Klaus and I woke up 30 minutes early since he had set the alarm for 5:30 instead of 6:00. Put a wash in and was able to hang it out before breakfast. By then Jerry and Paul were up and we had breakfast of cereal, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, and tea. Paul dropped us off at the parking area near Port Clinton at 7:50 and we started up the hill. We made the decision to hike south to north today so we would be going up rather than coming down the steepest section of the trail. Paul had done some extra research for us asking a friend who hikes and has lived in the area all his life what he recommended and he was of the same opinion. It would be less stress on the body to hike up rather than down that section of the AT.
We had expected a difficult uphill and it was an uphill but there were only a few rocks and we made it to the top in 20 minutes – a 600’ elevation gain. On the way up we stepped off the trail to let two thru hikers go ahead of us. We gained the top of the ridge at 8:10 and had a relatively rock free trail for the next couple of miles. We stopped to talk to Rock Hound, one of the two thru hikers who passed us coming up, and he told us he had a heart attack in Virginia while at an overnight shelter, gone to the doctor the next day, and had a double by-pass operation that required a 3-month recovery. He came right back to thru hiking the AT after 3 months!
We reached Pocahontas Spring at 1,200’ and then had some really rocky stretches as we dropped down to Windsor Furnace at 6.2 mi. We met thru hiker Jason, hiking north to south, on this part of the trail. Jason was traveling light and by the end of today had already completed about 1,000 miles from Katahdin, Maine. He was doing about 25 miles a day and his cheap $30 shoes were falling apart and being held together with duct tape. Jason was hoping his shoes would hold together until Harpers Ferry, WV. Our opinion was they were not going to make it. Jason also had some very light Black Diamond folding trekking poles and last year had hiked the Pacific Crest Trail which is about 500 miles longer than the AT.
The next section was uphill to Pulpit Rock at 1500’ and this was very difficult. There were several rock jumbles and we had to navigate a large rock pile before we reached Pulpit Rock where was saw Rock Hound was also taking a break. We had lunch at the overlook with great views of the valley below and The Pinnacles to the north. This area is also next to an observatory which had a privy with toilet paper to which we all availed ourselves.
From here we continued on to the Pinnacles at 1600’ which we had seen from Pulpit Rock. During this time we passed two different groups of 4-person day hikers. They were coming back from the Pinnacles but underestimated the distance. As we came to an open area we noted a large 20’ rock pile in the shape of a cone. It immediately caught out attention and we followed a blue blaze trail to the Pinnacle overlook. This trail was also a challenge to walk because of the large rocks. Here we found the first thru hiker who passed us at 6:00 am. He was taking a nap on the rock. This was another great view and we started eating lunch when the rain started. Fortunately the showers were light and the tree canopy provided an adequate umbrella.
After lunch the AT followed a gravel road downhill. We picked up our pace because the road was graded with very few rocks. Jerry (trail name Rabbit) was in the lead and reported a large black bear had crossed the road 40’ ahead of him. We missed this but started paying more attention to the woods. We reached Hawk Mountain Road a little before 3:00 and Paul drove up within 5 minutes of our arrival. While we were waiting Jerry found the headband he dropped the day before. He treated all of us to a Frosty at Wendy’s and then Paul took us on a tour of Cabelas Outdoor Store, the largest in the US.
Back at the cabin we showered in anticipation of dinner at The Mustard Seed where we had an OUTSTANDING dinner along with wine Paul brought along. Gale had the ½ order of Chicken Florentine, Paul the full order of Chicken Florentine, Klaus the Spaghetti and Meatballs and Jerry the Eggplant Parmesan. Between the huge salad plate, the numerous refills of the bread basket and the entrée, no one had room for dessert.
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