Date: 2015-06-04
From: US 11 - Carlisle, PA @ Mile 1129.3

To: Duncannon - Doyle Hotel
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning I planned to head out early but discovered my phone did not charge overnight so I had to wait for it to charge. On my way back to the trail along a very busy US 11, a lady in a car honked and gave me a thumbs up. Finally back in the trail, it was nice to be away from chaos and noise of the highway. I was happy to be hiking again and felt great! I admit I didn't want to stop yesterday morning and knew I could have made it to Duncannon since I never felt tired yesterday in spite of hiking all night. I find the necessity to sleep frustrating because I prefer to do other things so I usually think sleeping is a waste of time. I am lucky because over the years, my body has become used to functioning on little sleep even though it's not very healthy. So I need people like Crafty to remind me to stop even when my brain doesn't want to stop, which helps me remain a smart hiker. In exchange, maybe I help people go beyond their usual limits by not stopping as early as they would typically do. Okay... Maybe I am just pushy.It was a strange 5 mile transition on the trail to hike through a cornfield, cross over I-81 hike back through farmland and finally re-enter the woods and back up to the ridge. I stopped at a nice view where there was a nice rock bench facing a view of the valley from where I had just hiked. Crafty caught up and joined me for a snack. We then stopped a half mile later at the Darlington Shelter only to see what a "Taj Mahal" privy looks like. It was just roomier and included two side by side seats. Still didn't smell any better either. However the tenting area was nice and flat!Moving on, the trail descended again and was "flatter" for a a but before a long steep Rocky climb. It has been a couple days since we have had such a long steep ascent and I felt out of climbing shape again. At the next view which was of the river, I met a day hiker with a service dog. The next few miles were characterized in the guide book as Rocky. And it was, although not as quite as bad as I had imagined though I still ended up "skiing" down one vertical rock and landed on my butt unscathed but got dirt on my nice clean shorts! We could see Duncannon and the river at a nice view from Hawk Rock. On the descent, Beatle caught up to me. We had seen him two days before at the beginning of our night hike after being stuck in our tents all day. He had passed us. So I was surprised to see him again. Beatle is from Germany and gave me news about the other German hikers we know. Apparently many of them had been at Bears Den hostel on May 29th together.He waited for me at the bottom of the hill and it started raining as we walked into town together. We went to The Doyle hotel, an historic old hotel popular with hikers. Crafty was already there. As we entered, a friendly man at a table welcomed U.S. and asked for stories. We put down our packs and gear and sat down. Queen B____ took our food orders. The man who talked to us as we walked in is named Tricks. He is very knowledgable about the AT and has hiked it since he was a boy though he has never they hiked. He chatted with us and gave me tips on where to get water since much of the next 50 miles has been reported dry.Beatle left for the next Shelter. My original plan was to hike at least 21 miles to the first shelter and possibly further. Crafty was trying to decide what to do since her radar showed more rain till 8 pm. She also didn't want to tent but her fleece blanket wouldn't keep her warm enough in the shelter. As we waited out the weather, Tricks continued to give us tips and shared some hiker stories including Earl Schaeffer, Barefoot Sisters, and several other well known hikers. Then he offered to slackpack us tomorrow for 7 miles and possibly even 19 miles! It was an awesome offer so we accepted and even though I had heard the Doyle wasn't the cleanest place, we decided to stay there so we could slackpack. So even though today was shorter than planned, I should get in some extra miles tomorrow. We got our room which was as expected. So we decided to get some Ben & Jerry's since we had not had enough ice cream in the past three days! Tricks invited us to watch a movie on the Continental Divide Trail filmed by Jester. Crafty wants to hike the CDT. From the movie, the CDT looks amazing and intimidating at the same time!