Date: 2021-06-04
From: Lickdale/Jonestown - Days Inn

To: William Penn Shelter 
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up in a soft warm bed at the Days Inn. Even though I had turned the alarm off, we still woke before 6am. We laid around enjoying the comfort for a while then I dressed and went down to the lobby to get a couple ¢breakfast to go¢ and some hot chocolates. We left the hotel about 10-ish and tried to hitch a ride to the trail. I didn¢t want to hike 2.5 miles out. We were standing there with our thumbs out and a car turned and drove past us as one of the occupants put his hat out the window to wave. Whipperpoorwill! The car dropped him, Defcon, and Spirit off at the KOA across the street from where we were standing. We ran over and talked with them, so happy to have caught up with them again. They had decided to take a zero in Carlisle the day we left and we hadn¢t seen them since. They said they looked for us in Duncannon but we had already passed through. It was great to see them and we spent a few minutes catching up. They came in for a resupply to get them to Port Clinton and Subway for lunch then they were getting back on trail. We exchanged numbers and talked about meeting at the next shelter (William Penn Shelter). We told them we were trying to hitch out of town and they told us we were trying to go out on the wrong road. Right in front of us was the sign ¢<- South 72 North ->¢ and we totally missed it. Once we got on the right road it took us about 30 minutes to finally get a ride. A gentleman let us ride in the back of his truck and he took us down to the trailhead which passes under I-81. Unfortunately, we needed to go to the trailhead by Swatara Creek and the Iron Bridge. So we hiked the .3 back to the bridge and then came back to the I-81 underpass and got back on trail.The hike up was steep and very humid. We were both drenched by the time we found a camp site to stop for lunch. Another gourmet meal of flour tortillas and chicken. :)We continued hiking and came across a rock field that just went on and on. It took quite a bit of time to cross that but finally on the other side we had a long stretch of level grassy trail. One of the neat things we found on the trail several times were these bright orange newts. (Whipperpoorwill told us later they were red spotted newts.)We arrived at the William Penn Shelter. It has an upper level with ladders. We rested for about 10 minutes and then thought to hike on for a few more miles. The water source for the shelter was on the other side of the trail. When we walked over there we saw a beautiful, level grassy site. We decided that even though it was only 4pm we couldn¢t pass up a site with a water source. If we hiked on we could get in a couple more miles but we wouldn¢t have water so we decided to stay. Whipperpoorwill, Defcon, and Spirit came in about an hour or so later. Mancard joined us after that. For dinner we had mashed potatoes and then David made up a homemade tortilla soup that a section hiker, who was getting off trail, gave us. It was fantastic!! Spirit showed us pictures of the rocks where they had planned to take a break that afternoon. Laying on the rocks were three huge rattlesnakes! Glad they weren¢t there when we stopped!A group of 13 young Mennonite ladies walked past our site snd saw all thru hikers. They stopped snd asked all kinds of questions about our hike. This was their first time backpacking. They were so cute!About 8:30pm, a hiker named Jeff came in. Mancard said that Jeff had taken a zero snd still caught up to him! He couldn¢t believe how fast and how much Jeff hikes in a day. Jeff had hiked for 13 hours this day! But he is not thru-hiking the AT or should I say JUST the AT. He is hiking the Eastern Continental Trail which runs from Key West, FL to Belle Isle in Newfoundland, Canada. A distance of over 5,400 miles. He left Dec 6th and has been hiking for 6 months! We had some great conversation about that!Even stopping early, we put in 7.3 miles.