Tuesday, July 21 5:47 pm 15.6 mi
AT 1219.9 Port Clinton → AT 1235.5 Creek and Campsites
Weather: Hot and sunny, my goodness it was nice having air conditioning!
Trail Conditions: Really rocky until the Pinnacle, then smooth forest road
My Condition: Feet really appreciated the day off yesterday. Knees did too! Felt great today, even through the rocky traverses
Pennsylvania is starting to really live up to its rocky reputation. Trail talk is always kind of weird – in a way, everything gets vastly exaggerated, while other things get totally understated. Example – the Roller Coaster. Most of the Guthooks comments painted a picture of it not being that bad. The reality is that day kicked my butt. Or Virginia being flat – it isn’t. Or most of southern PA being farmland – maybe a couple days, but mostly false. I guess we all just experience things differently, and too often we’re overeager to view things through the lens of other people rather than just getting out there and experiencing it for yourself. My feet remain itchy – if it continues into the next town, I may look into products for athlete’s foot.
Post Trail Analysis
Turns out being trapped in almost perpetually damp socks and shoes isn’t a great environment for your feet! Unfortunately, the reality of the AT is that you’re always going to be dealing with relatively high humidity and that things will never fully dry out. Jock itch, athlete’s foot, lots of moisture-related issues that you may have to deal with if you’re a heavy sweater like me.
After getting a ride back to the trail from Steve the shuttle driver and his adorable dog, we passed under a remarkable underpass which was covered in writing. This wasn’t graffiti, it was something different entirely. I didn’t stop for long to read it, kind of getting True Detective season one vibes. As with most towns, a long climb down into town with a light pack and empty food bag means a long climb back up with a heavy pack loaded down with supplies. Fortunately, there was some roadside trail magic. I gulped down a coke and went to work.
Slightly off trail, there is a bunkhouse with bathroom facilities, a working spigot, and a caretaker. I’m not quite sure why, but I decided to push a little bit further onward. There were some good camping spots by a beautiful, ice cold stream. As per the norm, I took the best campsite having gotten there first. Puddles was forced to set up her tent smack dab in the middle of the Appalachian Trail, and Blue managed to get us all on a video call with Cage as we gave our sore feet an ice bath in the creek.
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