Dates ........ WEDS MAY 5, 1999
Miles ........ 17.9 miles
From ........ Eckville shelter
To ............. TENTSITE past Bake Oven Knob
Weather ... 55 degree, cloudy, foggy AM, warm humid 75+ PM

WEDS MAY 5, 1999

Through a hemlock forest and bog, up to the ridge of BLUE MOUNTAIN, past Dan’s Pulpit and Balanced Rocks with hazy views to the MAGNIFICENT TRI-COUNTY CORNER AT 1674 feet elevation. Party sunny, hazy, great views, feel on top of the world on this barren rock peak, would be awesome on a clear day. Continue along rock ridge of Blue Mtn. (trail stays high on ridge for 24 miles - water VERY hard to come by) to the KNIFE EDGE, a ridge peak of Blue Mountain where the mountainside falls very steeply away from the trail forms a very sharp, pointed ridge of solid rock. Views to either side are unobstructed as you walk the thin, high cliff edge. Not for those afraid of height - especially as buzzards soar only a few feet overhead, riding the wind coming off the mountainside. One of the trickiest and most dangerous parts of the trail. My goal is Bake Oven Knob shelter and I am pushing to get there before dark.

WORST EXPERIENCE so far: After hiking over 17 miles, half with no water, and now getting dark, I get to the shelter to find it illegally taken over by a large group of family campers who, despite being informed nicely of their transgression, are not going to give it up. (They hiked one mile on the AT from a game land parking lot to the shelter. Only long distance through backpacking is allowed on PA game lands and at shelters. State parks are for family camping. ) I am forced to hike another mile up the trail, pitch my tent and eat in the dark. That experience, along with trash and vandalism observed along the trail near a road crossing saddened me.