Rocksylvania Route: Pt. 3

September 19th, 2018

Today marks one year since we reached the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine after a second thru hike attempt. Instead of basking in the glory of being a thru hiker, I’m making up missed miles as a LASHer (Long Ass Section Hiker). At least the weather seems to be favorable. It feels and smells like autumn with some of the leaves beginning to fall from the trees.

The weather would hold up the rest of the day and we passed several day hikers and dog walkers before taking our lunch break at Bake Oven Knob Shelter. The trail register was old, so we got to read some comments from some former trail family who stopped there the year prior. Someone had left a blue, foam sleep mat inside. I suggested Frisbee pack it out and use it until we could replace his leaky sleep pad in Hamburg. He declined. Sometimes he’s as stubborn as I am.

We saw more day hikers and more scenery as we continued south. Unfortunately some of the locals had spray painted a lot of the rocks on the overlooks.

As we hiked deeper into State Game Lands, we heard the occasional gunfire and I was periodically reminded that I wasn’t wearing any orange. Hopefully I don’t acquire any bullets during this hike.

Frisbee is a bit more prepared than I am

We made our stop for the night at Allentown Hiking Club Shelter which was very well maintained. After reading the register, we realized we had just passed by a trail maintainer who just weed whacked the area. We thought we were going to be the only ones in the shelter until we heard someone approaching. He was a NOBO named Yahtzee who was from France. He had limited time left on his travel visa and had originally planned to flip flop, but ended up making friends with a few other NOBOs who were just behind him. He was going to be hiking to New York where he’d catch his flight out. Shortly after his arrival, we’d meet Little Bear and another NOBO whose name changed on the daily. It was an entertaining group to spend the rest of the evening with.