Crossings

I am writing this post as we traverse Pennsylvania by train, en route to my parent's house in Pittsburgh. Lauren and I have been reading our trail journals to each other, sharing with each other our notes and perspectives from the trail for the first time. So far we're two weeks in, just reliving some of the emotional and physical highs and lows of the Smokies.

Today's train route was something I hadn't given any thought to, and was overjoyed when I looked out the window to see the Susquehanna River and the familiar views of Duncannon, PA. I couldn't contain my exclamations and pointing when I saw the Doyle Hotel, the old sled factory, and the exact underpass where our footsteps crossed these tracks just three months earlier.

Each time we encounter the trail I am overcome with a flood of emotions, and a sense of nostalgia one might expect from an old-timer telling stories of "back in my day..."

So far we've intersected the A.T. four times since completing our thru-hike. First in Killington near the Inn at the Long Trail, and again near the Clarendon Gorge in Vermont. A few weeks ago we crossed at the southern end of Harriman State Park near Tuxedo, New York, and now again today on our Amtrak rails.



Before hiking the trail I would drive the PA-76 turnpike and daydream about the A.T. passing by on the concrete bridge above. Now I know.