Date: 2005-04-23
From: Eagles Nest Shelter

To: Windsor Furnance
Miles today: 14.7

Today the trail goes right through the town of Port Clinton, and I reach town by early afternoon. I stop at the outfitter to resolve my latest gear issue--the jammed hiking poles. The outfitter repairs and cleans my poles in exchange for toilet paper. That's right, I'm the one coming out of the woods, and I'm providing TP for the outfitter! Supplies are hard to come by in this town. There is no place to resupply, not even a gas station. The outfitter sells some backpacking food, but hasn't yet stocked the shelves for the season. There is one restaurant in town, so of course I stop. I walk in the door and am immediately greeted. "Hi Heidi," says a girl sitting with two other hikers. It is Team GAME Face: Germy, RedShirtGreenHair (Chris), and Stunt Double. Nobo's have finally caught up to me! They have been reading my register entries for months. I never really thought people would catch up to me, and they really have learned a lot about me from reading those tired scribbles I put in the registers at the end of the day. Yes, they have a lot of dirt on me! Germy is reciting my entries by the word, stuff I've forgotten about. Stalkers!So this is what I learn about Team GameFace when they aren't making fun of me:Germy, named so because it had been a full month without a shower when he met Chris and Stuntdouble. He hikes in sandals. Start date was Feb. 19, and obviously does big miles if he caught up to me this fast! The thing is, he walks real slow. He just walks all day long and sometimes into the night.Chris and Stunt Double are sister and brother. Chris is beginning her career as a doctor after the trail, and has a tight deadline: to finish the trail by early June. Stunt Double is along as her body guard, to satisfy her worried parents. Stunt Double is a Trail Devil, the opposite of a Trail Angel. (This is self-proclaimed). He hates the trail, hates hiking, and he makes you aware of this with a belligerent approach. It is comical for me being my first exposure to his attitude, but I give a lot of credit to Chris for making it this far with a hiking partner that doesn't want to be on the trail!Because of time commitments Team GameFace has been "tour-hiking" the trail. This means that sometimes they hike the trail, sometimes they hitchhike. They are catching the highlights. "Why would you walk somewhere when you can drive there?" Stunt Double temps me.Meeting up with Team GameFace proves to be good and bad. Good for the company, but bad because they are having the same mental struggles with PA that I am having. Three other hikers who are burnt out on the monotonous scenery, the unchallenging terrain, the rocks, the fact that civilization is usually within sight and sound.We hike six miles out of town to the next shelter. It is the weekend and there are over 40 people in tents around the shelter, but luckily still space in the shelter for us. A good thing because the sky is dark and thunderstorms are in the forecast. Germy, though walking with us for most of the six miles, mysteriously never appears at the shelter. We assume he missed the turn and continued north. But it is a long 9 miles to the next shelter, and it's already 6:00. It all out downpours, accompanied by thunder and lightening. We are talking about Germy often. He is out in the elements with just a tarp as we are warm and dry in the shelter. Such is life on the trail. Sometimes you have to sleep in the mud in a wet sleeping bag, and sometimes you have the luxury of sleeping in a dirty, mice-infested shelter with an overflowing outhouse in the company of 40 weekend backpackers (one which starts a small ground fire with his campstove).   This is the beginning of the end of Pennsylvania for me!