July 24, 2024 5 min to read

AT Blog: 77 through 79

Museums and Attacks of the Loud Porcupine

Day 77:

Today’s hike is from 1105.4 to 1124.3. I wake up later and eat breakfast at the hostel, it’s a simple meal but enough for the morning. I head over to the AT museum at 9 AM, and explore it. There’s 3 levels to it, with the first giving a breakdown of the trail, the second is the history of its foundation and the third a children’s area breaking down the individual states.

They had some neat artifacts like one of the original lean to shelters, one of the old Mount Katahdin signs and more. After about an hour inside I left and hit the trail.

The first mile or so were simple gravel paths part of the park before climbing some. I saw some school groups and families hiking around.

After about 9 miles I stopped by the Green Mountain Store and Deli. I picked up some light supplies and filled up with their chicken and shrimp platter and a meatball sub. Green Beard joined me and we chatted a bit, talking about our reason for hiking the trail. He was in between journalists jobs and had the money to hike the trail.

I soon left and ended up at Alec Kennedy shelter, I had a run in with a strange man, and decided to keep moving. It wasn’t anything hostile to me, but I felt better not staying the night there. I debated about either staying at the campground outside of Boiling Springs or going into town.

I ultimately decided to stay at the Microtel, and get an Uber to it. It was really nice to stay at a place with showers that were hot and had pressure. I slept like a baby that night, despite the short day and the double indoor nights.

Day 78:

I wake up early at the Microtel and grab breakfast. They actually have a good variety of goods with several types of sausage and some greens. While I eat, I go ahead and grab an Uber back to the trail. Once I hit it early I get at it. I hike from 1124.3 to 1146.2 today, nearly 22 miles.

I pass by farmlands and road crossings early on. I meet two other Throughhikers taking a break at the Chamber’s Farm Cemetery and they make a joke about them being the graveyard haunts.

Beyond that the day is filled with walking on flat land and some rocks. I’ve been warned that this section is miserable in the heat of summer due to a lack of shade and lack of water for a long time. Fortunately it’s not too hot, but it is muddy from rain, which slows me down.

Cove Mountain shelter is empty when I arrive, but it’s unique in having metal wrapping where the floor terminates and the stairs ripped out. Turns out they have had nasty issues with porcupines at that shelter, and signs warn of them tearing peoples gear not for food, but for the salt from sweat in our stuff. Later Greenbeard arrives and we chat for a bit. He plans on doing 30 miles tomorrow, just so he can say he did that once on trail. I decline to join him and soon head to bed.

And that’s when the invasion begins. A porcupine I believe starts digging into the wood trying to get somewhere. I never see it but I hear it’s scratching really loud. I end up getting my ear buds out and playing a spotify sleeping Playlist to go to sleep.

Day 79:

Today’s milage is from 1146.2 to 1167.6. I wake up at Cove Mountain shelter early. Green Beard was up briefly before going back to bed. I head out around 7:30 AM.

There’s a supposed pretty view at Hawk Rock 2 or so miles from the shelter, but dense fog rolled in overnight blocking any sort of view. I keep going into Duncannon, as the trail goes right through town. Unfortunately for me, most town businesses are closed on a Monday, so no restaurants are open until noon. I stop by the outfitter, Kind of Outdoorsy.

I pick up a few snacks and a trail meal, then head off, dissatisfied with the lack of breakfast. There is a gas station open and I get some gas station donuts as the best substitute.

The hike out of town is several miles of sidewalks along busy roads, eventually I get across the river and start climbing Peter’s Mountain.

I stop by the Clark’s Ferry Shelter to grab water from an easy water source, and chat with some section hikers with a dog.

The terrain here is fairly rocky requiring watching my step carefully. I put away my poles since they don’t get proper traction on rocks plus they easily break if placed wrong.

Near a bridge crossing I meet two trail Angels named Twizzler and Hobble. Twizzler got his name for the red twizzlers he hands out. They also have fresh banana bread and a cold dr. Pepper which is amazing.

After a few miles I get to Peter’s Mountain shelter, but I decide to keep hiking as I have plenty of time.

I end up going to a spring a few tenths of a mile back and camping for the night.