Day 13

​Day 13

Starting location: Leroy Smith Shelter

Ending location: Kirkridge Shelter

Mileage today: 13.8 miles

Total Mileage: 143.3 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today we woke up around 7 am. The boys slept like 11.5 hours last night. Our bodies were wrecked yesterday, so we prayed today would be better. Thankfully, we only had 13.8 miles to go today. Although nearly every inch was covered in rocks! Last night 2 other hikers came in late after the boys were asleep. Madame Lossalot and some older gentleman that didnt have a trail name. 

We hiked through these areas of forests with these tall straight thin trees. It was very magical and slightly spooky. 

Stopping on a log for lunch. PB&J sandwiches for the boys. They haven’t gotten sick of them yet. lol. 

Some random trail art in the middle of nowhere on the trail. Crazy what you will run into. 

Of course a day in PA wouldn’t be complete without doing our daily bouldering over gigantic boulders. lol. 

 

Made it to Kirkridge shelter and enjoying our nightly campfire. We have two grad students at the shelter and Upside, a thru hiker going NOBO. 

Only 1 more day or about 6 miles left of PA! We plan to celebrate finishing PA with an all you can eat buffet tomorrow! Oh boy! 

Goodnight. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil. 

Day 12

​Day 12

Starting location: Lehigh Gap

Ending location: Leroy Smith Shelter

Mileage today: 16.4 miles 

Total Mileage: 128. 5 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Last night was the last night at Lookout Hostel. We loved it there. If we lived near the AT, you better believe we would run a hiker hostel. lol. We are glad we stayed because during the night a strong thunderstorm came thru. Hoping all the hikers out on the AT survived to tell the tale. Hopefully we will catch up to some of them. 

We woke up early 6 am to pancakes since we knew we had the longest day ahead at 16.4 miles. On the trail by 7:30 am I believe. Hiked up Lehigh gap which was breathtaking and super fun! The boys rocked it and loved every minute of it. Also perfect morning for it too. Sunny and cool. Here are some of the pics and videos of the start. 

This is a painted up on the  north side of the gap and the mountain in the distance is what we hiked up yesterday hiking SOBO to the hostel. 

Once we made it up on the ridge we had great hiking for quite a while with beautiful views. 

This is part of the ridge we hiked today. We followed it all the way to the gap then went up another one. Rinse and repeat here in PA. 

We saw some new flowers today and some little fort that the boys would have loved to play in. lol. 

Stopping for a quick lunch at a tent site. 

More water catches which we are thankful for. 

Finally dinner for the night. Chicken and rice with salmon and a kind bar. Delicious. 

Boys asleep by 7:30 pm means a tough day! Night all. 

Day 11

​Day 11

Starting location: Lehigh Gap

Ending location: Lookout Hostel

Mileage today: 14.5 miles 

Total Mileage: 112.1 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Knifes edge! Today we woke up and the boys pigged out on pancakes for breakfast. Amee shuttled us to Lehigh gap and we hiked 14.5 miles south bound to Lookout hostel. The hike up out of the gap was not to bad, and the first few miles of the trail was plush pine needle covered earth! It was like walking on air compared to the rocks we been on. 

Then we got to the boulder section of the trail yet again. We had the massive ones that the boys loved to play “The floor is lava” game on. Whatever floats their boats. It was an overcast day with a slight chance of rain in the afternoon. 

There was one shelter we are very thankful we didn’t stay at. A porcupine has utterly destroyed it and there was even scat in the shelter. Yikes. Horror movie criteria for sure. 

We did eat a quick lunch there but saw we still had 3 miles to get to the “Knife’s edge” before it starts to rain, which it was threatening. 

Noticing the weather app, we high tailed it over the next 3 miles to knife’s edge, but we did see another lookout area first. This is where we saw our first black rat snake too! 

Finally the exciting part of the day came when we got to the knife’s edge. Praise the Lord it didn’t rain! Not sure what we would have done. The knife’s edge is this small path that has death falls on either side. It was so fun and the boys loved it. Not only did you try not to fall off the edge but you kept an eye out for rattlesnakes and copperhead’s. Oh boy! 

Well off to bed and for a 16.4 ish mile day tomorrow. Night! Oh and the boys celebrated crossing 100 miles on the AT with ice cream tonight. They loved it! 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil. 

Day 10

​Day 10

Starting location: Port Clinton Pavilion

Ending location: Lookout Hostel

Mileage today: 11.6 miles 

Total Mileage: 97.6 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

We woke up at 7 am to breath seeing cold. We packed up quickly and got on the trail NoBo around 8:20 am. Today we are hiking 11.6 mile to the Lookout hostel. It was again a perfect day of hiking. Cool and sunny. The first part of the trail was a tough uphill climb over 2.5 miles and 1100 ft of elevation gain. 

Once we got up the “hill” we found a great photo opportunity and view. We hung out for a bit and snacked and recouped. Lucas then saw our first animals of the day. 

We found our first rattlesnake and skink, which is a type of lizard. We tried to get the rattlesnake to rattle at us, but it wasn’t playing along. 

At lunch we stopped at this shelter and then some trail workers stopped by and took our picture. They were so fun to talk to and told us about the trail here in PA. They said we are “practicing” do the Whites by doing all this rock hiking. I wasn’t buying it. lol. PA rocks are horrible. The privy was pretty cool. It even had a mirror in it. lol. 

Here is another visual of what horrors we have to hike over on a daily basis. No flat rocks at all. lol 

Here is inside the hostel. We actually met Aerospace and Blisters, who are from the Lafayette area! What a small world. Blisters real name is Julie VanShapen, related to the auctioneer from town. The boys got their first trail magic. Bottle of root beer. He really enjoyed it! 

So time for bed and another long day of hiking will pass the 100 mile mark tomorrow. 🙌🏻😍🙌🏻

Good night. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil