.April 19, 2006
Today is a big day. Not so much in mileage, but the fact that I will finish Pennsylvania. It will be a 15 mile hike, a break from the 20 mile days I have been doing. As Lynn and I were driving to the trailhead, we drove through the Hawk Mountain Bird Sanctuary. She joked, "It's a sanctuary, but how do the birds know to come here?" We both thought it was funny.
I try to stop at as many of the shelters as I can to take a quick picture if they are not too far off the trail. I missed the Eckville Shelter however. I think to get to this shelter you actually have to walk down Hawk Mountain Road. Lynn and Snoopy started out on the trail with me. They headed back after about 1/2 mile. Snoopy was reluctant but eventually listened to Lynn. With the surgery he recently had I am still not comfortable taking him through miles of Pennyslvania Rocks.
The next few miles of trail were smooth with very few rocks. There were a lot of side trails today including blue blazed trails
and many trails with no signs, so make sure to keep watching for white blazes. About 30 minutes or so from the Pinnacle, I hiker was coming my way.
"Do you know where the Pinnacle is?" he asked.
"I am heading that way."
"Well I just came from that way and I didn't see it."
He apparently didn't want to give it another try and preceded to head back.
I continued on to the Pinnacle. I didn't have any trouble finding it. He must have gone off the A.T. onto a side trail. At the top of the mountain the A.T. turns. There is a blue-blazed trail going to the Pinnacle. It is about 80 yards long. I saw the largest cairn that I have seen yet. 'Runtrails' wrote about this in her journal. She said she picked up a rock and threw it in the pile. It sounded like a good idea to me. You think with a cairn that large, the immediate area would be picked clean of rocks, but not in PA. I think they grow rocks there. I picked up a rock and threw it on the pile. I was wondering which rock that 'Runtrails' had thrown onto the pile 9 months earlier. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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The Pinnacle was gorgeous and anyone who doesn't make the extra 80 yard hike on a nice day is really missing out. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ There were 3 women there with a black lab named Rosey. They pointed out that one of the rocks had a message spray painted on it. It read, "Secret Entrance 50 ft". They said there was supposed to be a cave. I had to investigate. The area was a maze of boulders. I searched the area but couldn't find it. I could have been standing right above it and not known it. When I came back I went a little further over hoping for one last chance to find it. I still couldn't find it, but with the leaves gone I got a good side shot of the Pinnacle. I thought the layers of rock were interesting ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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As I returned to the top the 3 women were leaving and two brothers had arrived. As I was eating a snack about a dozen birds were soaring effortless in the valley. They were a good size bird. My guess was they were hawks. Remembering that I was near the sanctuary I remembered Lynn's joke from this morning, "How do birds know to come here?" One of the brothers said that they were turkey buzzards which are scavengers. They were fun to watch nevertheless.
I could see Blue Mountain in the distance. I had hiked the whole thing. I could count the gaps in the mountain and figured that I could see as far away as Wind Gap which was 50 A.T. miles away. I stayed a full 30 minutes at the Pinnacle. This is a very long stop for me. It was just too beautiful to leave. I knew I needed to get going and put my pack on. I was near the edge of the Pinnacle. As I turned around, there was a large black snake like the one I had seen a few days ago. It was coiled up under one of the rocks. Being on the edge I refrained from jumping back this time (otherwise you would not be reading this journal). One of the men stated that it was a black snake and harmless. I decided to keep my distance anyway, in case the man's knowledge of snakes wasn't as strong as he thought. He guessed it was about 5 or 6 feet long.
I headed off toward Pulpit Rock. I saw a lot more hikers probably coming in from side trails. Yesterday I only saw one hiker, today I have lost count. I made my way to Pulpit Rock where there was another great view. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ I could still see Blue Mountain although now I was additional 2 miles away. There was some type of observatory behind me, probably for weather.
I stopped at the Windsor Furnace Shelter and met 'Arizona Jim'. I got a chance to tell him my trail name was 'White Blazes'. It was well received this time and he liked my comment that now I won't forget what to look for. He said he was thru hiking and had started at Springer Mountain. Most thru hikers start in March and there was no way he could be this far yet so I asked him when he started. "December". He was looking for information about the trail north up to the Delaware Water Gap. I had just hiked this section of trail so I was eager to share my new knowledge. I pulled out my A.T. map of the area. His eyes light up as he came over to study it as if it were a treasure map. I pointed out what I thought were the worst rocky spots such as Dan's Pulpit, Balanced Rocks, The Knife Edge, Bake Oven Knob, and Wolf Rocks. He had a large pack and I told him to take extra caution climbing up the east side of Lehigh Gap. "It is so steep," I said, "You can definitely lose your balance, especially with such a heavy pack." Maybe I will see him again this summer when I am doing my day hikes in N.H and Maine. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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A while later, I almost stepped on yet another 5 foot black snake. I leaped backward again, breaking my distance record set 4 days later. I think I startled him even more, and he slithered off the path. As he slithered off the path, it looked and sounded as if his tail was rattling. It didn't look like a rattler. Are there black rattlers? I later looked this snake up on the Internet. I believe it is a Black Racer which can grow up to 6 feet and are very fast. They are nonvenomous but bite viciously when threatened. I also read that when they are threatened they vibrate their tail creating a buzzing sound and as a result are often mistaken as a rattler. So just because a snake is nonvenomous does not mean that it is safe, it can still bite. I think I will just try to stay away from all snakes.
This was my 3rd large snake in 4 days and 2nd snake today. By now every twig and branch on the ground was looking like a snake. All I could think of is the line by Indiana Jones, "Snakes, why did it have to be snakes?"
I continued on for a couple more miles before making my descent to Port Clinton. The climb down wasn't bad with lots of switchbacks. As I climbed off the mountain. I took a picture of the last rock I stepped on. I had about 1/2 mile by the river and through town to complete PA but as far as I knew this was the last PA rock for me.
I crossed under the highway and saw Lynn and Snoopy walking toward me. She had a hat on that I had not seen before. Come to find out, she had stopped at Capella's and bought me a hat that has a flap that pulls down over my ears and neck. I had a bad sunburn from the past few days and this would help wonderfully. She's the best. I look like I am ready to join the foreign legion now.
We walked the remaining half mile by the river. It was such a nice change of pace. We walked up 1 street in Port Clinton up to a telephone pole across from the Post Office. This is where I left off last fall. As soon as I touched it, my walk across Pennsylvania was complete, all 229 miles of it. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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Lynn's Day
Lynn got to spend the morning exploring the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. She learned a great deal including the answer to her question: "How do the birds know to come here?" The sanctuary was strategical placed here. Because of the geography and weather patterns, birds instinctively know to migrate here as well as pass through here as they travel north to south and south to north. As birds fly up and down the Appalachian Mountains, I wonder if they refer to themselves as nobos and sobos as well.
Bonus Miles:
I am a glutton for punishment. We leave for NJ tomorrow and I wanted Lynn to see the view from Bear Rocks before we left. On the way back to the motel, we drove the long dirt road up to the parking lot for Bake Oven Knob. We hiked about 1.5 miles in. Most of the trail here is nice but I did get to do a small section of PA rocks over again. I had missed them so much. Lynn loved the view but then stated she now thinks she has a fear of heights. Then we hiked the 1.5 miles back to the car.
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