3 deer 2 bears 1 porcupine

Lots has happened since my previous update (guess that's the obvious statement of the day, oops).

Boiling Springs, PA - Rocket and I unexpectedly stayed at a sweet resort, where they offer thru-hikers $125 rooms for only $25. We then unexpectedly zeroed there, meaning we spent one full day not hiking a single step on the AT. We swam, played ping pong, and ate pizza. Entirely too much pizza. We also visited the "bubble," a local artesian well (hence "Boiling Springs") which while the Bubble in itself was not super exciting, we were shown the spring by a little 8 year old girl, whose parents scuba dive in the Bubble to learn about where the water is coming from, etc, and she was a wealth of information. So for anyone who is curious, the Bubble is 52F, pumps something like 22 million gallons of water a day (or was it year?), and is fresh clean drinkable water right from the ground. Yums :)

Duncannon, PA - not much to say about this place, except that the 25 mile hike into town was one of my favorite parts of the trail. It traveled through various farmfields, and was quite pleasant. Rocket and I stayed at the Doyle, a very old Anheiser Busch Hotel that is probably infested with mold and bugs. Not any place I would recommend anyone not hiking, but there is a bar downstairs, and the rooms are cheap, so us hikers can't complain too much I guess.

For the past week, Rocket and I have been slackpacking. Slackpacking is where someone graciously takes all of your backpacking gear, except for your pack, some snacks for the day, and water. You hike all day, and are met at the end of the day with all your gear, or, in our case, a ride back to Rocket's mother's house and a shower, laundry, real food, real bed, etc etc. We took a couple planned zeros while we were home to relax and get some errands done. It has been lovely. Tomorrow we return to the trail for real. HUGE thanks to Rocket's madre for going out of her way so much for us this past week. Rocket and I were constantly changing our plans daily, but she patiently put up with us :) and we are extremely grateful for the break from the normal daily routine.

The hiking itself has been relatively uneventful. Couple of views, terrain has been mild, but the excitement of the week was the porcupine we happened upon at the end of one of our hiking days that we dubbed Porcupine Joe. Then, the next morning, we saw a mama deer and two baby fawns. Ten minutes later, we saw two bears! We startled them, they went running, didn't see where we were standing, and started running towards us! EEK! Thankfully, as soon as they saw us they bolted in the other direction. What a sight though :)

Also, the climb out of Palmerton, PA, which is reportedly the most difficult south of New Hampshire, was a crazy rock scramble, loads of fun, lots of blueberries and raspberries at the top of the ridge, and a hike I would definitely like to do again :)

While hiking itself gets monotonous, the adventure of thru hiking is still a blast and I'm lucky to not only be able to experience this adventure, but also to share it with Rocket. Even though sometimes he is grumpy, haha.

Haven't taken too many pictures the past little bit, will get up ones I have taken as soon as I'm able. In the meantime, check out Rocket's pictures!

www.flickr.com/photos/gcadventures

Changed my link, not sure of the old one will still work, so here is the current link to my photos:

www.flickr.com/photos/theashface

Everybody was night hiking

Lots has happened since my birthday. So I'll give some of the highlights as quick as I can :)

Finally got some night hiking in. Night hiking is exactly what it sounds like - hiking in the dark at night. It's a crazy experience, and I'm quite fond of it :) I've night hiked a few nights now, the most memorable night was about a week or two ago. We had a craazy thunderstorm during the day, and Rocket and I got to a shelter just as it was starting to wait it out. Hardly got wet, which was nice. Made dinner, relaxed a little with a bunch of other hikers. About 6:30 pm, it stopped raining, so me, Rocket, Stretcher (who has been hiking with us for a while) and another hiker Cowgirl all decided to head out for a few more miles. Unfortunately, just as it started to get dark, it also started to rain. And, of course, we were hiking along the side of a mountain, and it was a steep downhill to the left, and a steep uphill to the right, and absolutely no place to pitch our tents. So there we are, Cowgirl way in front, and Stretcher behind us (we had no idea he was even behind us until his headlamp came up behind us in the dark!), getting drenched in the pouring down rain, climbing over slippery rocks up a mountain trying to find a place to camp. Then we see the sign: "no camping the next 1 mile" Ack! Well, about half a mile later, we found amazing camping on a cliff, where Cowgirl had already set up her tent, and decided to forget the rules, and pitched our tents. Woke up to an amazing view of the clouds below settled over the town. So amazing.

A few days ago, Rocket and I were walking out of the Shenandoahs (which were quite boring, I must add...if you ever go to the Shennies, don't backpack the AT...do the side trails, they offer way better scenery, or so I hear), and we ran into a family with two daughters who were only 4 or 5 and 7 or 8, and they were backpacking! The dad was carrying most of the stuff; the youngest daughter just had a little purse, and the older daughter had a mini backpack. How cool to give your kids such an amazing experience at such a young age! Anyway, the daughters were excited to see a female thru hiker, and had something for me - it was a lucky bracelet :) A green rubber band in the shape of a rhino! What wonderful trail magic :)

Waynesboro was great. Took a zero day, my parents came down for a couple hours to visit. Got to swim in the pool at the YMCA, and had an amazing grill out with veggies and burgers. Shenandoahs were okay. The hiking itself was boring, we had only one good view. We camped in the woods most of the time and avoided the shelters.

Currently in Harpers Ferry, WV, where the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters is located. Got my picture taken for the thru hikers book. I was the 275th Northbound thru hiker to come through this year. Pretty amazing. Of course, if I don't finish the entire trail this year, including the section I skipped, I'm considered a section hiker, but hey, an entire summer out backpacking is as good an accomplishment as any right? :)

After all, it's the journey to Maine, not Maine itself, that makes this trip amazing and life changing.

New pic updates. And I remembered to actually add that video of Rocket this time :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48651563@N04