The Rocks Start

• Day:  90
• Start:  1146.9
• End:  1164.9
• Miles:  18.0
• Hours:  9
• High temp:  78
• Low temp:  55
• Thru hikers met:  5

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The Susquehanna River

Breakfast is great at the restaurant, Goodies, across from The Doyle. I take my time waiting for the post office to open up. I see BooBoo come in as I'm leaving, never though I'd catch him again.  We catch up a bit and wish each other a good hike. I'm looking forward to this resupply as it includes new boots. My current pair have lost their cush and are making my feet sore at the end of the day. 

After sorting everything out I'm on the trail by 0900 hrs. A town walk then I cross 2 rivers, The Juanita and the Susquehanna. Once I'm off the bridge it's a short walk over 3 railroad tracks to reach my morning climb in the forest   I reach the top of the climb with a view reward after a short section on top. 

 

Looking west to Duncannon 

Northern Pennsylvania is legendary for rocks on the trail.  I've found some of the rocks today. They can slow me down but I can get a rhythm going to  keep a fair pace. I have 3 choices with each step; 

1. walk in beteeen the rocks,

2. Walk over the rocks

3. Get on top of them walking from rock to rock

Hiking the rocks requires intense concentration on the trail as each step can be any of the three choices. 

Sometimes I'm on a ridge walking on huge rocks, but mostly I'm walking on the smaller rocks in the tread. Occasionally I get some pretty clean sections that allow me to relax my concentration a bit. 

 

Western view from the power easement 

I rest about every hour and take a snack. The time between rests seems to fly by today because I'm so focused to the rocks. 

 

Eastern view

As I approach the end of my day I consider climbing a 3 mile section to get over 20 miles in. Just before the climb there is water and a great open camping area. BooBoo is already there and calls me over. We enjoy a quiet evening watching 2 fishermen work the stream.  Another nice close to a good day.