Misery.

Jonna dropped me back off on the trail before heading back home. It was a difficult goodbye, but it was different from the goodbye when I first started my hike. The goodbye in April was stuffed with fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. In this goodbye, I was a lot more confident about my journey, but now it was mainly about missing time away from my family. I am coming up on 90 days on the trail, and that really is a significant amount of time to be away from the ones you love. Now, I am on a mission to finish this.

And then rocks… practically immediately after getting back on trail, I come across a wall of stone. It was a fitting welcome back party for me as for the rest of the day I just kept fighting off one rock field after the next. I eventually made it to The Pinacle, which provided some of the best views in Pennsylvania. No snakes, just views.

Things just continued to get worse from there. The rocks were becoming sharper and more frequent. The constant looking at my feet and needing to analyze every step was becoming mentally numbing. There was simply no flat step for the last 80 miles of Pennsylvania.

Then came Lehigh Gap. This climb out of the city of Palmerton, PA, was the mecca of rocks. It was simply a series of large, exposed boulders that rose vertically into the sky. It didn’t particularly help that I was going up this in the middle of a heat advisory. I did survive, but that climb cooked me.

The next few days were more of the same. The rocks continued to get worse, and my feet hurt. What made it even more challenging was the complete lack of water on the ridgelines. Luckily, there were some dedicated locals who filled 20-30 gallon water caches daily for us hikers. It was much needed as the heat was really bad this second week of July. I also came across the biggest rattlesnake I’ve yet seen.

Seeing the Delaware Water Gap was a great relief. The town marked the end of Pennsylvania on the Appalachian Trail. I took advantage of the free church hostel and shower, did laundry at a nearby motel, and ironically had some (authentic) ramen at a local restaurant.

The next day I’ll be crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey and forever saying goodbye to Pennsylvania. I will not miss you. Delaware Water Gap is around mile 1295 of the Appalachian Trail.