Something was rustling around last night, and got pretty close to the tent. It kept us awake for a bit. Luckily when I yelled out, “get out of here” it scurried away. In any case, morning came fast, and we were up and hiking just after 6. We moved pretty quickly, as we were meeting my buddy Andrew 14 miles north on the trail at 11:30. We passed through an area on the ridge that was once a mining community. There’s really nothing left up there to indicate that there was a settlement, but it seems like these little settlements weren’t all that uncommon, they just kind of got abandoned when mines became unproductive.
We reached Swatara Gap just before 11:30, and Andrew was right down the road to pick us up. This turned out to be a great day, because we got to add another brewery onto our list for this trip… Troegs, which is located in Hershey, PA.
Only about 25 minutes away from Swatara gap and the Appalachian Trail, Troegs is pretty accessible for hikers that have rides. The brewery itself is pretty impressive. They’ve made great use of technology in the space they have, and keep an impressive number of beers on tap, including a rotating selection of small batch beers that can only be found at the brewery. Their growler filler is light-years beyond just hand filling, as it automatically purges the growler of oxygen before automatically filling. They also offer “Crowlers”, which are freshly filled 32oz cans, as part of their to-go options.
The food at the brewery is fantastic as well. We all split a cheese plate with some really good cheeses and a few pickled items. The lamb falafel was really good, and the hop-oil fries were very unique and quite tasty. Oh yea, and the beer was great too. I think the standout today was the Dream Weaver double IPA, a dangerously drinkable 9% abv.
After hanging out at the brewery for a bit, Andrew brought us to a grocery store for a resupply, then dropped us back at the trail for a short, but very steep 1 mile climb up to a campsite. We decided to take it a bit easier on ourselves after the past week of big days.
We want to thank our friend Andrew for taking the day to come hang out with us, help us get a good resupply, and, most importantly, bring us to an awesome brewery. We’ve got some of the best friends.
Troegs! Jealous!