Week 2 - 2024

Pine Grove, PA to New Tripoli, PA , 50 miles

HIT A MILESTONE: We’ve walked 100 miles, 1200 total on the Appalachian Trail. Yay, us!

WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK:

We won the lottery!  It was warm, we were getting tired, every step seemed to hurt, 9 miles in already and we just couldn’t find the designated campsite they said was in the area.  FROG made the decision that we’d leap forward (only if it really was that easy!) for another mile to see what lies ahead … jackpot! We found a campsite right next to a bubbling brook!  We weren’t supposed to find the other campsite because there was something better just ahead for us. Nothing better for a FROG on a hot, 10-mile day, than a cold bath jumping from rock to rock in the stream. Ahhhh, soooo refreshing!

*~*~*~*~* 

I’ve got Georgia on my mind.  It was a long 2 mile uphill climb to reach the top of the mountain when we met a gal from Georgia. She was walking long sections of the trail but only doing day hikes. Her mom would drop her off at one end and then pick her at the other end, 10-15 miles up the road.  I couldn’t stop thinking about how I’d love to have someone who would be our dropper-offer and picker-upper … any volunteers out there???!!!  You think I’m kidding but I’m not, I’m completely serious! Pretty please with a cherry on top?!

*~*~*~*~* 

Shhh! Don’t tell! We’re cheaters!  We took the Port Clinton Expressway, the route of the old AT trail. You know that whole spiel I gave last week about not being a purist, I got to live that out this week. We did not follow the white blazes and took the gravel road that took much less time and avoided the rocky windy AT path that got us to the same end result. My question to you … which would you have chosen?  But wait! If it was part of the old AT trail, was it still considered cheating?

*~*~*~*~* 

Falling for you babe! As we connect back up on the actual AT trail after our questionable cheat day on the gravel road, the terrain once again gets very rocky.  As we’re walking through a rock field, FROG looses his footing and falls on the ground landing on his side and on his trekking pole.  No laughing here, I was completely worried and panicking, it didn’t look good at all.  I let him lay there until he felt he could move.  He finally got himself to a sitting position and sat there, meantime I had some toe pain so I’m sitting on a rock away from him. Enter Sugarfoot. An old friend we met back in NY and met again on the AT 2 years ago. We had no idea he was out here hiking again and to meet up at this time, coincidence? Nope, don’t believe in them.  After figuring out how we knew each other, FROG finally was able to get himself up. Now as for me, I got so excited to see a familiar face that when I stood up quick, not realizing my foot was wedged in between two rocks, fell on my side on the rocks. I was laughing so hard  but FROG being so worried hurries over and gets himself tangled up again and falls over again. It was a comedy of errors! We were laughing so hard, poor Sugarfoot was standing over us not sure what to do or who to save.  None of the falls taken by either of us ended up amounting to too much (thank you Lord!) it was just hysterical and something the 3 of us keep laughing about. Sugarfoot wishes he had gotten a picture. See, I’m not the only one that thinks that way!!!   Side note: I was bummed because I didn’t think I even got a bruise from my fall, but I did. If you look real hard in the picture, you MIGHT spot it!!

*~*~*~*~* 

Speaking of Port Clinton, PA! That town is the bomb! We only really talked to 2 people there but if they represent the town … whoa, they really take great care of us hikers!   I mentioned last week about hoping we could get to the post office in time to pick up Tigger before it closed for the weekend, well, our pace wasn’t quick enough so we called the post office and spoke to Angie, to see if they could leave our box out back at closing. She wasn’t able to do that but told us about Frank who ran the barbershop in town and maybe we could arrange with him to help. Long story, trying to make short, turns out Frank was a Godsend and arranged for someone to pick up our box for us. So, we did get our miracle, just not how we thought we would.  We didn’t get to meet Angie but Frank, one of a kind, and such a character!  He even found someone to shuttle us to a motel for the night. Another true trail angel!  There really are so many great people in the world and we seem to be running into the best of them!

*~*~*~*~* 

I was like a kid in a candy store. And I mean a literal candy store!  This little town had the most ginormous nut/candy selection I’ve ever seen!  Before even opening the door you could smell peanuts roasting and then as you open the door so many different colors of all types of candy everywhere! Any type of candy you could think of from new to what you remember as kids was in there. If we hadn’t been on a tight schedule, I may still be there. Yep! A kid in a candy store! That’s me!

*~*~*~*~* 

Trail Angel, Don aka Spokes.  He has hiked the whole AT in 2023 and is a good friend of Sugarfoot so we feel so blessed that he introduced him to us.  He took us back to the trail, mailed Tigger for us and brought us drinks, subs and snacks our next night out at a shelter right on the trail.   He ended up feeding everyone at the shelter that night, we were all very happy campers!

*~*~*~*~* 

Now! For what I hated about Port Clinton! Hate is a strong word, but you will understand shortly why I use that word.  The descent into the town is rocky, steep and treacherous!  No picture I could take would give you a true picture of how steep it was. You had to be there but thankfully you were not!  Fall #2 for Faith.  No way I was saving myself when I knew I was going down. Down on my side again (the same side as last fall) heading down the hill, hitting a rock with my head.  I knew I wasn’t badly hurt but couldn’t stop laughing at how I must look all sprawled out awkwardly.  FROG was not laughing and was pretty concerned with getting me back up. Not sure how we managed but we did.  I’m not so sure Pennsylvania is our friend.  I knew it was going to kick our butt, but I didn’t realize we would end up on our butts so much!!!  Hopefully this is it!!

*~*~*~*~* 

Bad, bad, bad, bad vibrations! Most of the people you meet on the trail are great and definitely positive but then you have the few that something just doesn’t feel right.  The trail went right through a camp of teenage boys that had set up early in the day.  FROG in his usual way tried to joke with them and they were having none of it.  They had that look that we better move on and that we were disturbing something. They may have been harmless, but my intuition said otherwise.  I couldn’t get out of there fast enough!

*~*~*~*~* 

Do you believe in ghosts? We decided to take a side trail that cut out 4.6 miles of rough terrain. I know, I know, here we go cheating again. But listen to this! We were just told that this side trail was also part of the old AT trail and when you hike old AT trails it’s called ghost blazing.  Soooo…I guess it’s a thing, we aren’t cheaters after all, but ghosters!  Speaking of which, met a hiker today, her name was Casper. Y’all remember, Casper the friendly ghost?! Ok, now I’m dating myself.

*~*~*~*~* 

The jury’s out on this one.   Even though we’re 2000 miles from home, our responsibilities and duties can find us way out on the mountaintops of the AT.  “You have been summoned for jury duty on June 10. Failure to appear is up to a $1000 fine.” Well, now, that throws a monkey wrench in our plans.  Finding a clear signal, I call the clerk's office and plead my case.  “You’ve been excused, this time, enjoy your hike.”

*~*~*~*~* 

FROGs pace is slightly slower than mine. It could be due to age, hip replacements or he’s just downright slow! Who knows. But I’m not going to let an opportunity go by if it presents itself to kid him about it.

Me: FROG, you caught up with me.

FROG: Yeah, I’m like an animal.

Me: What? Like a sloth?!

Bam! 1 point Faith, 0 points FROG!  I’m sure payback is coming.   A day after I made reference to him being like a sloth, I spotted a tree that I thought looked like a sloth. Check out the picture and let me know what you think.

*~*~*~*~* 

They left the light on for us! After multiple days on the trail last week, it felt good to take some zero (no hiking) days. We stayed 1 night at Comfort Inn, Pine Grove, PA, 2 nights at Microtel in Hamburg, PA, and a night at Lookout Hostel and had lots of good food to eat! Stepped on the scale today, I haven’t lost anything, FROG has lost 8 pounds! Here we go again!!! Grrr! BUT I haven’t gained anything so that’s a plus! I’ll take it and be happy.

*~*~*~*~* 

See y’all again in a week! Keep dreaming, GOD has adventures for you too!

3