How It All Goes Down
- The next morning, Bryson drives to Pennsylvania. Although he quickly realizes that the maps he bought are pure garbage (yummy), he begins his trek excitedly.
- By the way, another famous murder happened in this neck of the woods. In 1988, two female lovers were shot by a bigoted hillbilly: only one survived. Needless to say, this makes Bryson miss Katz.
- Bryson hears a noise "perhaps fifty feet into the woods" (2.14.11). He panics, assuming that it's Freddy Krueger or something, but is relieved to see a large buck emerge from the trees. Phew.
- He spends the next day driving through Pennsylvania. He sees evidence everywhere of the state's once-profitable, but now environmentally catastrophic, coal mining industry.
- Nowhere is that more evident than in Centralia. In 1962, a large fire spread to coal mines below the town and that fire still rages today. The city became a veritable wasteland since then, with large, smoking rifts erupting from the streets in a hellish fashion.
- Bryson tries to find any stragglers who still live in the town, but comes up empty-handed.
- Afterwards, he heads to Pemberton to see another amazing/heart-breaking sight—a mountain so contaminated by the local zinc mine that "it had been entirely stripped of vegetation" (2.14.35).
- Bryson stops in a parking lot to look at the mountain. Suddenly, he's approached by a security guard who treats him rudely… and attempts to impound his car for zero reason.
- After being saved by a nicer guard, Bryson high-tails it to the nearest entrance to the AT. This hike is a particularly big bummer, leading Bryson to vow to never hike the AT by car again.