Date: 2017-07-11
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Hawk Mtn Rd., Eckville, PA
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: clear sky

Our hardy band of pilgrims does not seem so frail today as it did yesterday.  Lizzie is still hospitalized but expecting to be discharged tomorrow.  Arlene's daughter is okay, at least for the moment.  I continue to be amazed at how many kind people we have met in our journey.  On Sunday we met and talked to a nice couple who were sitting at a rock overlooking the farmland below.  The woman, Leslie, was a West Virginia native.  Today she contacted me via the Trail Journals guest book telling me she worked in Reading and would be available after work to help Lizzie if she needed anything.  It turned out that Lizzie didn't need help then, but we're so grateful that there are kind people like Leslie out there who'd be there if she did.Today's hike was relatively easy.  Again we started with a large uphill and walked along a ridge all day.  Periodically there were rock outcroppings that afforded us panoramic views of the beautiful Pennsylvania farmland below.  Parts of the trail were quite rocky - again those boulders that sometimes shift under our feet when we step on them.  In several areas the trail was on old abandoned forest roads that had soft dirt and grass.  After we took a lunch break at the Pinnacle we ran into a southbound hiker who was carrying fresh local Pennsylvania peaches to give out to hikers.  He had section hiked the trail over a period of 17 years and now wanted to do some trail magic.  The peaches were luscious!  At Windsor Furnace there was a large marker with mileage to the next several places on the trail. The last mileage listed was Katahdin 965 miles.  Every time we realize that the remaining distance is under 1,000 miles we marvel again at how far we've come.  We all still remember that heady feeling of reaching 100 miles.  That seems both really long ago and also just yesterday. It's probably hard for readers to imagine, but our 15.7 miles per day pace seems really fast to me.  We reached our endpoint, Hawk Mountain Road in Eckville, around 5 o'clock.  That gave us some time to set up our chairs and talk at the end of the day while we packed our food for tomorrow's hike.  So far we haven't had many such short days, so we relish the times when we can relax a bit before going to bed.  There's a shelter a quarter mile down the road with flush toilet and solar shower, but we all opted to camp here instead.  The shelter itself was already full when we arrived, and about eight people headed to the tent camping space after that.  So we passed up showers in favor of quieter, more private space.  A tough decision.  Tomorrow's hike is 11.5 miles.  It's the section that I hiked last week when my sister Diane was visiting.  So I won't be hiking tomorrow.  I wish I could say I'll be lounging around reading a book, but I expect it will take me all morning to get an orthopedist appointment scheduled for Monroe, New York.  That's where we'll be in two weeks when my cast is due to come off.  Since it's a short day today, the group is planning to go to the movies to see Wonder Woman.  And, fingers crossed, I'll go with Warren to pick up Lizzie from the hospital.  Thanks to all who sent good wishes to her.  Morph, she says she does not blame the rock, she blames gravity.