Date: 2004-05-31
From: US 11 north of Boiling Springs, PA

To: Day 67: River View Camp, Susquehanna River, PA
Miles today: 18.9

On AT Day 67 my wife and I overslept until 6:30 a.m. This plus the long drive from Hagerstown, MD and our need to hook up and transport our recreational trailer resulted in my not getting to the trailhead until 9:50 a.m. Given the warm and humid weather of the past several weeks, I chose to wear my new quick drying running shorts and short-sleeved shirt instead of my standard hiking outfit ¢ a wonderful improvement in comfort. Since the running shorts had no pockets (other than the coin pouch which I used to hold a plastic bag containing vitamin I) and no belt to hold my camera, I had much greater leg freedom resulting in better agility and speed ¢ I like this new outfit. Today¢s weather consisted of mist in the morning followed by light rain for most of the day with temperature in the 60¢s ¢ when the rain picked up I put on my Gore-Tex jacket, but I continued to hike in shorts. Unfortunately, my Gore-Tex boots failed again and my socks and feet were soaked all day. Alas, even though I¢ve got three pairs of these REI (Morrell) boots, I may need to buy a different brand or style that actually allows my feet to stay dry.The trail leaving the US 11 AT overpass continued to skirt wet farm fields populated with cows, grass, wildflowers and corn. It was quite pleasant, except for the occasional pockets with pesky mosquitoes (they never got bad enough for me to stop to put on DEET or my head screen). The trail eventually entered the forest and climbed about 800 feet up Blue Mountain and then down 100 feet or so to the Darlington Shelter where I stopped for a snack. In the shelter I found two AT through hikers (a husband/wife couple) who told me they had spent the night there and given the rain they were going to stay in the shelter possibly all day. I was still in my shorts and short sleeve shirt and told them that I was going to push on as soon as I ate and signed the register.As I descended from Blue Mountain and climbed Cove Mountain (~ 700 foot up and down) I encountered numerous sections with mud and/or rocks made slick by the rain and I twisted my sore knee several times, but in spite of these difficulties I still made good time ¢ perhaps because I was so engrossed in listening to my MP3 recording of a Tom Clancy OP Center novel. The latter is probably the reason I completely missed the sign leading to the next shelter so I continued to push on until near Hawk Rock where I took a short break to eat another snack. As I neared Shermans Creek on the outskirts of Duncannon, I came across a Trail Magic cooler of canned fruit drinks ¢ what a wonderful blessing, I drank one and took one for dinner. A few minutes later as I just started to walk the streets leading into Duncannon (the AT passes directly through the center of this charming little town), much to my surprise who should I see coming the other direction ¢ Hot Chocolate!Now I am always pleased to see my wife, but tonight was a special treat since with the periodic rain I was not in the mood to set my tent up in a muddy campground, and the prospect of sleeping in the dry, air-conditioned and comforting confines of our recreational trailer (and having a real dinner!) was a clearly something to celebrate. I had thought my wife was going to camp for the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot before pushing on to a state park further north, but she instead checked and found that the River View Campground on the banks of the Susquehanna River where I was going to camp allowed recreational trailers so she changed her mind ¢ what a nice gesture. As we walked into Duncannon, we came across a large sign erected in a small park celebrating the AT that listed all of the stores and services available to us through hikers, but unfortunately since it was around 6:00 p.m. on Memorial Day, very few of these were still open. It was truly amazing how AT friendly this town has become, with numerous signs in store windows welcoming our business. The small town library even offered free sodas, snacks and use of their Internet link ¢ but again all I could do was read the sign since they were closed for the evening. Thus, after a relatively easy 18.0-mile hike, I settled in for a very pleasant evening with my lovely wife. Life for this AT through hiker is truly great!