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

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.