Delaware River- Penn and New Jersey state line.

View leaving Palmerton this morning. I will be out of Pennsylvania tomorrow and entering New Jersey. I found a few ticks on me today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Climb out of Palmerton PA

A couple of day hikers at bakers oven knob

Some people call these rocks. I call them speed bumps. It is so slow rock hoping all day.

Resting at one of the over looks. Everyone is ready to get out of the rocks.

Rocks, poison ivy, ticks, and spider bites. Oh yeah and Cabellas.
I didn't realize the poison ivy on me had gotten so bad, but I had to go to pharm this morning for some meds. I also have a pretty tick(??) bite on my backside that is swollen pretty good. Sunbeam has a nasty spider bite on her stomach and had to go to doc yesterday. We are all staying in Hamburg to rest today. The bad news is that the only hotel was more than I wanted to spend but the good news is that Cabellas, the largest outfitter in the world, is right across the street.
Most everyone will agree that they hate Penn. because of the rocks. Mile after mile of walking on rocks and in some places, going from boulder to boulder, really turns your feet into mush. My feet have held up ok (eventhough I am missing four toenails now). I am told the rocks continue to get worse till you get to the watergap. The southbounder I just met said get ready because its about to get absurd. I am in Hamburg by the way.

Port Clinton

When you get this far up north they stop using bridges and just place rocks to walk across. With all the rain even the rocks are under water and crossing has been a bit of a challenge.
Happy Fathers Day.

At 444 miles long, the Susquehanna River is the longest unnavigable river in the U.S..

Doyle Hotel in Duncannon, PA

after spending 1100 Miles in the mountains we have a break today with 13 miles of walking through farmland and fields. We them have another 13 miles of rocky terrain before reaching Duncanon.

Boiling Springs, PA

It is a tradition among thru hikers to stop by the general store at Pine Furnace State Park for the half gallon challenge. The challenge is to consume a half gallon of ice cream, one of the most craved foods on the trail. I am proud to say I finished in 21 minutes while drinking a coke. After 25 miles it was not to difficult.
I am feeling the pain of pushing my pace yesterday. I knew a good friend was leaving and I wanted to make it to the park in time to see them. I made it but my body is telling me to slow down today. I have already put in 11 miles so I am going to rest and read for awhile. I only have 8 more miles to go today.

Pine Furnace State Park. The location of first iron ore furnace in PA.

DC United

This is what hikers do at the mall. The guy told Liefy his feet were to dirty to use the foot massage.

Coach picked us up this morning to take us to D.C. to see a pro soccer game. We are heading to do laundry now and then to the tailgate. We will be back on the trail in the morning.

Mason Dixon line. In PA now.

The first Washington Monument

Waiting out the thunderstorm in Harpers Ferry with Leify, McBride, and the owner of the outfitter in Harpers Ferry.

Rabid Skunk?

Early Bear, Angry Beaver and Prairie Dog were camping a few nights ago and a skunk kept trying to get into the tent. They opened the door to see what was going on and the skunk got in the tent. It has been spraying so much that it was not as strong as potent, but it still got them pretty good. The next day they were hiking out and had gone a fair distance down the trail and the skunk came up from behing and bit Early Bear on the ankle. He just had his first round of rabies shots and is going to have to stop by various hospitals along the way to continue his treatments. The skunk is also dead, so it is not a threat to anyone else. I spent a couple of days hiking with the three of them so I look forward to seeing them soon and hearing the story first hand.

Bears Den was super. On to Harpers Ferry.

Update

Hello everyone. Well I am out of the Shenadoah National Park. It was nice, we really treated ourself to alot of milkshakes and food while in the park. They have food (way points) every 20 miles or so and since this is one of the few places on the trail where you can "spoil" yourself we did, but we also put in some long days. I did my longest day on the trail while in the park with 28 miles. I got to the first shelter and there were just to many people there for me so I ate and then hiked another 8 miles and camped out in a large meadow. I was constantly be waken all night by deer walking up to my sleeping bag trying to figure out what was sleeping in their field.

I did see my first bear. At Big Meadows campground there was a mom and a cub, but there were so many people that were getting to close that they were disturbing it. Instead of taking pictures I just stayed back to not attract more people to it. Yesterday I was hiking with Blue Steel and she literally said "I can not believe I have not seen a bear" at the exact time I saw one about 30 yards from us. We stopped and took a few photos. It was behind a log so there wasn't a clear view. Her camera beeped after it snapped the photo and the bear looked up and then ran off. It was perfect timing.

Well I am almost out of Virginia. The last 13 miles are known as the roller coaster because it is a number of hills that go straight up and straight down with each being about 0.7 miles each.

I will be out of the Shenadoah Nat Paqk in a few hours. We have seen many deer and one bear with her cubs.