Date: 2004-06-03
From: Duncannon, PA

To: Palmerton, PA
Miles today: 110.3

5/27/04 ThursdayAh, the Doyle Hotel. Yesterday I got into town with Unfinished and Rainbow Bright. The first thing we did was go to breakfast at a local diner (where they serve "Freedom" toast), and we each ordered two breakfasts. Afterwards, Unfinished met up with some friends and went off to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water house, and Rainbow Bright and I went to get ice cream. That finished, she hiked out, and I went to the Doyle.The Doyle is an old hotel built by Anheuser-Busch around 1900, and has quite a reputation among hikers as a cheap, seedy bar with 75-cent draughts. I was sitting in the taproom when someone approached me and asked if I was doing anything. I said no, and he offered to buy me a beer in exchange for helping him unload some carpet into a house he was working on. I helped him - a five-minute task - and he bought me a beer and then three more. I didn't drink them all then, but got some tokens for free beer to use later. Not bad for five minutes' work!I stayed the night, and the next day met up with my friend Carolyn. She took me out for lunch and then gave me a ride to buy groceries. Thanks, Carolyn! I hung out a little while longer, then hiked out of town to the first shelter, a hot and humid climb (of course; remember there's always a climb leaving town when loaded with food) up the ridge and then some rock scrambles along the ridgeline. It's a nice shelter, and I'm here with Modulus and PilPro.5/28/04 FridayThis was, I think, my shortest full day on the Trail yet: 6.8 miles. I'd heard that Sugar Daddy and MoonPie were close behind, so I only hiked to the next shelter to give them a chance to catch up. After waiting most of the day they did catch up - and they were glad to see me because they'd planned a long day to catch me. We spent hours catching up. There isn't much to write about, since I didn't hike very far, except to mention that beside the nice, big, new shelter we're all staying at is a small, old shelter built by Earl Shaffer, the first person to thru-hike the AT in 1949.5/29/04 SaturdayWe had high hopes to hike thirty, or even thirty-four, miles today, but after a lazy morning of hiking it became clear that wasn't going to happen.The first stretch was one of the longest distances so far between shelters: seventeen miles. In between was a nice creek where we ate lunch, then another creek where we ate a second lunch. We passed two villages which had been abandoned when their mining industries dried up - all that were left were some foundations and a cemetary, though the first village had a mailbox standing alone in the centre of a field, with a hiker register in it.The shelter was nice, sunken below the level of the ground with a stone wall holding up the terrace, and stone steps leading down to it. The spring there was piped right to the shelter, and fed into a trough. It was a nice shelter, but we decided to hike on. Since the next shelter was fifteen miles away, we camped after six miles, and built a nice campfire to sit around when it got dark.5/30/04 SundayIt had gotten very cold in the night, so when we woke in the morning shivering and able to see our breath, we were ready to get going, just to warm ourselves by walking. Finally the day warmed up, but we also started hitting the sharp, shifty PA rocks (always pronounced "P.A.", not "Pennsylvania"). Over the course of the day Sugar Daddy jammed his hip, and MoonPie and I both twisted our ankles.Finally we got to the 501 Shelter - named for the PA state route beside it - which was more of a cabin, with four walls and a door. It was possible to order pizza to the shelter, which we did, of course.After lazing around for a while we hiked to our next destination: a campground with a pond and a rope swing. At the campground was a huge family group - 17 people - and all the kids came down to the pond with us to watch. With our spectators in place, we swung into the icy water a few times, with only one minor kilt mishap. We were invited back up to their camp for food, and the family introduced themselves as the Fugawe tribe - as in what you say when you're lost: Fugawe.We stayed there for a while, but we still had ten miles to hike so we hit the Trail once more. It got dark, so we didn't make it to the shelter until late, and we cooked dinner and settled in after an eventful twenty-eight mile day.5/31/04 MondayWe knew we were heading into town today, so we slept in and didn't leave the shelter until late. On the way out we ran into Happy, who MoonPie had met before, and his nephew, Jackson. We all walked into Port Clinton, PA, together, down a steep hill off the ridge line in the rain.Port Clinton is a tiny town, with a post office and not much more. They offer an open picnic pavillion for camping, but since it was raining and the PO isn't open until tomorrow, and the grocery store for resupplying is in the next town, we all hitched to Hamburg and shared a hotel room. There we met Mrs. Gorp, and after we'd all showered and done laundry we went to Cabela's, which was across the street from the hotel.Cabela's is an outdoor store, but definitely not geared toward backpackers. A huge selection of camouflage outfits, guns, "rustic" furniture, and cast iron skillets, but it took four clerks to find one who know what gaiters are, alet alone where they might be in the store (they're in the camouflage section, and yes, they're camouflage). Interestingly, there were a lot of Mennonites in the store.We then went to the grocery store. It's dangerous to go to the grocery store hungry, and I bought a LOT of food. Far too much for the next three days. I just got jealous of what Sugar Daddy and MoonPie were eating, so I bought what they had. What they both had. And then some more. It's interesting hiking with different groups, since everyone handles food differently, and shares ideas within the grups, so the whole group starts eating similar foods. But if you hike with a different group they all eat slightly different foods than what you're used to. So I stocked up on honey buns and Combos, and got a few more things to try out.We went to dinner, and then back to the hotel. MoonPie didged us four guys and took the spare bed in Mrs. Gorp's room. We stayed up to watch a movie on TV, ate a little more, and then fell asleep. A nice, relaxing Memorial Day.6/1/04 TuesdayIt was a late start, as we waited for the post office to open, and then the outfitter. Finally I hiked out of town alone, and met up with Happy and Jackson at the first shelter for lunch.After I hiked out and got up to the ridge again, a huge thunderstorm swept in, with hail and gusting wind and periods of deluge. Whenever I hike in the rain with my metal hiking poles I think of the song by James that goes, "A boy leaning against a wall of rain, aerial held high, calling, 'Come on, thunder, come on, thunder.'" I called it out myself, put my head down, and kept hiking.As soon as it had started it stopped, and suddenly the sky was blue and cloudless. I met a day hiker in a field, and we chatted for a while, and then he hiked out with me to the road. Along the way we saw a bear crossing the Trail.At the road Travis took off in his car, and I went to the shelter. The Eckville Shelter has a caretaker, and a solar shower and a flush toilet, as well as an enclosed shelter, so it stayed warm inside. The shelter was packed, with Stairmaster, Alabama, and Tom from Israel there. 'Bama and Tom are hillarious, and play off each other for hours.6/2/04 WednesdayI woke up very late, one of the disadvantages of being in an enclosed shelter. I took my time, and finally hiked out. It was a beautiful day, and I took my time over the PA rock fields. I still haven't seen any rattlesnakes, but I did frighten another 6' rat snake off the trail.A pretty uneventful day, the shelter tonight just has Sugar Daddy, MoonPie, and Stealth. Just after I got to the shelter, and just before everyone else, the skies opened up in a shorter repeat of yesterday's storm. Yay, I stayed dry!6/3/04 ThursdayWe've really gotten lazy, with the knowledge that we can hike twenty miles in a day even when we leave at nine, and take many hour-long breaks along the way. We took our time on the Trail today, with some fabulous views and great big boulder scrambles. We got into the town of Palmerton, PA, around six o'clock, and checked into the police station, because the free hiker hostel here is in the old jailhouse, which is now a municipal building. Nothing like staying in jail for the night. We went out for dinner with Lieut, a section hiker for now who we'll meet again because he's going to begin southbounding at Katahdin soon, and will pass us when we're further north. The local Girl Scout troop makes care packages for thru-hikers, which is very nice.