Date: 2007-07-20
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Campsite past Hawk Mtn. Lookout
Miles today: 17.1

July 20, Feeling MotivatedGot up around 6:30 a.m. at the Port Clinton Hotel today and started getting ready to hike. Ronin and I ran to the post office and I got a very nice cardfrom my mom (thank you, Mom, your words always motivate me) and a postcard fromDavid depicting the Pennsylvania rocks - right on! Great PO stop!We started hiking around 9 a.m. (getting the A-Team moving in the morning is awretched sight to see). The weather was amazing - it was actually pretty coolout and the breezes were abundant. When I stood still for a while, I had to puton a long sleeved shirt - perfect hiking weather.We had a quick and steep climb out of town and then the morning was hilly for awhile. It flattened out until our first break at Windsor Furnace Shelter. We had lunch there - I had hydrated macaroni and cheese and half of a bagel - and then moved on.There was a climb out of the shelter and lots of rocks but for some reason I had an easier time with them today. I actually think that break in town helped along with the weather removing all of the gnats off of my face. I was actuallyenjoying the larger rocks - it was a challenge.Our next break was at this great field. We all just laid on the grass andenjoyed the wonderful day. Young Eagle kept saying this would be his happy place in the days to come when the weather was hot and humid and the rocks were eating his feet. Quite relaxing. It was at this break that we all decided we wanted to push on past the next shelter tonight and try to shorten tomorrow.So, we hiked to Eckville Shelter - mostly down an old woods road and it wasamazing. Flat and not too rocky. We made it to Eckville around 6 p.m. to makedinner. I was excited for my dinner - Ramen with a tomato basil powdered soupmix, tuna filets, and, here's the best part, Mountain House Raspberry Crumble.Man, that dessert is amazing! It was well worth the too much money I spent onit.While at the shelter, we were interviewed and photographed for the ReadingEagle, a local paper doing a story on the AT. It was pretty funny - they askedlots of reflective questions and we gave lots of very not profound answers.Their story should be interesting - they said it would be available atwww.readingeagle.com.After that, we hiked for another hour to get a couple more miles in. It feltreally good to get some more out of the way - less that lie ahead. I'm pretty tired and we are getting up early tomorrow so we can finish early and meet Young Eagle's friends.On another note, the rocks are killing my shoes - the tread is falling off at an alarming rate. Oye!- Sound of the breeze blowing the tree leaves, a fly under my rainfly, a planeor other vehicle in the distance. Post Trail Thoughts:It's interesting to me to read these entries now because I see a pattern - I always felt really great about the day after about seventeen miles. I also notice that I felt great on the days that we stopped for dinner and then hiked some. I don't know if I could have made that a routine but sometimes it was nice. I remember when we arrived at the campsite (if you could call it that, it was sort of steathly), I was still roaring to go. I was so fired up that we were so efficient that day. I felt like a thru-hiker.