Day 9

​Day 9

Starting location: Hawk Mnt Road

Ending location: Port Clinton Pavilion

Mileage today: 15.5 miles 

Total Mileage: 86.0 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today we woke up around 7:00ish but we still take forever to get going. Left pavilion around 8:15 and started hiking around 8:40. Way too late, especially since we have 15.5 miles today. This was the first time I have ever hiked South Bound (SOBO), but it was so nice to get to slack pack once again. 

The first 5.5 miles were a gentle uphill hike with zero rocks or boulders! PTL! So I really just enjoyed God’s creation and the beauty within it. It was a cloudy cool day to start. Probably 50’s. No wind. No bugs. Perfect hiking weather. 

At the 5.5 mile mark of the hike we made it the Pinnacle.  There is this huge pike of rocks in the middle of the woods. We have no clue if this was man made or just happened to be created this way by the Flood. lol. Anyway, we think it’s man made, so we all added a few rocks to the pile.

Then we made it to pulpit rock, which I think is the 2nd best view on the AT so far. It was amazing. Legolas has no fear of heights. He’s sitting right on the ledge with no fear.

PA is the  half way of the trail. We are past that but loved this little drawing under an overpass we saw today. 

We also took the boys to a candy store here in Port Clinton and Legolas got an Astro Pop and Bombadil got a HP chocolate frog. I got some hard candies for the next few days. It brought back childhood memories. 

Tomorrow we hike to the Lookout hostel! Can’t wait to visit another hostel. They are so fun. 

Good night. We plan on playing a game or two of Skipbo and then calling it a night. 

God bless

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil. 

Day 8

​Day 8

Starting location: Hampton Inn

Ending location: Port Clinton Shelter

Mileage today: 14.8 miles 

Total Mileage: 70.5 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Happy Mother’s Day! Today we woke up refreshed in our hotel room at 6:20 am. Got a nice breakfast of egg omelets and sausage. The boys had cereal and waffles. lol. We got on the trail at about 8:15 am. We slack packed today. So all we carried was our lunch, water and a jacket. Sooo nice! We plan on slack packing the next three days, which hopefully will help with Lucas’s feet. 

There are so many rocks in PA that people decide to actually make a rock bridge with them. lol. This is a little bit crazy. The weather was perfect. Cool and not too hot. It did drizzle a little but not enough to get us wet. 

Stopped in to this shelter for a quick snack despite it adding 0.6 miles to our day. Not worth it, but the boys like to see each shelter if possible. Lucas has to go inspect all the privies now. lol. We met a section hike named S.O.L. 

Legolas found out first snake of the trip. Just a small one. Also saw a deer as well run right next to us. Also heard a lot of woodpeckers drumming on a tree. 

At a lookout vista someone carved and panted this wooden statue. It was pretty cool. Had faces on each side a different color. 

Finally made it into Port Clinton around 4:30. The descent down into town was the steepest I have ever done glad I didn’t have to climb up it! Thought this caboose was kind of cool and the boys loved just walking on the train tracks. 

This is the Port Clinton pavilion shelter that we will stay the night. There is a guy (Spot) here who is hiking north who has hiked the trail 7 times. This will be the 8th time if he finishes. Goodnight. 

Gandalf, Legolas and Bombadil. 

Day 7

​Day 7

Starting location: Hampton Inn

Ending location: Hampton Inn 

Mileage today: 0 miles 

Total Mileage: 55.7 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Well after hiking about 55 miles in 6 days, our boys needed a zero day! So we splurged and got a hotel room for a couple nights, and enjoyed the normal life again! So we slept in and then got a hot breakfast of eggs and waffles and biscuits and gravy. Sooo good. Then the boys same a bit in the pool, which was heated! 

Also there was a Harry Potter marathon on Bravo today, so while the boys binged on HP, Amee and I worked on food prepping for the next week and taking inventory of our food supplies. Fun stuff. 

Then we decided to run to Cabela’s to have a look around and see all the stuffed animals there and if we could find Lucas any new shoes (which didn’t happen) but he really wanted this 4 wheeler! lol. 

Then finally some Arby’s for dinner in bed while watching even more Harry Potter! I think they were on the 6th movie at this time of the day. 

Tomorrow we will slack pack into Port Clinton, which is about 15.5 miles away. This will be the longest hike, but slack packing is when we only hike with a day pack having just our food and water and maybe a jacket. We will be meeting Amee at a church pavilion to camp at (Lord willing!). 

Good nite all. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil. 

Day 6

​Day 6

Starting location: William Penn Shelter

Ending location: Hampton Inn

Mileage today: 13 miles 

Total Mileage: 55.7 miles 

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Today we woke up around 7:15 am to see Walter White and Jessie leave early since this was their last day on their two week section hike. Great guys. We got on the trail about 9 am (way too late), but getting the boys out of their sleeping bags in the morning is challenging! No mice in the shelter last night, which is always a great thing! 

Today we planned to hike 13 miles and with the sections in PA, you never know how bad the rocks will be. The rocks are so bad here that Pennsylvania is nicknamed Rocksylvania. Well today we had about a 0.5 section of the boulder type of rock field that takes a while to get through. They are actually quite fun, it is the smaller pointy rocks that are where your feet die! 

Well I officially hit the 1200 mile mark on the trail today. Woo hoo! Crazy to think Sarasota Florida is 1105 miles from Lafayette. 

Not long after that we came across this beautiful vista to take a break and eat some snacks. I actually rest, but the boys found a side trail to go explore. lol. 

Eating lunch: today Spam sandwiches, apple, nuts & raisins and PB! Legolas is loving the Spam sandwiches. 🤪

Later on near the end of the day we actually took a wrong turn for about 0.5 miles (1 mile extra we hiked today) but we found this cool dam and waterfall. It was a great place to stop and rest and skip some stones in the lake area. If it was warm enough, there was a rope swing to jump into it! But the fact we had to hike extra miles really bites! lol. 

There was even a campfire ring with a log that had seats carved out of it. The boys loved it! 

So since Lucas keeps saying his feet hurt, we are going to take a zero day tomorrow and live a couple days in a Hampton Inn! So a nice comfortable bed, water I don’t need to filter and nowhere to hike tomorrow! 

God bless,

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil. 

Day 5

​Day 5

Starting location: Rausch Gap Shelter

Ending location: William Penn Shelter

Mileage today: 13.4 miles

Total Mileage: 42.7 miles

Today’s Photo

The story behind this photo ... 

Started the day at 8:45 am after waking up around 7. We aren’t quick packers. lol. Beautiful morning around 48 degrees to start the hike. We quickly came to this beaver dam swampy area which was pretty cool. Didn’t see any beavers though. Bombadil (Lucas) feet were hurting him during the 4.6 mile hike to Amee, so when we made it into the parking lot at around noon, we switched out shoes to see if that helps. Also, I lightened up his pack to maybe 7-8 pounds (don’t have a scale). We refueled, dropped off our wet clothes from yesterday. Had fun with Froning and told many stories to Amee. We got out around 1:15 pm to hike the last bit to the William Penn Shelter. 

We hiked out longest day today. 13.4 miles and some of it was easy like this, other times some trail maker decided to go over a huge boulder field. The first part after leaving Amee was a 2 mile hike up about 1250 feet. I like hiking uphill over downhill for sure, but man our feet were sore today. 

Here are a small example of the boulders we had to hike over for about 1-2 miles. The boys did well. Legolas (CJ) just put his audible book in and got in the zone and punched them out with no issues. lol. 

Resting for a bit and nearing the end of the boulders. 

We kept going  through these fern forests that were so enchanting and beautiful. 

Finally made it to the shelter and had chicken and rice with additional salmon for protein and a kind bar each. Hunger is the best spice! lol. 

 Now time to hit the sack and get some rest. I think there will be mice at this shelter (Bombadil found one in the privy..eek!). Friday night it’s suppose to rain so we might hike 13 miles tomorrow and then get a hotel to rest up. 

God bless. 

Gandalf, Legolas & Bombadil.