Cumberland Valley blues

April 22-26, 2025

Pine Grove Furnace to Carlisle, PA

Mile 1132.6

The porch at Ironmasters. Such a cool old mansion!

Leaving Ironmasters was an exercise in familiarity. I’d camped in the state park here with family, and more recently done a brief shakedown up to Pole Steeple here with a friend last November. I gave the side trail to pole Steeple a little wave as I passed.

Made it to the first shelter, James Fry, in good time, or at least good time for me: 7.5 miles in 5 hours. Rolled my ankle a little, and it was getting hot, so I filled up at the spring and sat down for an actual cooked lunch on my little stove. I thought about continuing to a campsite a few miles down, but there would be no water there, and not much chance to get water for miles beyond that. Later in the evening, I got a text from Calculus, advising me to find a path around the rock maze and the narrow wedge up ahead—said there were some legitimately dangerous scrambles, and regretted that he had not taken an alternative path. He also recommended the Green Mountain General Store, which was a quick road walk off trail about 4 miles into my next day’s hike. 

The general store was awesome—lots of hiker-friendly snacks, and a hot food menu. I enjoyed a hot breakfast, used a real bathroom, and continued on my way. 

I had never seen this sign before, but I’ve been seeing them in a lot of places in this area recently. Here’s the one from Green Mountain:

There was no actual blue blaze or alternate path around the rocks that I could see, but there was a road just before that section which I could get a quick ride around. The result was that I rolled into Boiling Springs far earlier than anticipated. The post office there had another box from my family—even though I’d just gotten one at the hostel only days ago. I love the idea of mail drops, but I think we all definitely need to work on the logistics.

From Boiling Springs, it was a straight, flat walk to Carlisle. I was feeling a bit off, but figured the long miles or the hot sun was responsible. I made it to the hotel in Carlisle without a clear sense of how many miles I’d covered.

By late evening, it was clear I was actually feeling sick. Couldn’t hold food or water down, plus fever and chills. I was glad to have a bathroom so close to hand, glad to hole up in a room and a bed rather than deal with it on trail. Ended up staying at the hotel for three days, and by that time I couldn’t wait to get out of that room, however thankful I’d been (and still was, to be fair). Weirdly, it felt like forever since I’d been on trail, a bit like starting over from scratch.