Day 68-86 of Reed's AT Adventure

Reed has now returned from his family reunion by the 4th of July. During the long hot month of July Reed has traveled through almost half of the 14 staes that the trail crosses through. He started in Pennsylvannia and travelled through New Jersey, New York, Conneticut, Massachusetts and is now in Vermont as you read this. Reed's fast hiking has put him ahead of schedule so he has now decided to slow down a little now that he has reached his home territory of New England. Here are two quick little movies read has sent along. Somewhere in the movie is the same rattlesnake as you see below in the pictures, but i had a hard time seeing it at the small picture size.
Enjoy!!!
Video 1 The Rattle Snake Take 1
Video 2 The Rattle Snake Take 2


When the trail was first completed, a plaque marking the originalmid-point was placed on this rock atop Center Point Knob (appropriatelynamed).  There's a great picture in Earl Shaffer's book about his 1948 thru-hike of him standing in front of this rock.  Believe it or not, in1948 the plaque had already been stolen!
(7/4/99 2:33PM)
The trail followed the edge of a pond in the center of Boiling Springs, PA, where many swans and ducks went about their daily routine.(7/5/99 7:29AM)
On the 5th of July at the Appalachian Trail conference Regional Office in Boiling Springs I wieghed my pack again.  With a few day's food and 2 quarts of water it checked in at 25 pounds.  I fear the scale might have been a bit inaccurate, because as I hiked through the VERY hot day, the pack certainly felt heavier than that. (7/5/99 7:36AM)
In a marked change from most of the trail to this point, half of my
day on July 5 was spent walking through fields.  It certainly was the
flatest day of the trip, but temperatures broke 100 degrees, so it was a bit warm with no shade to help me out. (7/5/99 9:17 AM)

 

Just off the side of the trail north of Boiling Springs I found an old, over-grown cemetary.(7/5/99 9:46 AM)
More fields;  this one with perfect cubes of hay. (7/5/99 3:44 PM)
From the Clarks Ferry Bridge, this is a shot looking up the Susquehanna River, the longest river (444 miles) crossed by the A.T. In the background the town of Duncannon, PA, is visible, where I stopped in to pick up a mail-drop of supplies from home.(7/6/99 12:31 PM)

 

Here's the rattle snake as he was sliding away from the trail. Note that he is looking back at us. (7/7/99 10:56AM)
The rattlesnake boiled, about 10 feet off the trail.(7/7/ 11:03AM)
The dirty realities of the trail.  I did my first 30-mile day somewhat by accident, encountering rattlesnakes and running out of water (TWICE!) along the way.  Once my shoes were off, the dust from the day was clearly visible on my legs.  I spent the night in William Penn Shelter alone.  Since crossing the mid-way point, the thru-hikers have really thinned out, and I've only been seeing about half as many each day as I did just a few weeks ago. (7/7/99 8:36PM)
Pennsylvania, for better or worse, is best know among thru-hikers as the rocky state.  No lesser source than National Geographic once quoted someone as saying that it is the place "where boots go to die."  Indeed, about half of the trail in the state is covered with tightly-packed, jagged rocks that twist and turn your feet in all directions.  As I was trying to take this picture, I almost snapped by hiking pole in half when I stumbled on the rocks! (7/8/99 3:30 PM)

 

Sure there are rocks, but PA also had some great views. (7/9/99 8:30 AM)
I took this picture from The Pulpit, a rock formation north of Port Clinton in PA.  The horizontal white line across the left side of the picture is of the Blue Rocks, a 40-thousand year-old river of boulders that is more than a block wide and mile long. (7/9/99 4:10PM)
According to my guidebook here, this is the best view in Pennsylvania, from The Pinnacle.  The land below was inhabited by the Delaware Indians before the settlers arrived. (7/9/99 5:16 PM)
On July 11, I unexpected spent the afternoon and evening with Chris and Juliane Mills (and pooch Scout), who were visiting Chris' mom in nearby Allentown.  I did laundry, used the internet, and went with Chris and Juliane to see both Star Wars: Phantom Menace and The Matrix (hey, they forced me!). (7/12/99 9:29AM)

 

On July 12, Chris and Juliane returned me to the trail, outside of Palmerton, PA.  They hiked the mile-long, 1000-foot climb out of Lehigh Gap with me. (7/12/99 12:24PM)
Juliane and I enjoy my mom's chocolate-chip cookies, which I had received in my mail-drop.(7/12/99 12:38PM)
Juliane and Chris head back down into Lehigh Gap as I forge ahead. (7/12/99 1:02PM)

 

A now-closed zinc-smelting plant by the Lehigh River belched toxic fumes for years that killed the plant and tree growth for several miles outside of the gap.  The unobstructed views were impressive, but the negative impact of industry was not. (7/13/99 4:28PM)
State Number Eight is Great!  New Jersey does not have a sign welcoming hikers as we cross the Delaware River Bridge, so I brought my own.  To me, of course, NJ means Teach For America.  I'll take this opportunity to send a shout-out to all my old teammates at TFA, especially Kristin, Sonali, Greg, Jen, Rob, and Joyce.  If you're interested in learning more about TFA, don't hesitate to visit the web site: www.teachforamerica.org (7/13/99 4:28PM)(7/13/99 4:30PM)

I'm back on familiar territory here at the information center in the Delaware Water Gap.  I hiked the A.T. from this point north twice before: once on a three-day trip with Marc Waxman and Jason Martin, and once on a two-day solo.  When I hit it this time, I was extremely enthusiastic to be back in New Jersey. (7/13/99 5:01PM)

 

A beautiful, small waterfall edged the trail just north of the Water Gap.(7/13/99 5:21PM)
On July 13 I camped at Backpacker Site #2, 4 miles north of the Water Gap.  Here, I am enjoying a great view of the sunset as I eat my dinner.  Note my tarp in the background.(7/13/99 8:03PM)
Unbelievably, the first naturally-formed lake or pond on the A.T. isn't encountered until over 1,200 miles into the trip!  These two shots are of Sunfish Pond in New Jersey. (7/14/99 7:32AM)
(7/14/99 7:32AM)

 

For everyone who ever made a joke about the ugliness of New Jersey, I present to you another view of the state, looking east.  By the way, I nearly killed myself trying to take this picture; I fell about 3 feet off a ledge as I was running to get in the shot.  Fortunately, I was able to put my shoulder-blade back together. (7/14/99 11:00AM)
On July 15, I watched the sunset from the highest elevation in New Jersey, High Point, 1,803 feet.(7/14/99 8:17M)
The monument on High Point was dedicated in 1930 to New Jersey war heroes.  It stands 220 feet tall.(7/15/99 8:31PM)
After watching the sunset, I returned to High Point Shelter to find two other thru-hikers, Dirty Bird and Ezekiel Bluegrass playing a star-light game of Connect Four.(7/15/99 8:59PM)

 

Vernie Swamp in New Jersey is made passable by 112 bog bridges that were installed by some seriously hard-working trail volunteers.  It was amazing to walk through this huge swamp on this wonderful bridge.  Note how high the planks are; my hiking pole is on the ground.(7/16/99 7:51AM)
Hey, Jen Smith, remember this?  After spending the night in a new hostle in the Episcopal Church in Vernon New Jersey, I had a heck of a climb up onto this ridge. Last fall Jen and I did a two-day trip from this point across the state line into New York.  It was a blast hiking an area that I remembered so well.(7/17/99 7:09AM)
State Number Nine Feels So Fine!  This is definitely my favorite state line so far.  The NJ/NY boarder is atop a rocky outcropping in the middle of the forest.  Above my right hand you can see the register box were hikers sign in as they cross; that's the register in my left hand.  Laurent, the "Number Nine" sign is for you!(7/17/99 10:09AM)

 

Decisions, decisions.  Do I want a coke or a bag of nightcrawlers? Visitors to Lake Tiorati in Harriman State Park have quite a choice from the vending machines.  I opted for water as I swung by the beachfront on the morning of July 18.  At 8 AM carloads of people were already arriving -- I was all to happy to return to the woods.(7/18/99 7:54AM)
The view to the northeast from the observation tower on top of Bear Mountain in NY.(7/18/99 12:52PM)
That's the Bear Mountain observation tower behind me.(7/18/99 12:55PM)
The lowest point on the entire A.T. is found in front of the bear cage in the Bear Mountain Museum and Zoo, which the trail runs right through (so hikers don't have to pay!).  Note that the bear looks like I feel.(7/18/99 1:57PM)

 

Since 1972, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement at Graymoor have been housing and feeding hikers as they pass by on the trail.  We couldn't stay in the Friary because it was occupied, but we camped in their ballfield.  Here, Wild Chicago, T-Roy, Bear Chest, and Father Fred join me for a hearty breakfast.(7/19/99 7:44AM)
The Peaceful Warrior arrives at the Gate of Heaven. This strange portal, which leads nowhere and does say "Gate of Heaven" was just off the side of the trail.  Of course, I'd been doing big miles and felt like dying, so I was glad it was Heaven I was encountering.(7/20/99 12:18PM)
New England at Last!  In Connecticut, hikers are greeted by a welcome sign (just above my head) and provided with maps of the trail though the state.  I had to jump for joy, not only because I was now in the land of the Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, and Celtics, but because Chris Mills challenged me to get a self-timer of me jumping.  (It only took 3 tries.)(7/20/99 2:24PM)
Rand's View, just south of Salisbury, CT, shows the Taconic Range in the background, over which I will hike for the next several days.(7/22/99 8:17AM)

 

The end of the marathon. I hiked 142.3
miles in 5 1/2 days to get to Salisbury to meet
Marc Waxman. Ironically, someone had left
a cooler of beer and soda for hikers. I
needed a beer, even if it was 9:30 AM and I
was drinking Meister Brau.(7/22/99 9:24PM)