Days 106 & 107: Dante’s Inferno

Someone told me the other day that the PA section of the trail was made to be like Dante’s Inferno, which is supposed to be funny except it feels too true. I don’t want to complain too much, but the terrain feels like it keeps getting worse, it’s hard on the body and harder on the mind. Miles have been slower than usual and by the end of the day I just feel battered down. Today it poured on us at the top of a rocky ridge, so it became slippery to boot. The sky got dark and the trail turned into a river while we were completely soaked. A girl hiking just behind us saw a tree get hit by lightning. Fortunately there is a happy ending to this day. Our friend has a Grandma who lives near the trail. She came and picked us up, let us shower, cooked us a ton of German food, did our laundry, and gave us a bed for the night. There are eight of us here, so some people are on the floor – one of the perks of being a married couple is we usually get the bed 😉. We got to drive to the grocery store and to the movies! We watched The Secret Life of Pets and ate a ton of popcorn. A nice ending to a rough couple of days.