Rocksylvania Route: Pt. 8

September 24th, 2018

We chatted a while with Orange Turtle as we packed up and ate our breakfast. He told us about life in Switzerland and his experience on the trail. He was only out for a “test run” as suggested by his wife, to see if hiking the Appalachian Trail in its entirety would be something he’d enjoy. He loved it! We told him to stay in touch, and said goodbye to Hot Rocks who chose to sleep in on such a frigid morning. I didn’t blame him. I had a hard time myself leaving the comfort of my toasty warm sleeping bag.

Since we hiked 23 miles the day prior, we decided to just aim for 18 miles for the day which would land us at the next shelter. Frisbee wasn’t kidding when he had told me that the rocky terrain would slowly become a more groomed trail. My feet were grateful!

We took a lunch break by Clarks Creek where we watched a couple of older men pulling fish out of the water so frequently that I questioned if the fish were suicidal. The next shelter’s water source had a 300 step descent down a very steep hill, so we made sure to fill up just in case we decided to hike further. Frisbee wanted to do a few stretches, so I hiked on ahead of him.

On the way, I startled a black rat snake. I didn’t see him until I was about to step on him, and I think he was more scared than I was! Not much later, I almost stepped on another snake. This one was probably the size of a worm, and I wasn’t exactly sure what kind it was.

Once Frisbee caught up with me, I told him I scared away two snakes for him. He’s terrified of snakes, by the way. “Well, you can keep on leading the way then,” he replied.

We cruised along until we made it to Peter’s Mountain Shelter, which was huge and capable of fitting at least 16 people.

It was only 4 pm, and we both felt like we had been hiking pretty strong. We decided to push the next 6.7 miles to get to the shelter right before town. Just as we walked away from the shelter, it began to drizzle. “Still want to go?” Frisbee asked. I did.

It continued to drizzle, but I didn’t mind. We passed by several power lines and a fenced in foot bridge over a highway before arriving at Clarks Ferry Shelter.

As soon as we got settled in, the sky unleashed its fury. We made it just in time, and we were less than 5 miles away from hiking into the town of Duncannon.

Distance Hiked: 24.7 miles (39.8 km)

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