Day 156 - Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Today will be our first full day of hiking  in Rocksylvannia. You hear a lot of horror stories about this section of the trail. I’ve learned that hikers have their own assessments  of the trail based on their own personal experiences (or lack of) that may not necessarily agree with mine,  so in retrospect…It is what it is; just have to get through it 🙄.


Today we are hiking from the Hikers Parking lot (1295.9 NoBo) to PA 33, Wind Gap (1280.6 NoBo) for a total of  15.3 miles.

We began hiking at 8:00 am.



See that trail sign in the background? All we ask is that there is one at every parking lot designating NoBo and/or SoBo… is that asking for too much 🙄🤔🥴 ?




And the standard climb right out of the box… is there any other way to start your hike 😂? This climb started literally right on the edge of the parking lot. 










Welcome to Rocksylvannia  😈 !




View from Wolfs Rock. This is a popular spot that hanglidders launch their gliders from 😬 .






We took advantage of the “kinder” trail conditions. This section was over a mile long 🥰.


Turtle Power wasn’t having one of his better days, but then again he was rock hoping, as usual, on some pretty wet looking rocks. Around 11:45 am I saw his feet go up and he came down landing completely on his turtle shell aka backpack. It wasn’t 15 minutes later I saw him launching forward, landing on his right hand and side - nearly a perfect “faceplant”. Luckily he didn’t get hurt on either fall. This entertainment gave me a +3 slip/fall count advantage. But with 254+ miles left, there is plenty of time for me to give that all back and then some 🥴.



View coming down from Mt. Minsi. 


We haven’t seen rhododendrons in a while. 




The ole taking a picture of taking a picture trick… 😂.



And here’s the picture… I-80 and the Delaware River  😉.


We finished hiking at 4:00 pm. Rocksylvannia hasn’t been anything less than what we’ve expected. We certainly have been challenged with more difficult trail than this. Just a couple more days of rock topping and scrambling to get through…  


Appalachian Trail Countdown:
Total trail miles: 1938.8 miles
Trail miles left to go: 254.3 miles

Till next time... Happy Hiking  🥾 

😋


“Acts of generosity in this wild and primitive setting…where basic amenities…are intentionally absent–are often received in a heightened sense of wonder and gratitude by hikers. These acts of generosity are referred to as “trail magic.”

                  (Appalachian Trail Conservancy)

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