Thursday, 14 October

Last night was the coolest night while hiking this section. It also got a little breezy and made for great sleeping. Since it is dark by seven and does not get light until about six thirty in the morning, that is more dark time than you can possibly sleep. I was tired after a thirteen plus mile day and after reading a little, was asleep a bit after seven. I was awake at midnight after five hours of sleep. I turned on my Kindle and read for about another hour before going back to sleep. I was up again about six and started to pack up. This was also the first night with no overnight rain. There were no other campers nearby.

After making coffee and having breakfast, I was hiking at seven thirty. Today was supposed to be sunny and a couple times I saw the sun trying to peek through but it was soon back to fog and mist. Shortly, I met Crunchy, a southbound hiker heading to Georgia. Crunchy had started in Maine on August 20 so he was doing pretty big miles. Next up was a pair of hunters, the woman was carrying the crossbow. It is bow season for deer in Pennsylvania. Next up was a trail marker for 1,000 miles. This marked 1,000 miles completed for soutbounders. It also made me stop and think that it also meant that it was less than 1,000 miles for me if I try to complete the AT. After an easy two and a half or three miles the rocks started. I guess I should have expected some today. A few more hikers and I was at the truck around nine thirty. There were a couple other cars and a hiker arrived and one left.

I washed up and changed into clean clothes for the drive home. A stop at McDonald’s for some breakfast sandwiches and more coffee before heading south. Of course the sun came out about a half hour into my drive. I hadn’t seen more than one hour of sun during the past two weeks, both hiking and at home.

Arrived home satisfied that I had now hiked all the AT from Georgia to Palmerton, PA. Probably the end of backpacking for the year. I have the winter to contemplate what is next. I know I want to complete the miles left in PA but what about New Jersey and New York???? Plenty of time to think about it.