July 27 Mile 1278

Got up late this morning after a very late nite, but still managed to be off by 8:15. Modest day planned of only about 14 miles, but know it will be rough because of the rocks! PA is infamous for it's rocks and this last 20 miles of PA. This part is supposed to be particularly tough. So, Cisco, Tunes, Tootsie Pop, and I headed out. All day, fields of rocks to dance through. Felt like a drunken sailor part of the time, weaving through the rock fields. Had one 500 foot hill to climb, but most of the day spent dodging rocks. You have to put your mind and body on auto-pilot thru here. You know it's going to be tough and your feet will hurt. My padding has been working, but this is a real test. You keep telling yourself, I have done 210 miles of PA, only 20 miles to go and I am going to get through this. No one likes to hike PA. It's dry, and hot and has rocks. And only one view today-"High Rocks"-got to see the interstate highway below. Ate lunch at noon-only gone 5 miles and after 4 hours! Off again after lunch, and it's fairly flat. Rocks as far as you can see, with no respite. At 4 PM got to Wolf Rocks-big boulders and slabs on a ridge edge. No views. Just go slab to slab. Finally down through a rock landslide. Guidebook said this was the southern most portion of the glacier in the last ice age. How about the billion rocks before this one? Where did they come from? Believe I will never see a clear trail again. Then all of a sudden saw a rattlesnake on the trail! Watch out for that! And give him plenty of space to move on. The trail improves a bit as well and we get down to the road and the Kirkridge shelter by 6 PM. An early day for us. Potable water here and trail magic! Ice cream bars from a past thru hiker. Left foot feels sort of sprained, but overall OK. Only 6 miles left in PA!!