April 26, 2013
Section Miles: 17.5 Total Miles: 138.9
Rene and I are now on the last two sections of the trail, far enough from home that we planned an overnight stay in Harrisburg to finish up. We're excited to once again step foot on the Appalachian Trail, this time being able to say that we walked "from Philadelphia" (basically, in round numbers). But first, we have to continue across the valley northwest of Hershey and head for Blue Mountain. We arrived at Boat House Park bright and early in the morning, only to find the entrance completely blocked by a road grader. I was already moving on to Plan B, which involved lots of pancakes and coffee at a local diner, but Rene quickly dipped into the well of girl-logic, deftly hid the Mini behind a porta-potty, and off we went with our fingers crossed that it would still be there at the end of the day.
From the park you cross over Swatara Creek on the road and then immediately head off onto the grassy floodplain, hiking just far enough to get completely soaked through before squelching your way back on to the roads. A mile or two of roads brings you to a recent reroute across private lands, following along a woodchuck-riddled pasture edge for a considerable distance and then into a brief section of woods before returning to the roads. As always, our sincerest thanks to the landowners for generously allowing hikers to pass through. At the end of this pastoral interlude you will come across the Balsbaugh family cemetery (ca. 1773-1857). The Balsbaughs, it seems, were in Hershey long before Hershey.
Next comes the dreaded, long, long stretch of road walking, made even longer by a detour around some bridge construction. Don't get me wrong, some of the views were lovely, but pounding the hard pavement over long distances has taken its toll and our joints are complaining of late. Rene took this opportunity to stop and smooch the horses, first making friends with an old farm horse by feeding it an apple (cheating!) and then cozying up to some thoroughbreds. Note to self: do not encourage this behavior.
At long last you reach the edge of the valley and make your way into the Applachians, following roads through Manada Gap in Blue Mountain, skirting the edge of Fort Indiantown Gap Military Reservation (with suitably dire warnings not to step off the trail), passing through lands owned by the Harrisburg Motorcycle Club, before finally entering the State Game Lands along the eastern flank of Second Mountain. To get a sense of scale, if you look at the photo of Rene hiking down the road, above, that's a typical Pennsylvania ridge on the horizon. We're not talking the Alps here, but that's enough of a hill that your legs and lungs definitely take notice on the way up. But most of our climbing is for tomorrow. Today we dropped down off of Second Mountain into the parking lot at State Game Lands 211, and then headed into Harrisburg for a long soak in a hotel hot tub, followed by dinner and a beautiful evening stroll down the Susquehanna River.
No comments:
Post a Comment