T+7 Slow mosey down to Hamburg

​T+7 (Mar. 25, 2020)

Another night of good sleep in a shelter. I'm starting to see why people stay in them. Well designed to protect from the wind and much less work to set up and break down each day...I still worry about running into other people though.

I have a relatively easy day of hiking planned for my trip into town. From the shelter (mile 1225.9) to the junction with Schuylkill River Trail (mile 1219. 7) is only 6.2 miles. That said, it's a more intense day in terms of elevation change than yesterday. Still, it’s nothing like the the mountains I typically hike, so should be a breeze. Since I have nothing pressing in town I'll relax and take it slow. Plus, the forecast is for 100% chance of rain and its still chilly. I'm planning on bundling up under the rain gear and using the slow pace to avoid over heating.

First off, a 500 foot climb followed by a 200 foot descent, then 200 feet back up before the roughly 1000 foot descent down to town. The rain started about half way up the first ascent, which I was taking very slowly as I was a bit overdressed at the time. But with the rain came wind, which helped to keep me cool enough.

Both climbs were quite simple and both "summits" overlook Hamburg, but with obscured views. Hamburg is where PA-61 intersects with I-78 and the side of town nearest to the AT is the one with all of the shops that crop up around such an intersection. You can kind of make this out from the picture captured from the second "summit".

Hamburg PA, as seen from the AT

Also visible from the second "summit" was the lake in Kaercher Creek Park. Sorry for the poor picture, this was the best view I could get.

For a 1000' descent, which appears steep in the guide, this wasn't as bad as anticipated. At the bottom the trail turns sharply south to cross PA-61 underneath its bridge over the Schuylkill River. There I met a man who appears to have made this underpass his home. I gave him the remaining ~1 day's worth of food - as I was already planning on resupplying anyway. After crossing under PA-61, the trail heads back north to Port Chester. There, the trail passes over Schuylkill River on the Broad St. bridge, and finally heads south again - through Reading Railroad yard. No, I didn't get to take a ride on the Reading and I didn't get to warp to the rail yard.

Take a ride on the Reading! (Just not while COVID-19 is wreaking havoc.)

From what I was able to glean von the signs out for public display, this rail line was known for the quantities of coal it carried out of the hills of the region. They even have giant chunks of anthracite on display.

​The rail yard was previously destroyed, but was recently rebuilt as a working museum. I really liked the look of the place and would like to come back some time to see the museum. Perhaps that's because I think we had some of the train cars as model trains growing up. Specifically, I recall the green engine quite vividly. It may still be somewhere in my Dad’s attic.

“Summer Wind”

“Spring Song”

Reading Northern locomotive

​After the rail yard I separated from the AT and headed south on Schuylkill River Trail towards Hamburg. It's a 3 mile walk to town this way, though where the trail meets town is quite close to the hotel I booked a room in.

Once checked in it was a race to get clean! First I had to get the laundry going. Sorry to go into details here, but I find it humorous. Empty bag and pile up clothes for washing, strip naked and add those clothes to the pile. Put pile of extra "juicy" clothes on to Patagonia jacket and tie up the jacket around clothes pile. At this point, you must be wondering "Wait, you're naked, how are you going to get the clothes to the laundry?" For that, the rain gear is the answer. Boy did I ever look haggard walking to the laundry area! Luckily I didn’t meet anybody in the hallway!

During laundry, it was shower time and then I unpacked the bag and layed everything out to dry and air out. After laundry, dinner and planning my 0 day tomorrow. I'll leave that for tomorrow's post.