What an incredible introduction to Pennsylvania! We had to register our car for overnight parking, which required the Lic. plate #, so I trotted back to the car to grab it before we made our way out for an awesome adventure. Autumn sets in across the Appalachian Mountains this time of year, and the overlooks from the Sunset Rocks loop truly inspired me. We dropped our packs and bound up a steep, rocky incline offshoot from the trail to get to the best view of the day. The start of the trail from the road on the AT was pretty steep, and there were other decent stretches of rocky incline. That coupled with some short-lived bouldering (though admittedly there was an alternate route available) made the trail strenuous, though I wouldn't call it difficult. Definitely got the heart rate up! After about 4.5 miles there's a shelter with an awesome ice-cold water stream, a privy (aka spider-house. Won't catch me dead in one of those!), and plenty of camping. This is where the Sunset Rocks loop re-intersects with the AT, and that's the trail we took the next day to make our way back to the parking lot just below the AT museum. Ashli really showed me what the Appalachian Trail is all about.
