Reflections at Mile 1078 in Pennsylvania

It has been a very wet few days since the last post. Below is one of the streams that Tom and the hikers had to cross and they all removed their shoes and carried them because the stream was knee deep in places.

Just before leaving Virginia a 4 foot snake crossed Tom's path. It was a black snake he tells me which are not poisonous. They startled each other! There is an upcoming area in Pennsylvania referred to as" Rattlesnake Rocks" which may be an adventure.

Just before leaving Maryland the  AT goes though a wonderful park called Gathland State Park. This arch below was built in 1896 during the Civil War and is referred to as War Correspondents Memorial Arch.

 

The native mountain laurel are in full bloom now and beautiful along the trail.

 

 

 

After having a very wet day and finding a campground called Dahlgren Backpack Campground,  Tom was pleased to find a restaurant less than .4 miles away called Old South Mountain Inn. The special of the day was beef filet and then he followed that with this yummy dessert. It is true that on this part of the trail it will be more likely to find restaurants along the way. It was worth it walking in the rain to find this place. Two other hikers were also eating there, and they were from Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

 

The Mason Dixon line is actually the demarcation among four states and forms part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia. It is also a cultural boundary between the Northern and Southern States. For Tom is marked his entry into Pennsylvania.

The sign below was along the trail and of you do the math it does not add up to the 2,180 miles that now comprise the current AT. The mileage has changed over the years due to geographic changes . This sign was made several years ago.

 

 

Tom has been hiking with some veterans this week called "Warriors" and The Washington Post published an article June 12, 2014 about their journey entitled,

"In a trek from Georgia to Maine, a group of veterans aim to walk off the war". It is a great article and if you are interested you can google the article online.

 

 

Tom will be coming into two great trail towns this week called Boiling Springs and Duncannon, Pennsylvania. The reason these are called trail towns is that the town  will be "hiker friendly" with an outfitter and many lodging and eating options for the tired and hungry hikers usually right along the main street.