Are there any amateur geologists or avid Penn hikers out there who could tell me where in the state I will encounter the famously painful rocks? Assumedly glacier beds don’t stop right at the Mason-Dixon.
Helium
Pennsylvania rocks
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#2
They start to0 get bad about in the middle of the state and actually run into New Jersy a little.
Big B
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#3
The rocks aren’t continuous, and they aren’t as bad as their reputation. The problem comes, I think, because hikers are doing 20 plus miles a day through there - so their feet are tired and sore regardless. The rocks just make it seem worse.
Ginny
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#4
The boot-eating Pennsylvania rocks are only a myth believed by northbounders who have not had experience in the Whites. Once they reach the Whites they realize that the infamous Pennsylvania rocks were absolutely nothing to worry about. Actually, the Pennsylvania rocks are not that much worse than the GA, NC, TN rocks, they just go on more continuously instead of in and out of rocky areas. Don’t sweat the Pennsylvania rocks!
Turtle Walking
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#5
I found the rocks in the Whites to be big, lots of boulders. In Pa its like walking on broken concret and cinderblocks all day.
Virginian
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#6
All that being said, what would a realistic average daily mileage be? I know everyone has a different pace, so just toss out a good cross section of responses.
Helium
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#7
The worst stretch is about 75 miles between Port Clinton and Delaware Water Gap. The shelter about 7 miles before Water Gap is hilarious to read, all the NOBOS letting off their frustration with the state.
And I agree with Virginian, the Whites had rocks you had to slide down and a lot of knee-high ones. The Pennsylvania ones weren’t harder, but so much more frustrating. Over that Port Clinton stretch I didn’t take a step on all dirt one time. They’re all softball-size on average, many stick out of the ground at a point, and maybe one in ten are loose.
That said, after my other NOBO friends finished PA, we all agreed it wasn’t quite as bad as the hype, but we still all had been very frustrated by it. But it won’t necessarily eat up your shoes as some say, mine came out fine, plus by that time my ankles were strong and I was a sure hiker, so I didn’t roll my ankles too often. I think the most frustrating part about the stretch was that you always had to place each foot at a weird angle and never pointed forward.
Mileage-wise the rocks slowed me just a little, but the general flatness of the terrain compensated and I was doing my usual days, 20-25.
And hey, if you want some pictures, my journal has about three from that stretch, and the one I believe titled “A Rocks!’” is a pretty typical view.
0101
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#8
I should add that the rocks start after Duncannon, and between there and Port Clinton is about 70 percent of the rocks you’ll see after P.C. Before Duncannon is just about the flattest and easiest section of the entire AT to hike, super-easy, and you’ll do boku miles without trying.
0101
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#9
The rocks of Pennsylvania are a myth created by the treasonous reporters of the liberal media. Their First Ammendment rights are being stripped as we speak, and America can rest easy knowing that, the stories that the evil rocks of Pensylvania that are waiting to attack and kill us, they don’t really exist. We have not tortured the rocks and we’re working hard to protect you from the treasonous media by montitoring what books you read, who you call, and what web sites you frequent. Verizon, Sprint and the major cable companies and internet providers have “allowed” your government to hunt Osama Been Missing by data mining your lives. Rest easy. We’re protecting you, even though we can’t find Osama. Oh, one more thing. The economy is the envey of the industrialized world with an ever-increading gross domestic product, despite a steady decrease in median incomes for the past five year. That just means you are working harder and being more productive while earning less and less money.
There are no rocks, GO HIKING AND PAY NO ATTENTION TO US.
Dick Cheney
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#10
i thought the beginning of the rocks are 20+ miles south of Port Clinton, just after 501 shelter…complete rock hop over the Barren plain of LeHigh Gap onward.
burn
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#11
Like Turtle hinted, I just figured that by the time NOBO’s get into PA, they haven’t had much to complain about, so they gripe about the rocks.
Peaks
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#12
It’s different with everyone. My daily mileage went down considerably, as I was carefully watching where to put every step, so as not to roll an ankle. Other people flew through, enjoying the relatively flat terraine. It all depends on how you hike.
FrogLog
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#13
Hey Burn, I didn’t think they were that bad north of there. I did 33 miles in 14 hrs one day with full pack there. I also used one of my nine lives. But it wasn’t icky. The poison ivy freaked me out. It’s all in the foot placement, baby. Like Frog said. Good place to keep a light pack except for good water load.
Bushwhack