Date: 2005-09-02
From: 7 miles north of Duncannon, PA

To: Darlington Shelter, PA
Miles today: 18.7
Weather: scattered clouds

18.7 miles todayDarlington Shelter, Pa. I woke up at 4:30 this morning and laid there until 5. I decided to go ahead and get my coffee ready so I can get into Duncannon early today. I had breakfast and enjoyed my coffee and started walking at 6:15am. It still wasn't completely light out yet, but it didn't take long before I could see good. I had some nice views from the ridge this morning. I could see Duncannon with fog laying down around it and a ridge on the other side. With the sun coming up, it was very scenic. I took a couple pictures and kept on walking. There were a few blowdowns that I had to work my way through. On this ridge it's hard to get through the trees sometimes. The ridge is narrow enough that you can't walk around the blowdown, you have to go through it and alot of the trees have poison ivy growing in them. I saw the fourth and fifth box turtles of this hike today. I don't know why I like them so much. I guess maybe it's the different colors they can have on their shells. I stopped by Clarks Ferry Shelter and signed the register. There was a couple section hikers there and we talked for a short while before I hiked on. I started going down the ridge towards Duncannon and I saw a dark, little fox that took off when he saw me. I came out of the woods and walked right to the truckstop and had another breakfast and more coffee. I sent in my journal entry from there and recieved my emails which I read while I was eating. I bought a shower there for $8.00 and got cleaned up again. I guess I'm getting used to showers more often now. :-))) I wanted to wash up good because of all the poison ivy I went through this morning too. I've had a little poison ivy on my legs for about 5 days now and I'd just as soon not get anymore. I washed my clothes in the shower with me and wore them out of there wet. I walked into town and on the way down the road I saw the library door was open. I walked in and asked if I could use the computer and the lady said that I could, but that she wasn't actually open today. That was pretty nice of her, so I didn't take too long. I walked over to the Doyle Hotel. How could anyone pass through Duncannon and not stop at the Doyle??I walked into the bar and said hello to Shrek, a guy that hiked the trail in '02. While I was talking to him, Vickey, the owner came over. It was good seeing both of them again. I ordered a Yuengling Lager and a roast beef hoagie and sat there and caught up on alot of trail news. Vickey keeps a photo album of all the hikers that come through there. It was nice looking back and seeing lots of friends. I had been in town for 3 hours and I still had about 12 miles to walk today to meet up with Rainbow Slick, Goosebump The Snow Princess and Baby Bump so I decided to get moving. I walked back into the woods at 12:35pm. I had about an 800 foot climb up to Hawk Rock. I stopped there a few minutes and let the breeze cool me down after the climb. I walked on and stopped by Cove Mountain Shelter long enough to sign the register before hiking on. I was walking along and saw a 6 foot long black snake stretched out near the trail. He was long, but only about 1 1/2 inched in diameter. I got a picture of him, then walked on. There's been alot of rocks in this section, so the walking was just a little slower. I also had lots of spider webs again that I was walking into and clearing with my face. They got so bad in some areas that I just held my hiking pole out in front of me while I walked. I walked down Cove Mountain and then up Blue Mountain to Darlington Shelter. The Slicks weren't there yet and I was out of water. I walked the 1/4 mile down to the spring hoping it wasn't dry. It wasn't. :-))) I drank a litre of water and filled 2 bottles for the night and when I got back to the shelter, Rainbow Slick, Goosebump The Snow Princess and Baby Bump had arrived. It was great to see them again. Baby Bump has 2 teeth which improved her looks alot. I think 2 teeth should be a minimum amount of teeth for a girl. ;-))) I was trying to eye up the goodies they brought without looking too conspicuous...it's hard to fool Goosebump The Snow Princess. She handed me a coke and started bringing food out while Rainbow Slick went after water. They brought food 4 miles up the hill just for me!! Now that's some friends. :-))) When Rainbow Slick got back, we started eating fried chicken, potato salad, grapes, strawberries and some homemade lemon desert things that Goosebump The Snow Princess made just for me, but ate half of them last night just to make sure they were good. Everything was very good and there was plenty of it. All they have to carry out tomorrow is chicken bones. :-))) I saw they brought cards to play Hearts...big mistake. Niether one of them are devious enough to play Hearts with me. Ha!!! We set up the tents and it got dark, so Baby Bump went to sleep and we stayed at the picnic table with headlamps on and started playing cards. Because I'm such a good friend and wouldn't want to embarrass them, I won't say what the score ended up being...nah, what the heck, I'll embarrass them. :-))) The score was Rainbow Slick- 116, Goosebump The Snow Princess- 92 and I had 52 and low score wins!!! They played like amateurs and got their butts kicked tonight. ;-))) I'm glad we ate before we played cards or I might not have had any fried chicken tonight. We had alot of fun and they really enjoyed getting back out in the woods. It was 10pm when we all finally went off to bed. It would be hard to beat a day that you spend with good friends.....and kick their butts in Hearts. ;-))) This was Baby Bumps first walk along the A.T. She can now work on sectioning the trail because she has 4 miles done. It's also her first night sleeping in a tent. I wonder how old she'll be before her first thru hike since both her parents have thru hiked.