Day 98- Some Rocks, and a Bit of a Fright

June 24-18 miles-Duncannon to a campsite-AT mile 1167

One more selfie this morning with our Trail Saint, Steve (l to r, me, Blueberry, Fantastic, Green Bean, Chilly, Dusty, and Sure Foot).

The three of us headed out together. We thanked Steve profusely for his kindness. It was really a treat!

We had to walk all the way through Duncannon. We walked past the AT icon of The Doyle. 

The place looked a bit rundown. It’s reputation is that it is a terrible place to stay (bedbugs). We stayed...far away. 

Once through town we crossed a couple of rivers, the Juanita, and the mighty Susquehanna. 

The Susquehanna 

We were finally back on actual trail after the river. We had a pretty good climb. There was even a view at one point. 

Shortly after the first view, we started the rocks. 

We had begun the rocks of Rocksylvania!

Dusty was ahead when I came to a rather technical downhill rock climb. She grabbed my poles for me. From there we decided to stick together for the day (actually, as long as we’re in Rocksylvania-it’s just safer to have the three of us together).

We went down to Clark Shelter to get water, as we wouldn’t have water the rest of the day. 

We crossed just one road today. It was the summit of something. 

Nice view from the bridge. 

There was a trailhead. It was for Table Rock. 

The view from Table Rock

Me and Dusty selfie. 

When we got to the Peter’s Mtn Shelter, we went down to take a look. The site of this shelter used to be the site of the Earl Schaffer Shelter (named for the first guy to thru-hike the AT). This was a very nice shelter. 

The only downside was that water was .2 down 300 stone steps. But...someone had left just of water on the picnic table!

We filtered some. 

After a bit of a break, we toodled along, and came to another view, but it wasn’t really that great. Then, Dusty and I were walking along (Sure Foot was a little bit ahead). I was in front, when all of a sudden a big black snake went slithering in the brush right next to the trail, and about a foot from my foot! I did an immediate about face and hid behind Dusty, saying “shitshitshit” the whole time. I was so freaked out that it made me cry. I’ve seen snakes laying, or going across the trail, but I usually have a decent amount of warning when I come upon them. This totally took me by surprise. I thought I was getting better about the snakes...I guess not. Once we caught up to Sure Foot (with Dusty in front of me), then we stayed close together with Sure Foot in the lead, and me in the middle. Thankfully, we didn’t see any more snakes (I think it would have sent me over the edge). 

We made it to our chosen campsite (near a spring) for the night around 5:30ish. Except for the snake, it was a good day, and we survived the first rocks of Rocksylvania. I’m enjoying the three of us staying together. 

Here’s a little Scarlett Tanager that was eating a moth or something. 

Pretty bird!