Date: 2018-08-14
From: PA 183

To: Port Clinton PA
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: few clouds

I¢m not sure what time in the night it stopped raining but it did stop. I do know it rained for 24 hours straight! Apparently Pennsylvania has made the national news for flooding. AND, as luck would have it, the rain started again before we even got out of the camper. I¢ve been in wet boots for a bunch of days now...what¢s one more?All of the stars must have aligned just right, because when I got out of the vehicle the rain stopped again! And so my hike began on a muddy trail. Every step I took made that slurpy suction sound as it pulled my boot slightly off my heel. My heel would slide back down inside my boot until it was suctioned off over and over again.  The sounds it made were comical! I hiked through a controlled burn area today. It was over several miles of my hike and made me kind of sad. I know there¢s good reason for controlled burns, but it makes the forest look haunted and dead. The only animals I saw were toads. Not even birds or squirrels or chipmunks.  As I hiked up into higher elevation the trail became less muddy and more rocky. It¢s definitely one or the other in Pennsylvania! The rocks were brutal today.  Up there though at least things were green and lush. Just the way I like it!  I waited up there for Hugs so we could take a blue blaze to the Eagle¢s Nest Shelter. I could see it was a good ways off trail, but it felt like it took forever to get there. I apologized to Hugs. Normally I would just eat on trail rather than go that far off trail. But it turns out this was a happy accident! We were lucky enough to be eating lunch in a covered shelter when the thunder boomed and a big downpour started!  After lunch we put on our rain gear and took the forever blaze back to the trail. I took the lead again and before long we were separated too far apart to talk.  The rain let up just as I spied a hiker coming towards me. It was a SOBO. A real thru-hiker. His trail name is Squatch. I can¢t remember his start date, but he¢s been pounding out the miles! Pennsylvania is his home state, so he¢s going to take some zeros to visit everybody while he¢s here. It was wet and gloomy in the woods but after saying ¢happy trails¢ to Squatch I walked out into an open area. I could feel the sun for the first time all day.  Butterflies were bouncing up and down on the wind. For a few minutes it felt like a lovely summer day.  Soon enough the clouds were looming overhead again. I was just beginning my descent into Port Clinton PA. I must have climbed much higher than I thought today. The descent took a couple of hours and was really steep in several places. It was pretty physically demanding coming down off that mountain.  I made it down, all in one piece. I waited at the train station for Hugs just as the rains began to fall again. Papa Big Swig picked us up.  It had been a rough day!  My back is spasming pretty badly. I think that last fall may have really created a problem. I¢m lying on an ice pack right now. I¢ll see the chiropractor again on Thursday. Say a prayer for me. I don¢t want a back injury to take me out.  Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018)Where¢s your faith?