Rocksylvania

Sharp rocks and dull rocks, big rocks and smaller rock, rocks that move and rocks that have never moved; They all make the trail thru Pennsylvania pretty uncomfortable. Mostly in northern PA the rock sections would last for miles and not let up. Word on the trail had me anticipating the rocks for some time but even tho they had me tripping and hobbling, they weren't really that bad. The heat is what really made Pennsylvania uncomfortable for me. So I was walking up the ridge one day and smelt smoke. I went over to check it out and sure enough there was a small fire just about 75 feet off the trail! It wasn't more than 8 feet around and had more smoke than fire but it was growing and I couldn't stamp it out. There was a shelter with a caretaker just a mile away so I went by to tell him. He headed up with a shovel and I'm sure he got it taken care of. So the heat in PA was defiantly a problem…

My dad headed back home and I was left with about 50 miles left in PA and one of the hardest climbs south of the white mountains out of Leigh Gap. The climb out of Leigh Gap is a big, steep, rock climb through this wasteland of a "superfund" site. The soil has been contaminated here from zinc mining, and the landscape is pretty barren. It was hot.