to go with him rather than continue on, so that left Eric, Brad and I to ourselves.

After saying our goodbyes, we headed off for our next stopping point at Yellow Springs. Although the majority of the trail was level, the rocks and roots and fallen trees were obnoxious. Eric and Brad led the way, and I often lost sight of them. My knee started to give me trouble about halfway through the day but there wasn’t a lot I could do at that point. We all stopped for a little water break and refueling. I had set my trail mix down on the rock and out of the blue a chipmunk decided it was HIS. Brad caught sight of what was going on and stepped in. I saw fingers and trail mix and chipmunks everywhere. In Brad’s attempt to grab my trail mix, the chipmunk got pissed and latched onto Brad’s finger!!! A rabid chipmunk!!! Brad flung his hand to the side and the chipmunk set sail through the air…never to be seen or heard from again. I think Brad’s finger got the worst of it.

Around 1pm we stopped for lunch at a creek, right by a trailhead. Eric asked if anyone wanted to go swimming and Brad commented that “thermaflests roat”. Huh?. As we munched away, 2 dayhikers and their dogs made their way past us and on up the trail. After filling our water, yet again, we headed back out ourselves. We knew that what was ahead of us was a good 2 mile climb so we needed the energy of lunch to carry us through. Although it was up, up and more up…the grade was nice enough to not cause problems. Although it was tedious, it was a decent trail with not too many rocks, except for in a few areas. By the time we got to the top, my right knee was killing me. The smoky smell that filled the air was justified by the dayhikers cooking lunch at the top of the mountain. Although the rest of the trail to the campsite was fairly level, it felt like an eternity. Every 10 feet seemed to bring a new obstacle that we had to negotiate around or over.

Somewhere around 3:30pm, I lost track of Brad and Eric. They were ahead of me and I was left to my thoughts and my stupid knee. Although it seemed like more than an hour had passed, it was 4:30pm when I saw them in the distance. We were close to where we would be camping and they had held up to wait for me. It’s amazing what the sight of your fellow hikers can do for the psyche. By this time, it was growing dark and beginning to snow so I was more than happy to know we were almost done for the day. Around 5:00, we came across a beautiful campsite. It was just below the hill where we originally were going to camp, but it was perfect. A stream flowed nearby and the setting was great for relaxing. It was agreed upon that anyone who might sleepwalk in the night would be putting their life on the line with the 30’ drop into the ravine. We immediately set up camp before it got dark. Once the tents and tarps were up, Brad and Eric attempted to get a fire going. Unfortunately, the wood was damp, the leaves were damp and the snow wasn’t helping so after about 20 minutes and almost an entire bottle of white gas, we gave up. We each cooked dinner and then called it a night around 6:30pm.

Day 3

It was beautiful to look out of the tent and see the freshly fallen snow in the woods. It was silent and fresh and cold but it was amazing. Eric was running in circles trying to stay warm. I paused briefly to watch a little spider make his way through the fresh snow. They made some hot cocoa and we broke down camp to head out on our final day.

Brad and I set out ahead of Eric, who said he would catch up later. The first little incline warmed me up and then we had a flat trail for about 2 miles. Flat…yet covered with more rocks, roots and downed trees. Almost immediately, my knee hurt again. About an hour into the day, I hear Brad up ahead yell out “this sucks!!!!” As I reached him I see that the trail is basically a creek and the only way to get through it is to rock hop. Ugh…so we did. Rock to root to root to rock with an occasional “sploosh” in between. Brad and I decided that Backpacker Twister would be a good game. Right leg – rock! Left leg – root! Right hand – tree! Left hand – branch! Forehead – ground! You lose!

Shortly after navigating our way through that part of the trail, Eric caught up with us and stated “thank you goretex and gaiters”. Evidently, he had just walked right through the middle of the madness that Brad and I had so carefully maneuvered around. Eric stopped at the next trail intersection and when I caught up we made the decision to cut down the Cold Springs Trail to an old rail trail. This would give us a solid 3 miles on even ground without rocks and roots. All of us had aches and pains so we decided this would be the best route for now. Cold Springs Trail was a bitch. We literally followed the creek bed all the way to the bottom. At about the ¾ mark, we decided that when we hit the rail trail, we would light up cigars. Thankfully, after a few more miserable downhill successions, we were there. As I reached the bottom, Eric broke out the cigars and we started off again, puffing away. Damn that was a good cigar.

We had already decided to not stop for lunch so we pressed forward and made up some good time on the flat terrain. Although there were no obstacles to navigate, there was plenty of ice under the freshly fallen snow that sent us skidding and skating every once in awhile. Again, I dropped back and took my time along the trail. It was so silent and pure and peaceful and despite some pangs in my knee, I was loving life. I noted Brad and Eric sitting down ahead and just as I reached them I hit patch of ice. WHAMMO…down I went. The first thing I heard was Brad laughing, shortly followed by “are <giggle> you <snort> okay <hahahaha>?” As I stood up he yelled “get back on your knees so I can take a picture!” Heck no!

We had reached Rausch Gap where we would pick up the AT again to finish our hike out. At this point we figured it was probably another hour and a half. There was a substantial uphill climb followed by about a mile downhill and then another ½ mile or so on level ground so we set out for the last time. Eric immediately took off and took the lead – he had fallen earlier and was ready to be done. The uphill was gradual enough to keep us warm but not so steep as to really tire us out. Lack of lunch kind of left us bonked but we pressed on. I came around a turn where the old AT met the new and Brad was checking the map. He looked up and said “well…it’s all downhill from here”! Although I wasn’t thrilled about the downhill and my knee – I was glad to know we were finishing. As we turned the next corner we were greeted with an immediate uphill climb and a yell of “DAMNIT!!!!!” So much for all downhill.

Another 15 minutes of climbing and we finally reached the top; the downhill began and was fairly even from the start. The freshly fallen snow definitely helped to cushion the frozen ground and our jarred bodies. There was a final steep decline that I was dreading more than anything and when I finally came across it, I was ready to burst into tears. Had it not been for the rocks and roots, I would have sat down and slid to the bottom just to save what was left of my knee. When I reached Brad at the bottom he was smiling and had been talking to Eric on the two way radios. The good news was that we only had a few hundred more yards to go. Out of the woods and across a field…and we were home free. Eric had been at his car for about 30 minutes and had pulled up to meet us where the trail crossed the road. He cut about a ½ mile off of our trip and for that, I was extremely grateful.

We could not have been happier to see that car! We dropped our packs and threw them in the backseat and set out back to Duncannon.

Memorable Phrases Uttered This Weekend:

1. Bob, can you pick us up?
2. Are you normal?
3. This is the top….all down from here….GOD DAMMIT!!!!!
4. Want a pickle?
5. This trail SUCKS.
6. Pancake…bomp chicka bowmp booowmp
7. If you pee on Kosher pickles…are they still Kosher?
8. “F^@K!!! Pardon my French” “That’s not French”
9. I can’t believe I forgot my ultralight grenade launcher.
10. F*ckin’ rocks!

~ Back to Trip Reports ~*~ Home ~*~ Contact Me ~