Returning to the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania – The oncoming debate – Evening statistics
I have not visited the section of the Appalachian Trail that runs through Pennsylvania for some time, primarily because I’ve been away on account of the recent trips to Maine and southwestern Virginia. I decided to get to that area today, starting at Port Clinton. Originally I intended to go to the Pinnacle and back, about 10 miles each way. However, the AT from the Pinnacle goes roughly west both northbound and southbound, and I did not realize upon returning that I was on the northbound route until about a mile further. However, on making inquiries I found that there was a side trail (the Furnace Creek Trail) that runs from one junction with the AT to another, rather like the Ribble Trail that I had done earlier this month. I thus was able to make a loop that returned me to a point in the trail about 5½ miles from Port Clinton. An additional advantage is that this route cut off some of the rockier section that I otherwise would have had to backtrack, including a descent from Pulpit Rock. The route I ended up taking actually was slightly shorter than what I had planned (19 miles total instead of 20). It had a fair amount of ups and downs, totaling to about 4000 feet of elevation gain, but none of the ascents were very long and there were only a few steep sections. There were several people on the trail today, but I expected as much – not only on account of the weather (in the mid-sixties most of the day, sunny and clear and dry) and the state of the autumn foliage, but also because there are several campgrounds in the area. In addition, the Pinnacle is a popular destination and so is Pulpit Rock, another overlook about 2¼ miles west of the Pinnacle itself.
I can thoroughly recommend this section of the trail. There are some rocky areas and even a couple of boulder fields,, but I never encountered any of the difficulties I experienced on the area further south close to Swatara Gap. At times the AT gives way to a fire road, so that it has alternating degrees of difficulty throughout and does not become a perpetual struggle to maintain balance. Pulpit Rock is an enjoyable rock scramble, with lovely views at the top, including one of the Pinnacle to the side. The rock pile appears to be formed by a glacier; in fact this is not the case, for the southernmost spot the ice flow reached was 45 miles further north on the Pocono Plateau. But the repetitive freeze-thaw cycles occurring a short distance from the glacier itself during the 10,000-year winter caused the ridge-crest rocks to fracture. These rock fragments broke away from the outcrops and slid down the slopes where they accumulated as large masses of talus (rock debris). I quite enjoyed the ascent but I’m just as well satisfied to have gone back a different way, in the same manner that I did for the ascent from Lehigh Gap. Rock scrambles of this nature are much more enjoyable going up than going down.
But the Pinnacle itself is a wonderful sight, easily the most spectacular I’ve seen along the Pennsylvanian AT. It has something of the scope and range of the views of McAfee Knob in Virginia, so eagerly sought out by professional photographers. The views at McAfee Knob, of course, are more extensive, surveying numerous distinct mountain ranges, whereas the views from Pinnacle go down directly into Lehigh Valley defined by the surrounding ridges. Tthe various rural communities at the base provide a vista of fields and farm buildings interspersed with the remains of the forest and with undulating hills that create miniature valleys of their own.
There now remain 28 miles of the AT in Pennsylvania for me to cover. Going along this distance there-and-back means, of course, 56 miles total. I should be able to complete this amount in three long hikes or four hikes somewhat more moderate. Another trip to a town convenient to the trailheads seems indicated. I had no problems driving this morning to the trailhead but the drive back was troublesome – lots of traffic along I-270, expanding and contracting like an accordion for miles on end, and in any case the drive was more than three hours each way.
Yesterday’s entry was very doleful in tone, and I can’t see from the news headlines that matters have changed very much in the course of a day, but it felt reassuring to know that the pleasures of fresh air, forest trails, autumn leaves, and mountain vistas are still within reach.
The third and last presidential debate is scheduled for Thursday. It seems to me that Trump could borrow a line from Bette Davis’s Margo Channng in All About Eve: “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 40,264,218; # of deaths worldwide: 1,118,167; # of cases U.S.: 8,387,798; # of deaths U.S.: 224,730.