May 12
End: Leroy A. Smith Shelter
Miles: 33.5
Total: 3129.8
Our late night made my start a little later than usual. Two Medicine got up at four thirty in the morning, which did not help me sleep any more. I left before Spiral and Swivel, who were also quite tired.
Pretty soon I found myself hiking with a man doing some training for a section hike. I informed him that I thought the Pennsylvania rocks were ridiculous and one of the most pointless and least enjoyable portions of my entire trek.
The day covered some pretty seriously rocky obstacles. First there was the Knife’s Edge, a tricky group of slanted rock slabs, and then Bake Oven Knob, a giant boulder field. After these I took a short break at the Bake Oven Knob Shelter, where Spiral and Swivel caught up.
I left them and continued on. I fought through the rocks and descended to Lehigh Gap and caught a glimpse of a big pile of rocks. Pretty soon I was climbing that pile of rocks, and it was definitely rock climbing, not hiking. After that slow down, I trudged through tall grass and took on about twenty or thirty ticks, which I hurriedly picked off.
Continuing on at the same pace, I did not encounter many more big climbs. I kept myself moving over the annoying rocks at a steady pace and kept an eye on the time. My goal was to get to Leroy A. Smith Shelter, but the rock climbing had slowed me down.
Picking up the pace a little bit for the last two hours, I arrived at the path to the shelter as darkness set in, and walked down to meet a few section hikers. It took me awhile to cook dinner and get to bed. I kept in touch with Spiral and Swivel, who were behind a few miles, and we planned to meet up the next day.
