Date: 2003-08-06
From: "Mother Hen's", Boiling Springs, PA

To: Hotel Doyle, Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 25.7
Weather: light rain

I woke up rested and refreshed, eager to get back on the Trial. Which I did, around 8:20am after another shower, breakfast, a brief interchange with Mother Hen, and a quick browse through the outfitters and the ATC office.Cornfields, spider webs, and road crossings characterized my morning. Lots of open sunshine! I demolished many a spider¢s home as I ran headlong into them racing down the Trail. Their sticky threads plastered my face and arms and I let out repeated groans of disgust. Reminded me of one of Gary Larson¢s Far Side cartoons, of the two spiders stringing up a web at the end of a slide on the playground. One is saying to the other, ¢If we pull this off, we¢ll eat like kings!¢Three major highway crossings came one right after the other. I stood for a moment at I-81 and watched the cars coming North, even though it was Wednesday morning¢¦Next was more field hiking, and I lost the Trail for what was I think the first time! Not for long, though; I just had to plow through thigh-high grass, which hid deep holes and ruts, to the stile on the far side of the field.A quick stop at the Scott Farm Trail Work Center to scan the register brought the upcoming climb to my attention. I guess it really does help me to be aware of what¢s coming ¢ more than I thought ¢ because I ate a snack, set an ETA, and then paced myself up. It wasn¢t long, but it was a little steep and I started to get frustrated but talked myself out of it. I gave myself permission to struggle up, having already hiked 12 miles on only a snack since breakfast six hours ago, and reminded myself I¢d feel better once I got to the top.At the top was Darlington Shelter, my lunchtime destination; I arrived about 1:30. Strangely ¢ I guess it¢s the heat ¢ I haven¢t had much of an appetite (I know, can you believe that?! Me?), and the water source was less than ideal. It might have been running at about 20 a minute ¢ that¢s drips, not gallons!! I stepped over to peer into a pool that had been dammed up, thinking I¢d just scoop out of there. A frog jumped in as I stepped closer, and I declined. I scooped instead from the lower pool into which the pipe was dripping slowly. I now know it takes exactly 52 capfuls to fill my 1-liter Aquafina bottle halfway¢¦Since I now had to wait 30 minutes to drink my water and I wasn¢t all that hungry, I shouldered my pack and decided to snack as I walked instead. This was also a good idea since I had a lofty mileage goal for the day¢¦A book had been left in the shelter, so I picked it up and brought it with me. I¢ve been hungry for books, actually, but none of those I set out at home intending to read over the summer have satisfied my appetite, and those I have tried to carry have gone virtually untouched. This one struck a chord immediately and I actually read more than 70 pages while I was walking!And my afternoon crash came again. I thought of two other things that couldn¢t be causing it:1)        Dehydration ¢ yesterday I drank at least six and a half liters ¢ over a gallon and a half. This morning I had a good four or five liters (and only peed twice ¢ that tells you how much I¢m sweating¢¦)2)        Not enough calories ¢ can¢t be that either, because I haven¢t lost any weight. I know, I can¢t go by the number on the scale because muscle weighs more than fat. But all my clothes still fit the same, so even if I¢ve gained muscle I haven¢t replaced much fat.Anyway as I hit a few more minor hills and toiled up them I pondered what I was reading in ¢Seven Seasons of the Man in the Mirror¢ by Patrick Morley. (Not sure why this guy thought what he had to way only applied to men; I found principles in the first two chapters that certainly cut me to the heart. This will be on my recommended reading list.)One principle was that of living too fast, too hectic. I got to thinking about this journey I¢m on and had a bit of a shift in mindset. This pressure I put myself under to ¢get there¢ as fast as I can ¢ that¢s precisely what I came out here to avoid. One of Morley¢s discussion questions at the end of a chapter asks, ¢Do you feel that every morning when the sun comes up, you had better be running?¢Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Which is ironic, since I came out here with the intention of slowing down. Even now, with the pressure to reach Katahdin by a certain date gone, I¢m still focused on putting in big miles rather than doing what feels good and is enjoyable. That¢s why I posted that entry last week, to find a way to do this and still enjoy it. I just don¢t enjoy it if I¢m running to put in 20 or 25 miles a day, day after day after day.One point I¢ve struggled with feeling disappointed over is just that ¢ not being able to push like that to make it. I feel like it means I didn¢t have what it takes to do the whole Trail. But yes I do, just maybe not in five months. Maybe not as a ¢mile junkie.¢ And that¢s supposed to be a bad thing? I feel bad about that? I think I¢ll choose to be glad ¢ glad I don¢t have what it takes to run myself into the ground! Glad I don¢t have a drive so strong that I lose the beauty of the experience! (Wait and see¢¦)Soon the Trail became too rocky to read and walk so I had to put the book away. And, ironically, I began to push as hard as I could to get to the shelter¢¦The irony was not lost, and I asked myself, ¢Why am I in such a hurry to ¢get there¢?¢ The answer came back loud and clear ¢ BECAUSE I¢M TIRED OF HIKING.Well if I feel that way then I shouldn¢t be out here anymore, right?But am I really tired of hiking? I asked again. Not hiking; I¢m just tired of¢¦ and I listed it all.-        Bugs that fly in my eyes and ears while I¢m hiking-        Being drenched with sweat all day-        The smell of my clothes and my pack-        How hard it is for me to get uphill ¢ not feeling fit-        Being far away from my family and closest friends: my sisters in Southern California; my parents in Maryland; my extended family in Washington; Annie in the Napa Valley; Aprille and Mandy in Southern California; Matt and Steve, the Clouzets, Erney and Jo, and my cat for heaven¢s sake!, as well as many other friends in Chattanooga; Sam and Silvia in Florida; my church family in Oklahoma, several of which no longer even live in Oklahoma either!; and many others in various places¢¦ (Obviously this would not be remedied by leaving the Trail, as you see they are all spread out everywhere! One of the reasons the hope of heaven is so sweet ¢ we¢ll all be there in the same place together forever!)-        Battling these discouraged thoughts-        Feeling fat after all this effort (another issue that would not be solved by getting off the Trail. This issue runs in the family ¢ and with most all women, right?)-        This hideous rash I¢ve gotten from sweating day after day in these nylon shorts. Call me vain (I must get it from Grandpa!), but it¢s important to me to feel attractive. This rash just doesn¢t do it. I¢m embarrassed to even admit it¢s there¢¦At last I reached the shelter just before town; should I stay or should I go? I needed water, but decided to just push on. Again the draw of a shower and getting clean was too strong! It had rained on me again, although that was short-lived. As I calmed down, I thought I¢d better list all the things I¢m not tired of, you know, to be fair. I began the descent into Duncannon listing those things I¢m still enjoying, and my state of mind improved enough that I could enjoy the view and terrain ¢ although I still hurried past it.-        Being active all day-        The adventure-        Wearing the same clothes all summer doesn¢t even bother me like I thought it would ¢ if they just didn¢t have to smell so bad! Normally I¢m kind of a fashion freak, with way too many clothes in my closet. -        Putting on my flip-flops when I get into camp at the end of the day-        And, putting on my warm, dry, (sometimes) clean-smelling camp clothes after getting cleaned up at the end of the day-        Meeting new people-        Being outside all day everyday ¢ I love this most of all.-        Waking up outside every morning-        Sleeping in my sleeping bag, on my Therma-Rest ¢ although I do bask in a nice bed and pillows when I get the chance!-        Not worrying (as much?) about what I look like-        I¢m not even tired of not having a shower every day ¢ although my margin of time between them is narrowing: it¢s down to three or four days by now, whereas when I started I didn¢t mind going six or eight days without. And even then it¢s largely because of the smell of my clothes, not really body odor.-        The quiet of the outdoors, the peaceful sounds of birds, a stream, the breeze, cicadas, woodpeckers, trees creaking-        Crafting these journal entries ¢ the satisfaction I get out of a well-turned phrase, a humorous description-        Knowing people are admiring and respecting what I¢m doing!-        Peeing outdoors!-        Reading and signing the shelter registers, seeing who is where and when-        Drinking iodine water; in fact lots of times I¢m struck by how nasty city water is. Once I treat my iodine water with the PA Plus tablets that take away the color and taste of iodine I actually prefer it to city water.-        Seeing new places, new towns I¢ve never been to before-        Being stiff and sore in the morning-        Trail food. Maybe a little of oats, but I¢ve recently replaced those with Grape Nuts for my morning cereal.-        Scenic overlooks-        Looking back down into a valley I just climbed out ofNot that I necessarily relish all these things but if I don¢t love them they at least don¢t bother me. Notice this list is much longer than the other one¢¦One reason I pushed on into town was I thought if I did I¢d have d one over 26 miles, and wanted to be able to say I¢d done a marathon. How bummed I was when I got here and recalculated, only to discover I¢d ONLY done 25.7 miles!When I got to town I stopped at a convenience store and got a cupful of ice and a lemonade ¢ never has that tasted so good! Ice cold anything would have been good. I asked directions to the famed Doyle ¢ THE place to stay in Duncannon ¢ and headed there.I sort of recognized the hotel from others¢ photos. The big ¢Hikers Welcome¢ banner hanging out from was a clue, too. I walked into the bar to find a dimly lit and smoky room, three men (already mostly drunk at 6:45pm or so) sitting at the bar, a woman behind it. She checked me into a room and rattled off instructions and directions I feared I¢d never remember! She must have sensed it, because she said, ¢You can forget everything else I say except this: If you¢re in the shower and you hear the pressure drop, step back because you WILL get scalded.¢As one of the drunker men asked if I¢d be upon the fourth floor with them and made a comment about walking between his room and the shower naked, the girl informed me they were residents. ¢Yeah,¢ another one said, ¢You can¢t get a DUI when you live upstairs!¢Thankfully she put me on the third floor. Gotta love these adventures.I settled into my room, which couldn¢t have been much larger than 10x10, showered in the bathroom across the hall, then stretched and made myself supper. I didn¢t even have the energy to go out somewhere and get dinner.Went down to the bar to use the Internet they had down there and had a glass or two of ice water. Combed through the hiker boxes (one on each floor here!) and found some DEET. Great find ¢ neither tea tree nor citronella are cutting it. I¢ll sell out and try this. Picked up a couple of books that looked good and retreated to my room, where I read until at least 1am.It felt so good to have actually made it the whole 25.7 miles. I smiled, quite pleased with myself despite the mood swings. And I¢m here half a day ahead of schedule!