Date: 2003-05-27
From: Duncannon, PA (The Doyle) 

To: Peters Mtn Shelter 
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Aloha All! How is everyone this evening? Tired? Me too, but pleasantly so. Shall I share with you? Okay, I will.   Today started out much like any other or your day. The alarm clock went off, I looked around bewildered at where I found myself sleeping, stumbled out of a way too soft and creaky flea bed, and wandered down the hall to the shared by many local drunks and dirty fellow hikers to the shower. Upon emerging from the cat and mouse type game called a shower at the Doyle (aka How Not To Be Scalded When Showering) I was a new woman. Packed and ready to go I headed across the street for breakfast at Jodi's. Yum yum. You'd almost think she was from the south!   From breakfast with Quasimoto it was time to get this show on the road. A bit of convenience store shopping, a trip to the post office, a few pictures around town and I was ready to hit the trail. Almost immediately prior to my heading out a woman walked up, handed Quasimoto, a newly arrived hiker and me a zip lock full of goodies! The only thing she said was to have a safe walk. Insider were raisins, chocolates, tea, a peppermint patty, peanut butter stuffed pretzels, and lots of other little goodies. Wonderful. A card inside the goodie bag was the only indication of who this woman was - Trail Angel Mary. The cute card simply stated, "Spend the day doing the things you love". My second trail angel act and all in Duncannon. Told you in was a hospitable town. Mahalo nui loa Mary. You are appreciated.   Quasimoto and I journeyed out of town together, chatting all the while. He's such a nice guy. Anyway, along the way we crossed the Susquehanna River which is the longest river crossed by the Appalachian Trail at a length of 444 miles. The Connecticut River is second longest at 411 miles, with the Potamace coming in third at 383 miles, and the James in fourth at 340 miles. The Hudson River makes it to fifth place with a measly 315 miles. Now you're ready for the AT Trivia Pursuit game!   Once we crossed the river it was back into the woods we went. Ahhh... nice to be home and out of the smoke filled Doyle. Besides the initial UP the walk was quite nice. Lots of various type rocks of course but nice nonetheless. We meandered through forests, across ridgelines, under power lines in a thunderstorm, over rock scrambles, and down. Even with the rain beginning after lunch, all in all it was a very pleasant 11 miles.   We arrived here at 3:3p after having left town at 10a. Yepper, we meandered. The Peters Mountain Shelter is a relatively new shelter and quite nice. With a large loft area, lower sleeping, dining and sunning area, it ranks right up there with some of the better ones I've seen. Had I originally planned on moving on I would have ended up staying. You don't pass up the good shelters for the unknown. Or I don't anyway.   I don't know how to explain this but upon our arrival I felt the presence of a kindred spirit. No, I'm not losing it. I really did. I searched the register and there it was... PeeWee and Sugar Daddy's entry of about a month ago. The Walking Wounded live! Okay so it wasn't really a spiritual coif thing since I knew they were going but that's beside the point. PeeWee and I started this trail together and this is the last of the small skipped parts she had to do to 100% complete her hike. Wish we could have worked the timing to finish it up together. Anyway, it was exciting to see their names. Very.   Oh yeah, before you ask, yep, I'm sheltering again. It rained the majority of the day and evening so tenting was put on the back burner early. Luckily that's not a bad decision here. This shelter sleeps 12 and is a stone throw away from a little shelter that Earl Shaffer built years earlier. Pretty neat.    Earl "Crazy One" Shaffer (1918-2002) from York, PA is recognized by almost all hikers as the first AT thru-hiker. In 1948, he stunned the hiking community by completing a northbound thru-hike.   Then, in 1965, he completed a southbound thru-hike, becoming the first hiker to accomplish both north and southbound hikes. Not quite finished, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his 1948 hike, Earl did another northbound thru-hike at the young age of 79 in 1998. He is the father of the AT.   There were two hard parts to my day today. The first was getting water upon my arrival. The book said that the water source was "down a long, steep, rocky path... you won't want to make a second trip". What they didn't tell you is that it was a hike to China! The trail crew here has been wonderful about putting in rock steps to ease the pain but geezzz Louise...warn an old gal first! It was definitely the hardest part of my day.   Running in a close second though was dinner. What to have for dinner? I've often been told that the hardest part of dinner is not cooking it but deciding what to have. I now see how that's true. After receiving my first ever mail drop yesterday I have wonderful choices - Beef Chili Mac, Mexican Chicken with Spicy Rice, Seafood Chowder, Spinach Omelet, and something else I forget. To top it off there's even a chocolate mousse thrown in for a major dessert one night. Yum! I don't really have the hiker appetite yet but with these choices it doesn't matter. I'll lick the pot because I can. Mahalo Char - the Beef Chili Mac was tasty! You're the best home support system ever!   As I sit here in my green high back camp chair w/arms (thank you someone), wrapped in my wonderful Puffball Jacket and even snugglier sleeping bag I realize that I'm quite sleepy. It looks like it's that time again - time to say goodnight. Sad for me too. You sleep well and come see me tomorrow night. I'm sure there will be new tales to tell after my 17 plus mile day. Oops! Think I just slipped and ruined tomorrow's surprise. Oh well, until then ... Aloha!BS&T: nope, not todayA&Ps: hips are once again feeling slightly bruised but that's because there's now food in the pack. Nothing major.M&Gs: streams in China!Critter count: 1x chipmunk, 1x rabbit, and 1x squirrel