Date: 2006-06-09
From: Boiling Springs, PA

To: Duncannon, PA
Miles today: 25.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Happy Birthday Dad! Happy Birthday Uncle Mick!Was woken up at 6:45am, normally this would put me in a pissy mood but not today. I had one of the best nights sleeps of my life last night, I woke up feeling completely refreshed. To make things even better when I went down stairs I found that Alison and Phil had breakfast ready: eggs, bagels and fruit. I got dropped off in Boiling Springs around 8am said goodbye to Alison and Phil and was on the trail by 8:30.For almost 13 miles after Boiling Springs the trail continues across a very flat valley mostly in tree groves inbetween farmers fields, but sometimes the trail does cut across a corn or wheat field. I enjoyed this section of the trail a lot, it was really flat easy terrain and it was a cool morning so when I did walk through the fields I didn't get baked by the sun. Plus I did come across some great trail magic in the morning, consisting of sodas and other snacks.Once I had climbed out of the valley I went to the first shelter for lunch. I made it just in time too. Only a few minutes after arriving a big thunderstorm moved in and almost immediately began dropping marble sized hail and very heavy rain. I would not have wanted to be hiking in that! Once the rain had stopped I continued hiking. A few miles later I was coming to the crest of a hill when I heard really loud squawking and flapping noises. It sounded like a flock of 100 geese had been scared and were all trying to fly away at the same time. As I continued up the rise the noise grew louder until I could make out the shapes of one animal chasing another. Then out of no where a little baby bird runs out right in front of me on the trail, cheeping the entire time, and then runs back into the woods. It is the I notice that the animal making all the noise is a wild turkey and it is being chased by a Fox. Neither animal notices me witnessing their epic struggle so I quickly fumble for me camera. But before I can pull my camera out a huge thunder-clap booms over head, scaring the crap out of not only me but also the fox and the turkey. This is when the turkey takes off one way and the fox takes off the other way. I was able to snap one or two very blurry pictures of the fox, but they definitely don't do justice to the situation I witnessed.Shortly there after it began to rain but I put on my rain jacket and was able to stay relatively dry. Overall the day was great for hiking, but the last 3 miles were definitely the least fun for me. Surprisingly this had nothing to do with my body hurting, it was all because the trail was just layered in spider webs. Every 3 feet I would run into another web. I can take running into a spider web here and there, but this was just ridiculous. I had to swing my hiking pole in the air in front of me just to keep them from building up in my beard. But even with me knocking them down I still managed to get webbing all over me. Ahhh! Needless to say when I arrived in Duncannon I have never been happier to walk into a bar and buy a beer.Tonight I am staying in the Doyle Hotel; a Bar with a hotel above it. The Hotel is over 100 years old and the rooms definitely showed that age. But it was a place to stay, it was cheap and it had a bar with cheap beers on the first floor. What more could you ask for?! The Doyle really reminded me of a wild west salon with rooms for the night upstairs, but the Doyle had far fewer prostitutes. When I cashed out my tab at the end of the night my total bill was $33, that included my room, a 1/2 pound bacon cheese burger and fries, and 5 22oz beers. Not bad!I also ran into quite a few people at the Doyle, some old faces but a couple new ones: Squirrel, Rat Puke, Twiglett, Kurly, Swansons, Tailwind, Sven, Bear Bell, Gumby and Coyote Beck. Over all I had a great time and now I am ready for bed. Oops forgot about my stupid PA Rocks thing. I thought they were pretty easy today too. What gives?! The PA Rocks are getting an ass kicking from me.Patches - 4   PA Rocks - 0