Date: 2005-04-10
From: Appalachian Trail Motor Inn - Route 11

To: The Doyle Hotel, Duncannon-Room 32
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: clear sky

It was the hot air balloon that put a fitting exclamation mark on my early morning. I was already enjoying the cold crisp air, with my breath steaming, as I swished through the still frozen grass and watched the sun slowly rise and dissipate the mist on what was to be yet another excellent day. It was then that I noticed the hot air balloon drifting silently overhead, illuminated by the rising sun. I waved to it, but was properly too far away to be noticed. Similar silent partners in the early morning.   Soon I was over the I81 Interstate, and got a few waves in return from the traffic passing underneath, and on across the silent Sunday landscape to Bernhisel Bridge, where the trail does a descending 360 degree turn to pass under the bridge that it had just crossed, at Scotts Farm. A very pleasant hike along the banks of the Conodoguinet Creek, startling some early morning mallard ducks into flight, then turning north away from the creek and heading for Blue Mountain, which has been lying in wait across my path.   The ascent of Blue Mountain was not unduly difficult, although it did steepen towards the end, and just before the crest there is a spectacular overlook. This affords a view backwards across the entire Cumberland Valley ¢ a definite Kodiak Moment. I was sitting in a nicely made stone seat at the overlook, when a local hiker out for a Sunday walk joined me. We both marveled at the view ¢ which he said is almost always obscured by haze ¢ and at the two turkey buzzards circling below us on the rising thermals. ¢The finger-like feathers on the ends of the wings are characteristic,¢ he said, as the birds circled looking for a dead breakfast.   Soon it was over the top and past the site of the demolished Darlington Shelter, but with the building materials in place for a resurrection later this year. Then down into the next valley, meeting more and more day-hikers out in perfect hiking weather. By the time I started up the next mountain ¢ Cove Mountain ¢ I was making remarkable time, even though I was realy not pushing it at all. The day, the trail, the weather, the other hikers, the hot air balloon, all combined into a perfect synergy of enjoyment.   I was surprised at the sign that said that I had arrived at the side trail to Cove Mountain Shelter, having passed two ladies soaking up the view of the distal Susquehanna River, from the pipeline clearing. So it was not a difficult decision to push on to Duncannon. At Hawk Rock I came upon two young ladies and a young man enjoying the view of the Susquehanna and Duncannon below them. Conversation allowed me to name them ¢The Wood Nymph¢ ¢The Sailor¢ and ¢The Business Man¢ We had a fine time talking and laughing in the early afternoon sun. Four totally different lives and personalities, coming together at a particular point in time and space. There realy are no coincidences in this life.      So by late afternoon I was wandering the streets of Duncannon, and on here to The Doyle Hotel. Being a Sunday the bar was closed, so I had to call Vickey [Kelly] to come and let me into the hotel. The building is 100 years old this year and a great celebration is scheduled for April 19th. There is another thru hiker here named ¢Snowbird¢ who started from Springer in January ¢05. She is waiting for a mail drop box to arrive. After I had showered and done my laundry, I knocked on her door to see if I could entice her to share some stories and dinner, but she was not to be found.   So I am checked in here for two nights. I may well stay three, since KT has found a new cell phone, and has FedExed it here to arrive on Tuesday. No phones or TV in the rooms, so I spoke with KT on the public phone at the convenience store behind the hotel.   Feeling tired now, after a full and event filled day. Thought for today-                  The Unicorns      We never went away      You knew we were always near      Remember how to look for us         You see we were always here.                                       [From the Song]The mystical is all around us, if we can but remember how to experience it