Miles today: 18
Total miles: 950.3
I slept wonderfully last night in the jail house hostel. I got up around 745 this morning and headed to the grocery store with Blondie. We resupplied and even got free apples since we are hikers. We packed up all our stuff and walked down the street to find a hitch around 10 am. I went to mail some letters at the post office on the way and asked an elderly man there if we take 248 east or west to get back to the trail. He replied that he knew right where it was and would give us a ride. After he did his errands. So Blondie and I rode and then sat and waited in the back of this mans car like little kids while he went to a couple different stores. He then drove us back to the trail and we got hiking by 11:15. We really need to stop starting so late. Luckily we only had 18 to go today and after the 20 miles starting at 11 am yesterday I knew I’d be fine time wise
The hiking was good today. Tons of day hikers were out as its the weekend. I met four day hikers about my age, two of whom plan to hike the AT in 2015. The girl asked me a bunch of really good questions and I hiked with her and the other girl for a while, chatting with them which was a nice change. The terrain today wasn’t bad. I’ve been expecting Pennsylvania to be miserable, as the northbounders have been warning me since Maine about how terrible and rocky the state is. Besides a tough rocky ten mile stretch my first day in PA, the rocks haven’t been nearly as bad as I expected. There are some rocky sections but also long sections of flat, easy, almost road like trail.
Blondie and I were lazy as usual, taking a lot of breaks today. We still made it to the shelter by about 6 pm though. ‘twas a good day and nice to be back in the woods after three straight nights in towns.