The train I took out to Harpers Ferry came through that tunnel before crossing the Potomac, a very pretty sight. The trail goes along this concrete walkway.

Harpers Ferry, where the Potomac and Shenandoah meet and flow towards DC.

The Potomac again.

Harpers Ferry is also a major railroad junction.

And used to have the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, too. Now only abandoned locks remain.

Sometimes the canal is still there, stagnant, with the still-used railroad above. The trail follows the towpath for three flat miles.

My luck. I had to wait for this very slow train to pass.

The end is near, as the sunlight fades.

The war correspondents memorial. Why?

It must have been hard to decide which tree trunk to paint the blaze on.

Blaze and red leaves.

The red leaves in the sun.

The trail crosses South Mountain near Antietam, literally through several Civil War battlefields. My dad would have died and gone to heaven.

A hazy view across Maryland.

One of the many Washington Monuments.

The Trail bridge across Interstate 70, which had bumper-to-bumper traffic on the westbound side.

Almost half-way.

Clearer, and cooler, today.

Ooh pretty flowers.

Tumbling Run shelter. Snorers, over there.

The first big uphill, early in the morn.

A clear, cool day dawns.

And what kind of baby snake might this be?

Quarry Gap has two very nice shelters. Which supposedly have a resident rattler. Moving on.

Late day shadows.

Halfway on the Appalachian Trail. And feeling the effects of the half gallon of ice cream.

Maine, through that rock.

Georgia, from whence you came. Or you can go around these boulders altogether, and still get to your destination.

The Trail enters the Cumberland Valley, and how flat it is.

A somewhat different scene than I am used to. It looks like Indiana out there. But it was only 70, a great day for a hike.

Blue flowers and a yellow butterfly.

An old bridge in Boiling Springs.

And a big tree in Boiling Springs.

If the Conodoguinet is in flood, this boardwalk is especially helpful.

A moth makes its home on the wood.

That's fifteen miles of flatness, from the first hill after the Cumberland Valley.

Old farm equipment.

Looking east at the Susquehanna, just north of Harrisburg.

Best Sunset on the Trail, just before Duncannon. I spent half an hour watching it only to have to stumble in to town in the dark.

Duncannon sunset.

Lights begin to come on in Duncannon along the Susquehanna.

Duncannon sunset.

Duncannon sunset. It just got better.

Duncannon sunset.

Duncannon sunset.

The best sunset of the trail, by a long shot, was in Duncannon, Pennsylvania. What are the chances? Half an hour later I was eating pizza and drinking beer.

Lights in Duncannon.

More lights in Duncannon.

Me at the Doyle.

The Doyle, an old Anheuser Busch hotel in Duncannon.

The Juniata.

The Juniata, from the bridge.

Rips on the Susquehanna.

Looking back at the Juniata Bridge.

Harrisburg from the Appalachian Trail, just down the Susquehanna.

Looking from the Appalachian Trail towards Harrisburg. The longest arch bridge is the Rockville Bridge

Late day sun hits the Pennsylvania rocks, carved in to steps on the edge of Peters Mountain on the way down to the water source.

Earl Shaffer, the first thru-hiker, built this shelter. But not during his thru-hike.

I slept here, the nicer and larger Peters Mountain shelter.

Yup, Pennsylvania rocks.

There used to be a village here. Now, instead of, say, maintaining the trail, they maintain a mailbox with a log book. And I was the last to sign in this mailbox, I met the fellows a few hundred yards down the trail who were hiking in a replacement.

A nice arch bridge which used carry a railroad; it now carries a multi-use trail.

See the fish?

The Waterville Iron Bridge in Swatara Gap no longer carries traffic, but is very ineresting engineering, and a beautiful piece of construction, too.

The Waterville Iron Bridge in Swatara Gap.

The Waterville Iron Bridge in Swatara Gap.

The Waterville Iron Bridge in Swatara Gap.

A view across the flat lands to the south of the trail, which is on the southernmost ridge of the Appalachians.

Pennsylvania rocks. I wanted to kill someone.

I pined to be in New Jersey. Seriously.

Rain in the morning.

More Pennsylvania Rocks.

The clearing cold front blows through.

A nice view. In Pennsylvania?

Views from the Pinnacle. When you get a good view in Pennsylvania, you really do savor it.

Views from the Pinnacle.

Views from the Pinnacle.

Views from the Pinnacle.

Views from the Pinnacle. The haze is blowing out quickly, ushering in cooler weather.

Views from the Pinnacle.

Lehigh Gap is a visible gash in the hills many miles off. I'll see it the day after tomorrow.

Well, I guess that's a better use for Pennsylvania rocks than throwing them all over the trail.

Bear Rocks here were some of the worst of the Pennsylvania Rocks.

Looking across Lehigh Gap.

Wind blowing down the Lehigh River.

Lehigh River, Lehigh Gap and the beautiful zinc-smolting town of Palmerton.

The trail climbs up a jumble of rocks overlooking the Lehigh, which winds through Pennsylvania.

Heavy metal devastation from the Palmerton zinc plant.

Weird caterpillars all over the end of a branch.

It's blurry, but this is a classy trailer park. The name is marked with a grave stone. Where hicks go to die.

The beginning of sunrise near Delaware Water Gap.

Later in the morning (6:30ish) on the way down to Delaware Gap...