[at-l] PA rescue & rocks

[Phil.Heffington@oc.edu (Phil Heffington)]

Sparrow,  Phil "Scodwod" Heffington here, you know, the guy you rescued at =
Blue Mtn. B&B back in May.  Since I more or less started this thread on the=
 rocks in PA, I'll have to admit that I am so very glad that I got off the =
trail and didn't attempt the rest of my section hike from Port Clinton to G=
reat Barrington, MA back in May.  When I went back in July it was very warm=
 and dry, but I can't imagine trying to hike up Lehigh Gap in cold and wet =
weather.  I do remember those PA rocks at Lehigh Gap very well.  There were=
 some pretty bad stretches of rocks between Port Clinton and Hwy 309, also,=
 but I don't think of them often because I was having such stomach cramps a=
t the time.

I guess my reason for not thinking the rocks in PA were so bad, as an overa=
ll evaluation at least, was because I had been dreading them for so long be=
fore getting there.  I had even continued hiking in my way too heavy Asolo =
Meridian boots just because I thought I would need their durability in PA. =
 My look back on the PA rocks is now sort of like what women tell me about =
childbirth.  The pain of it all doesn't seem so bad, once it's over.  I jus=
t kept waiting on an 8 mile long section of sharp pointed rocks on which th=
ere was never a place for level footing, and no place to stop and camp.  It=
 never happened, so I got through PA thinking that the reputation for rocks=
 there was overrated.  Guess it just shows how differently people see the s=
ame conditions on the trail.

I am now dreading the Whites like I did PA.  Hopefully my expectations for =
the worst will, once again, turn out to be overly pessimistic.  My plan for=
 next summer is to do Gt. Barrington to the Whites, then The Whites in 2004=
, and then the rest of the way in Maine in 2005.  As as westerner (west of =
I-35 in Oklahoma is "west", not "south") I'm looking forward to experiencin=
g those last three states of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.  I'm going t=
o have to find a way to get to Rhode Island too, because I'll probably neve=
r have another chance to get that close if I don't do it while I'm up that =
direction.