Duncannon to Wind Gap

Cranked out a pretty good week of hiking, covering 131 miles from Duncannon to Wind Gap (about 20 mi north of Lehigh Gap). Although mostly ridge walks through some beautiful land, I experienced first hand much of the rocky terrain PA is famous for.

In Duncannon, I stayed at the famous Doyle--a 100-year old hotel that now serves mainly as a hiker hostel. Although the town's heyday was many years ago during the coal-mining era, it's still a beautiful setting in the gap where the Susquehanna cuts through Cove/Peters Mtn.

During the 100-plus mile stretch of AT, the trail mostly follows the ridge line of Blue Mountain, punctuated occasionally by a climb down and up the gaps. Although a lot of it is the typical "green tunnel" of summer AT, some of the rock outcrops have exceptional views. A couple highlights for me were Pulpit Rock and The Pinnacles. It's pretty scary going with a heavy pack, but besides the rock climbing and rattlesnake, the views are awesome.

The trail continues to get rougher as one approaches Lehigh Gap (where the Lehigh River Gorge cuts through Blue Mtn.) Occasional rock scrambles and jagged stretches become pretty consistent. For me, all this culminated in the climb up the north side of the gap. It's a very steep up, mostly over exposed rock, that involves some hand over hand climbing. But once at the top there are some spectacular views back down to the valley.

Glad I didn't wimp out on this one.