Date: 2015-07-07
From: Duncannon

To: Clarks Creek
Miles today: 17.7

Directly behind our room at the Doyle was a fire station. It had an odd sort of horn/siren that would sound if they were called. It sounded like the noise you might expect to hear if the government was trying to warn the earth of an alien invasion. The first time it went off, C.Shell and I thought it must have been a tornado warning. But it continued until the two fire trucks left the station, lights on and sirens blaring. Then they stopped the noise. It was incredibly loud and felt like it was inside my head. It went off again around 9:30pm and again at 1am and I never quite got a good sleep after that. We all woke up in the morning scratching at imaginary itches, we bade farewell to the infamous Doyle, and headed out. I had forgotten my hiking shoes at the laundromat the day before so we went to the breakfast place across the street and ate while we waited for the laundromat to open. Breakfast and service were very good! Luckily, my shoes were found and then we all finished the walk through town, past quaint old homes in various stages of rehab or splendor, over the great Susquehanna River, and back into the woods.The trail started with a long and pretty rocky , sometimes very steep, climb. I must have been first out this morning because I got to take down the spiderwebs. I had them all over my arms and face and torso, in my mouth and hair. I stopped often to attempt to get them off of me.We stopped at the top of the hill near the shelter to take care of pesky real world problems. I had to call Florida about my sales taxes from my shop and D.No and C.Shell had to call about their Obamacare. We lost about 45 minutes and people hiked past us.Hiking on, the trail was easy today. The day became hot and the rocks would crop up from time to time to batter our feet, but all in all it was not too challenging. We had many nice views today and we looked at lots of them since they were right on the trail. Pennsylvania is a beautiful state. I know the hard and much reviled part of the trail in this state is ahead of me, but I am going to stay in the moment and enjoy the nice easy first halfWe met a couple who were hiking the AT together, driving their truck to road crossings. The truck was geared up for camping and the couple hiked in opposite directions. They were very interesting and they gave us each a Gatorade.We found an incredibly beautiful campsite next to a wide stream and decided to camp there even though it was a little close to a road. C.Shell and I soaked our rock battered feet in the cold water and washed out shirts. I took a nice creek bath and got the dried mud off of my legs. We sat on big rocks next to the water and cooked our dinner, laughing and talking and living the AT dream, just how we always imagined it would be. And so it was, at least for this night.We have someone in Port Clinton that has offered to help us with resupply and a day of slack packing, so we are trying to make 18 or so miles a day to get there by Friday. We are going to enjoy a pizza dinner with them so we want to get in early.Also in Port Clinton, my first mail drop with Katwalk's dehydrated food is waiting! I am very excited about that. I watched her eat the most incredible meals- with not very well disguised envy- when we hiked together.